Poll finds widespread ignorance and bigotry towards Islam and Muslims
Tuesday, August 3, 2010 
Three-quarters of non-Muslims believe Islam has provided a negative contribution to British society, according to a new poll, which has prompted calls for Muslims to help improve the perception of their faith.
The study for the Islamic Education and Research Academy (iERA) also found that 63% of people surveyed did not disagree with the statement "Muslims are terrorists" and 94% agreed that "Islam oppresses women". It included qualitative as well as quantitative data. One respondent said: "If I had my way I'd kick them all [Muslims] out of here."
Despite the widespread negative perceptions of Islam, iERA believes the fact that most opinions were formed in ignorance of the faith indicates that Muslims can positively influence them. Four-fifths of those polled said they have less than very little knowledge about Islam, while 40% did not know who "Allah" referred to and 36% did not know who the Prophet Muhammad was.
iERA's senior researcher Hamza Tzortzis said: "We wanted to do something positive with the survey results rather than just say, 'It's so sad'. So, the organisation's strategy is to give a new realm of possibility for people to comprehend Islam, have a proper respect for Islam and see the human relevance of the faith."
The organisation has made a number of recommendations on how to spread knowledge of Islam and the Muslim community through education and audiovisual materials. It also advocates "promoting Muslim women as ambassadors of change" to counter the impression that they are oppressed.
In addition to finding that 73% of respondents did not disagree with the statement "Islam cannot positively contribute to modern society", the iERA poll produced some other disturbing statistics. 76% of respondents did not agree with the statement that Muslims positively engage in society. 72% did not agree with the statement "Muslims are law abiding", while 71% did not agree with the statement "Muslims are peaceful". 70% did not disagree with the statement "Muslims preach hatred".
The results are hardly surprising, given respondents' favourable view of the media as a reliable source of information on these issues – 71% did not agree that the media is negatively biased towards Islam and Muslims.
You might think that the iERA's proposals to counter this widespread ignorance and bigotry towards the Muslim community would be universally welcomed. But you'd probably be wrong. Stand by for Islamophobes attempting to discredit the iERA's report by pointing to the presence of Zakir Naik, Bilal Philips and Hussain Yee on the organisation's advisory board.
Update: As predicted, see Left Foot Forward, where George Readings (of the Quilliam Foundation and previously associated with The Spittoon) denounces the iERA as "the mirror image of the EDL", and habibi who echoes Readings at Harry's Place.