Nigerian Attacks Deplored as ‘Un-Islamic,’ But Polls Show Millions of Muslims Do Not Reject Suicide Bombings
Given the horrific murders of Christians this week in Nigeria, I found this article, posted at CNSNews.com concerning how Muslims see the use of suicide bombings versus other forms of terrorism, an interesting read. Apparently, while some in the Islamic world have condemned the horrific murders of Christians, many Muslims have not.
(CNSNews.com) — Condemning the deadly attacks on Nigerian Christians on Christmas Day, Islamic organizations around the world called the atrocities un-Islamic, yet opinion polls tracking views on terrorism suggest that significant numbers of Muslims disagree.
While scientific polling has found a decline in support for suicide bombings over the decade since 9/11 in most major Muslim countries, minorities of respondents — in some cases, large minorities — continue to regard them as justified “in defense of Islam.”
The percentages extrapolate to tens of millions of Muslims across Africa, the Middle East and Asia who hold that view.
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As Islamic organizations in Nigeria and beyond reacted to the latest violence, some sought to distance Islam from the terrorist attacks.
Mujaid Nya, a spokesman for Jama’atu Nasril Islam — an umbrella body for Nigerian Muslims — said Islam did not teach anyone to take up arms against their neighbors. Nigeria’s Punch daily quoted him as saying Boko Haram should not be linked to Islam, which preaches peace.
Nigerian Islamic scholar Sheikh Muhammad Isa told the News Agency of Nigeria that the attackers were not adherents of any faith, while Alhaji Quasim Badrudeen of the Muslim Students Society in Lagos described the attacks as “unfortunate and un-Islamic.”
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Despite the statements made by these groups, however, the Pew Global Attitudes Project poll continues to find support among Muslims for terrorism — specifically suicide bombings — and for al-Qaeda.
Although support for suicide bombings “in defense of Islam” has generally dropped over the decade since al-Qaeda attacked America, it remains considerable in some places in a 2011 Pew poll — 35 percent in Lebanon, 20 in Israel, 13 percent in Jordan, 10 percent in Indonesia and four percent in Pakistan.