DWOC's International Burn a Koran Day

[saden1]

Originally Posted by Slingin Sammy 33

Keep in mind I said the 35-40% was NOT the percentage that would actually become jihadists, but that support Fundamentalist Islam (sharia, etc).

This Pew poll towards the bottom has a section with % that support or justify suicide bombing.

Obama More Popular Abroad than at Home, Global Image of U.S. Continues to Benefit - Pew Research Center

This report from U of MD (Testudo Rules) is pretty interesting in the support for violent acts against civilians is fairly low (however estimating 5% of 1.2B Muslims worldwide is 60M, that's a large amount of potential jihadists), but what is concerning is the percentage that would impose strict sharia law. The Brookings Institute also had a hand in this, so it's not from Fox or Heritage

Printable Version

I looked through the poll and it seems quite interesting...the summary combines suicide bombing "often justified and somewhat justified" responses but the full report doesn't (there are really eye catching oddities in the responses which they touch on).

If you ask Americans in a broader context outside of Islamic terrorism as to whether suicide is ever justified I am sure you will get some takers. The real issue is whether the killing of civilian is ever "somewhat justifiable" and to this I point to you the views of most Americans on dropping two H-Bombs on Japan or their views on collateral damage... they are necessary evil.

Given the level of mistrust and apprehension of the United States and Israel and hopelessness in the face of their mighty armies you are more likely to see support for suicide bombing in these countries than you would in the west. As for suicide bombing itself it is not a fundamental part of Islam as some would have us believe; it is a nothing more than a desperate act that is justifiable by anyone (see Japanese kamikaze pilots).


Now as to Sharia law, it's a broad subject matter that spans cultures and multiple facets of Islam. There is more to it than you hear on the radio and tv which is too often washed down to make it appear more sinister than it is (picky and choosy while ignoring the similarities to the old testament). Like the biblical scripture the Qur'an is open to interpretation and each culture/society makes its own laws based on what it thinks the holly book tells it (the Turks are very lax while the Saudis are very strict but not as super crazy strict as the Taliban). Just because you find Sharia law appealing it doesn't mean there is something wrong with you and one can equate these people to American Conservative Christians.

Sharia can be divided into five main branches: ibadah (ritual worship), mu'amalat (transactions and contracts), adab (morals and manners), i'tiqadat (beliefs), and 'uqubat (punishments).