What do Muslims say about terrorist attacks?

By SARA REEF and ZEESHAN SUHAIL

NEW YORK — What do one billion Muslims really think?

Despite widespread media coverage of global terrorism by various self-proclaimed “Islamic” groups from America, Europe, the Middle East and Asia, little is known about what the majority of the world’s Muslims really think and feel. What do Muslims have to say about violence and terrorist attacks, democracy, women’s rights and their countries’ relations with the West? What are their values, goals and religious beliefs?

This month, Washington and New York movie audiences were able to learn some answers to this question when they watched “Inside Islam,” a groundbreaking film based on John Esposito and Dalia Mogahed’s 2008 book, “Who Speaks for Islam? What a Billion Muslims Really Think.” The film premiered in Washington this summer and has been touring the country since.

The film is based on many years of innovative research. Between 2001 and 2006, Esposito worked with Mogahed at Gallup, a research and public opinion organization, to complete the largest study of Muslim populations worldwide. Their results challenged the conventional wisdom and the inevitability of a “clash of civilizations” even as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan continued.

Long before the path-breaking “Who Speaks for Islam?” was released, Washington’s politicos were crafting policies about a people they barely knew. Indeed, Nobel Laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu was correct when he said: “In these fraught days of heightened tension and increasing hostility, few books could be more timely.”

Important message

Unity Productions Foundation decided to turn the book into a film in 2008, recognizing the importance of the message and the need to take it to an even larger audience. As Alex Kronemer, UPF co-founder and one of the film’s executive producers, pointed out, the message of the book is one that U.S. leaders need to hear: “In order to effectively engage the Muslim world, we have to understand what the Muslim world really wants.”

The initial screening, specifically for policymakers, took place in August 2009 at the Department of State. After viewing “Inside Islam” participants took part in a discussion with Kronemer, who had also served at the State Department’s Human Rights Desk during the Clinton administration. The goal of these policy screenings — derived from the Gallup findings — is to help policymakers understand the impact of U.S. foreign policy on Muslim attitudes toward the United States, and to understand that a shift in policies will go a long way toward improving Muslim perceptions of Americans.

Since the film’s premiere, which featured former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright as keynote speaker, the film has been screened at several cities. These events bring together civic and political leaders and interfaith organizations, usually with a Gallup expert and UPF representative on hand to discuss the film’s findings.

To date, the film has been viewed by thousands of people. It appears that from Toledo to Toronto, from New Orleans to New York, audiences everywhere are yearning to know what a billion Muslims really think, including many leading decision makers. Other organizations have gone so far as to express interest in not only helping to screen the film through their networks but to also assist in the creation of educational materials so that younger audiences can benefit from the film’s thought provoking information.

Albright had this to add after the initial screening: “When fear takes over, communication stops and suspicion builds. That’s why ‘Inside Islam’ is such an important film, and why the extensive surveys conducted by the Gallup organization are so worthwhile.”

Dialogue

The film creates an environment where dialogue among civilizations, as former President Muhammad Khatami of Iran put it, becomes inevitable. The film prompts American audiences to reconsider their perceptions of Muslims — who are many times also their neighbors. We hope that through movies like “Inside Islam,” fear and suspicion can stop — and communication can take over.

X Sara Reef is project manager at Intersections International and Zeeshan Suhail is a board member with Americans for Informed Democracy. This article was written for the Common Ground News Service. Readers may write to the authors at cgnewssfcg.org or Search for Common Ground, 1601 Connecticut Avenue NW, Suite 200, Washington, D.C. 20009. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune.