For instance, Pew Research Center polling from 2005 reveals that, when asked how much they know about “the Muslim religion and its practices,” two-thirds of Americans indicate that they do not know much -- roughly the same number who said they were unfamiliar with Islam in 2002. Pew Research Center polling from 2005 also finds that more than half of Americans are unaware of the name -- Allah -- that Muslims use to refer to God. Although the same survey reveals a slight increase since 2002 in the number of people who can identify the Islamic holy book -- the Qu'ran -- nearly half of Americans (49%) remain unaware of the name of this core text.

While Americans’ knowledge of Islam remains incomplete, a substantial though declining minority believe the religion is more likely than others to encourage violence; 36% of the public express this point of view according to a 2005 Pew Research Center poll, down from a high of 46% in 2004. And a poll from August 2006 finds that four-in-10 Americans view the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 as the start of a major conflict between the people of Islam versus the people of America and Europe.

Analyses, however, show that knowledge of Islam helps to shape views of the religion. Although there is no straightforward link between knowledge of Islam and opinions on the relationship between Islam and violence, it is nevertheless true that those who know more about Islam tend to hold more favorable views of Islam as well as of Muslim Americans. The 2005 survey finds that among those who are unable to identify either Allah or the Quran, fewer than half (47%) hold favorable views of Muslim Americans. By contrast, among those who can identify both Allah and the Quran, more than six-in-10 (61%) hold favorable views of Muslim Americans. Similarly, a survey from 2001 finds that those people who happen to know someone who is Muslim are much more likely to hold a favorable view of Muslim Americans.

To provide context for this forum hosted by On Faith, the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life has compiled brief synopses of Muslim public opinion from around the world on the three major topics under discussion: violence and terrorism; human rights (including religious freedom and gender roles); and interfaith relations. These analyses draw extensively on polling conducted by the Pew Research Center and its projects, including the Pew Global Attitudes Project, the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press and the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life.

The analyses show that majorities of Muslims throughout the world denounce violence, value their religious freedom, and advocate providing opportunities for women. But the analyses also show that pockets of support for suicide bombing and Osama bin Laden continue to exist, that many Muslims desire a more prominent role for religious leaders in politics, and that support for gender equality is far from universal. They also show that while many Muslims around the world express highly unfavorable views of other religious groups, many also view themselves as the objects of hostility on the part of Westerners and see religious and ethnic hatred as a serious global threat.

These analyses of Muslim public opinion, along with the views of Muslim leaders expressed here, should make possible a better understanding of the views and attitudes of this large and important segment of the global community on some of the most pressing issues of the day.

The Washington-based Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan “fact tank” with seven projects that provide information on the issues, attitudes and trends shaping America and the world. The analyses reported here and in the accompanying essays are based on a 2007 Pew Research Center survey of Muslim Americans as well as surveys conducted between 2001 and 2007 by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, the Pew Global Attitudes Project and the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press.