Recent attacks in Paris, Beirut, Turkey and the crash of a Russian plane linked to the jihadist group Islamic State (IS) have once again brought terrorism and Islamic extremism to the forefront of international relations. Thousands of op-eds and columns had already been published speculating how these events would make the already-strained relationships between Muslims and other communities worse. But little attention was given so far how the Muslim world views the monstrous group, which had been involved in bloodbath in mass areas of Syria and Iraq, and now across the world.
The newly released report by the US-based non-partisan fact tank Pew Research Centre shed some light into the matter. According to the data, 11 countries with significant Muslim populations, people from Nigeria to Jordan to Indonesia overwhelmingly expressed negative views of IS.
One exception was Pakistan, where a majority offered no definite opinion of the extremist group. It has to be mentioned that the nationally representative surveys were conducted as part of the Pew Research Centre’s annual global poll in April and May this year, way before all recent attacks took place.
In no country surveyed did more than 15% of the population show favorable attitudes toward the extremist group. And in those countries with mixed religious and ethnic populations, negative views of IS cut across these lines.
In Lebanon, a victim of one of the most recent attacks, almost every person surveyed who gave an opinion had an unfavorable view of IS, including 99% with a very unfavorable opinion. Distaste toward IS was shared by Lebanese Sunni Muslims (98% unfavorable) and 100% of Shia Muslims and Lebanese Christians. Israelis (97%) and Jordanians (94%) were also strongly opposed to IS as of spring 2015, including 91% of Israeli Arabs. And 84% in the Palestinian territories had a negative view of IS, both in the Gaza Strip (92%) and the West Bank (79%).
Every 6 in 10 persons or more had unfavorable opinions of Islamic State in a diverse group of nations, including Indonesia, Turkey, Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Malaysia and Senegal.
In Nigeria, there was somewhat more support for IS (14% favorable) compared with other countries, but attitudes differed sharply by religious affiliation. An overwhelming number of Nigerian Christians (71%) had an unfavorable view of IS, as did 61% of Nigerian Muslims. However, 20% of Nigerian Muslims had a favorable view of IS when the poll was conducted. The group Boko Haram in Nigeria, which has been conducting a terrorist campaign in the country for years, is affiliated with IS, though the two are considered separate entities.
Only 28% in Pakistan had an unfavorable view of IS, and a majority of Pakistanis (62%) had no opinion on the extremist group.