A majority of Muslims in the Islamic world do not believe Arabs were responsible for the Sept. 11 hijackings and attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
Of the 9,924 residents from nine predominately Muslim countries who were interviewed, 61 percent believe Arabs did not commit the acts of terrorism, according to a poll released Wednesday by the Gallup Organization.
Residents were polled in Indonesia, Iran, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Morocco, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkey.
“I think a lot of Muslims are still in disbelief, and I think that’s what you see in the poll data,” said Salam Al-Marayati, executive director of the Muslim Public Affairs Council.
“They haven’t come to grips with reality — it’s just such a traumatic and shocking thing.”
According to Al-Marayati, the views of American Muslims are vastly different from those of foreign Muslims.
“American Muslims are able to cherish American values and live them here in America, whereas Muslims abroad don’t see those same values represented in the American foreign policy,” Al-Marayati said.
There may also be varying reasons why so many international Muslims’ views contrast so sharply to the views of Americans, one of which may be the way in which they receive the truth.
“There’re two sources of truth in the world. One source is truth by authority. In other words, I believe it’s true by someone of authority,” said Bill Dwyer, professor of psychology at The University of Memphis. “The other kind of truth is truth by empiricism. In other words, I’m not going to rely on authority. I’m going to rely on an empirical investigation, and that means listening to facts or apparent facts that show you the truth for yourself.”
Truth by authority can be an effective way for political leaders to maintain support for themselves.
Of the 32 Muslim nations, only two are democracies, Dwyer said.
“For the most part, Muslims are in societies where beliefs are being dictated and then being reinforced. In fact, disbelief can, in some cases, mean death,” Dwyer said.
Ibrahim Hooper is a spokesman for the Council of American-Islamic Relations, whose goal is to bring unity and better communication between the American and the Islamic worlds.
“There is a lot of denial in the Muslim world on the terrorist attacks,” Hooper said.
Hooper, unlike Dwyer, believes the people themselves are independent and form their own opinions, rather than having those opinions given to them by their government.
“I don’t think their denial on the subject has much to do with government. I think it has to do with a personal state of denial,” Hooper said. “I believe the negative view of America abroad is a reflection of what is perceived to be about 50 years of one-sided foreign policy in the Muslim world, in support of Israel.”
Al-Marayati agrees with Hooper that the international Muslim view of America is generally a negative one and that Muslims believe Americans have unfair perceptions of the Islamic world.
“American Muslims see a different image of America than Muslims abroad. The image of America abroad is negative, whereas the image of America for American Muslims is much more complex than that,” Al-Marayati said. “We see benefits of America as American citizens, so we don’t have the same emotional outburst you might see internationally.”
Al-Marayati believes Muslims should not be faulted for their beliefs that Arabs were not responsible for the Sept. 11 attacks. He believes other groups would react the same, under similar conditions.
“If it were Christians, I’m sure Christians would say, ‘No Christian could do that.’ Muslims are basically saying there is nothing in our religion that would allow that to happen. We cannot believe that the people who did that can call themselves Muslims,” Al-Marayati said. “If Muslims abroad experienced American values themselves, then their viewpoint would probably change.”
