More than a year after the first stirrings of the Arab Spring, there continues to be a strong desire for democracy in Arab and other predominantly Muslim nations. A substantial number in key Muslim countries also want a large role for Islam in political life. Meanwhile, few think the U.S. favors democracy in the Middle East.
A new Pew Forum survey of Muslims in 39 countries and territories around the world finds that fasting during Ramadan is widely observed, with a median of 93% of Muslims saying they abstain from food and drink during the day.
The declaration of Mohamed Morsi as Egypt’s first freely elected president marks a major milestone for a country that until February 2011 had spent nearly three decades under the authoritarian rule of Hosni Mubarak. At the same time, for significant numbers of Egyptians, Morsi’s relatively narrow victory over former Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq has the potential to raise questions about Islam’s role in society.
Both the Quran and hadith make reference to witchcraft and the evil eye as well as to supernatural beings known in Arabic as jinn (the origin of the English word genie).22 To gauge how widespread belief in these supernatural forces is today, the survey asked Muslims separate questions about witchcraft, jinn and the evil eye […]
Download the Methodology as a PDF (180 KB, 17pages) This study provides comprehensive demographic estimates of the size and distribution of eight major religious groups in the 232 countries and territories for which the United Nations Population Division provides general population estimates as of 2010.16 It includes estimates for Christians, Muslims, the religiously unaffiliated, Hindus, […]
Majorities in most of the predominantly Muslim nations surveyed remain worried about Islamic extremism in their countries, especially in Lebanon, but concern about extremism has declined sharply in Turkey since 2011. Few express positive views of extremist groups Hamas and Hezbollah. Still, both groups have substantial minority support in several countries. Al Qaeda and the […]
Islamic extremism remains a pressing issue for most Pakistanis, although concern has ebbed somewhat over the last few years. Today, about half of the public is either very or somewhat worried that extremist groups could take control of their country. Only about one-in-three now support using the military to fight extremists, down substantially from three […]
The Pew Research Center’s Global Attitudes Project has done extensive polling throughout the world, including in some Asian nations. The results of this research provide a window into the religious affiliation and commitment of Asians who have not emigrated and how they compare with Asians living in the U.S. In some cases, Asian Americans show […]