Gulf | Qatar
Poor religious leadership seen as spur for extremism
A majority of people in the Muslim world believes poor religious leadership is to blame for the spread of extremism, a survey commissioned by the Qatar-based Doha Debate said.
- By Barbara Bibbo', Correspondent
- Published: 20:56 April 1, 2008
- The primary definition of religious extremism were the intolerance of other religious beliefs and the use or advocacy of violence.
- Poor religious leadership and misguided use of the holy scriptures is seen by majority as responsible for religious extremism.
- Significant number of respondents hold ordinary Muslims as responsible than Muslim governments in fight against extremism.
- Eighty per cent of the respondents feel that religious extremism only serves to provide an excuse for the West to interfere in Muslim countries, and Arab regimes to clamp down on domestic opposition groups.
Doha: A majority of people in the Muslim world believes poor religious leadership is to blame for the spread of extremism, a survey commissioned by the Qatar-based Doha Debate said.
Among the 960 respondents from across the Gulf region, the Levant and North Africa, involved in the opinion poll, a majority said the primary definition of religious extremism were the intolerance of other religious beliefs and the use or advocacy of violence.
"More than 1 in 2 holds poor religious leadership and misguided use of the holy scriptures as responsible for religious extremism," said the results of the survey.
"Religious leaders are held principally responsible for the fight against extremism (34 per cent). Significantly, 24 per cent of the total believe that ordinary Muslims are responsible more than Muslim governments (19 per cent) or the international community (9 per cent). This latter view is especially pronounced among the under 30s."
A copy of the poll results, which was made available to Gulf News, shows that religious centres such as Al Azhar are the primary source of guidance on religion for some 43 per cent of respondents. But some 33 per cent, in particular in the Gulf and North Africa, cited the local imam as the main source.
A worrying 46 per cent said they have encountered someone who holds extreme religious views, with a higher percentage in the Levant, than in the GCC or North Africa. Also 35 per cent believe that Saudi Arabia is the country most at risk from extremism. Of those who believe their own country is threatened by extremism, Iraqis are most fearful (66 per cent) followed by Algerians (30 per cent).
The preferred "action" against religious extremism is highlighting the cause in the media. However 6 in 10 believe violence is legitimate if a Western country interfered in a Muslim country. A further 55 per cent would deem it appropriate in the instance of offensive words or behaviour against Islam.
But eight in ten respondents though believe that religious extremism only serves to provide an excuse for the West to interfere in Muslim countries and to Arab regimes to clamp down on domestic opposition.
The Doha Debates, a televised forum debating issues which affect the Middle East, commissioned the poll to YouGov that fed the questionnaire to its online panel of more than 102,000 respondents. Fieldwork was conducted between March 17 and 23 and a total of 960 respondents completed the 10-minute long interview.
"The commissioning of the poll aims at making the comparison between the Doha Debate audience and a wider Arab public, following the subject matters discussed at the show," a communication officer for the Doha Debate told Gulf News.
"The survey adds weight to an unusually blunt message from the mainly Muslim participants at the last Doha Debate, filmed on February 3, 2008, who criticised their communities around the world for failing to combat extremism."
Doha Debates: An excuse to interfere
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