Muslims differ widely on religiosity and tolerance: global poll

The global Muslim community of 1.6 billion people agree on the core principles of their faith, but differ widely in religiosity and religious tolerance, according to a poll published yesterday.

Indonesian Muslims attend prayer during the first day of Ramadan in Jakarta. Muslims are unified by core beliefs and practices, such as faith in a single God, belief in the Prophet Mohammed and fasting during Ramadan, but there are sometimes wide differences in religious interpretation.
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WASHINGTON // The global Muslim community of 1.6 billion people agree on the core principles of their faith, but differ widely in religiosity and religious tolerance, according to a poll published yesterday.

"Muslims are unified by core beliefs and in core practices", such as faith in a single God, belief in the Prophet Mohammed and fasting during Ramadan, but there are sometimes wide differences in religious interpretation, said James Bell, the principal author of the new Pew Research Centre study.

The report, which Mr Bell said was "unprecedented" in scope, was conducted in more than 80 languages in 39 countries that account for 67 per cent of the world's Muslim population.

Researchers interviewed about 38,000 people in 2008-2009 and 2011-2012 as part of a larger project on changes in global religions.

Between 85 and 100 per cent of Muslims said they believed in God and revered the Prophet Mohammed, the survey stated.

Eight of 10 people interviewed in sub-Saharan Africa as well as South and South East Asia said religion was "very important".

But only six in 10 agreed in sample countries of the Middle East and North Africa (Mena), and only one in two agreed in the former Soviet countries.

In Mena, Muslims aged 35 and older were more religious than their younger counterparts. The opposite was true of religiosity in Russia.

A median figure of 63 per cent of Muslims in surveyed countries believed there was only one way to interpret Islam. Only 37 per cent of American Muslims agreed with that statement.

In countries where Sunnis and Shiites lived side-by-side in large numbers - such as in Lebanon and Iraq - believers were more likely to accept the other sect.

Conversely, in predominantly Sunni Pakistan, 41 per cent surveyed said Shiites were not true Muslims.

A quarter of everyone surveyed indentified themselves as neither Sunni nor Shiite, but as "just a Muslim".

Nine out of 10 Muslims interviewed were born into the religion.

Conversion rates are highest in former communist countries, with 7 per cent of all converts in Russia.

Many of the converts were raised in atheism.