The Gallup Center for Muslim Studies has released the results of its latest poll, suggesting that more Americans feel prejudice toward Muslim than toward members of other religious faiths. According to the Gallup Center announcement:
More than 4 in 10 Americans (43%) admit to feeling at least “a little” prejudice toward Muslims — more than twice the number who say the same about Christians (18%), Jews (15%) and Buddhists (14%). The findings are based on a new Gallup Center for Muslim Studies report, “Religious Perceptions in America: With an In-Depth Analysis of U.S. Attitudes Toward Muslims and Islam,” released Thursday.
The Gallup Center for Muslim Studies has ties to the U.S. and global Muslim Brotherhood.The Executive Director of the Gallup Center is Dalia Mogahed who was appointed in April as one of two Muslim members to the President’s Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. Ms. Mogahed, who was born in Egypt and lived in the U.S. since the age of 5 was identified in 2003 as the Outreach Coordinator for the Islamic Center of Pittsburgh (ICP) whose co-founder recently lost a DOE security clearance and whose Imam was last reported facing deportation on immigration violations. Ms. Mogahed is the daughter of Elsayed Mogahed, an Egyptian immigrant who is a former engineering scientist at the University of Wisconsin and director of the Islamic Center of Madison (ICM). The website of the ICM links mainly to U.S. Muslim Brotherhood organizations and Souheil Ghannouchi, the President of the Muslim American Society (MAS), was ICM Imam and President for several years. The MAS is part of the U.S. Muslim Brotherhood and closest to the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood.
Ms. Mogahed is a co-author of a book with Dr. John Esposito, a Senior Scientist at the Gallup Center, suggesting that majority of the world’s Muslims support some form of democracy. Dr. Esposito has consistently espoused views consistent with Brotherhood doctrine and during the 1990’s was known for his claims that Islamic fundamentalism was, in fact, democratic and posed no threat to the U.S. Dr. Esposito has at least a dozen past or present affiliations with global Muslim Brotherhood/Hamas organizations including having served on the advisory board of the Institute of Islamic Political Thought in the U.K. headed by Azzam Tamimi, a leader in the U.K. Muslim Brotherhood and often described as a Hamas spokesman. Dr. Esposito has also served with global Muslim Brotherhood leader Youssef Qaradawi on the Steering Committee of the Circle of Tradition and Progress and enjoyed a close relationship with the United Association For Studies and Research (USAR), part of the U.S. Muslim Brotherhood’s Palestine Committee and part of the Hamas support infrastructure. In 2005, Saudi prince Alaweed bin Talal, a financial supporter of the global Muslim Brotherhood donated $20 million to the Center for Muslim Christian Understanding at Georgetown, headed by Dr. Esposito.
Finally, Ahmed Younis is the Senior Consultant for Gallup and a Senior Analyst for the Gallup Center for Muslim Studies. Mr. Younis was previously a National Director for the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC), a U.S. organization also linked to the Muslim Brotherhood.
Discussion1 Comment
Interesting that both CAIRand Islam Online jumped on the results.