The vast majority of American Muslims are loyal citizens.
But a recent Pew poll reports troubling findings: “8% of U.S. Muslims—a larger percentage than in Pakistan—say that suicide bombings or other violence against civilians is at least sometimes justified to defend Islam. Perhaps most troubling, 21% of U.S. Muslims see a great deal or fair amount of support for extremism among their own” (David Rusin, “Pew Poll Quantifies the Radical Minority of U.S. Muslims,” Sept. 6, 2011).
Pew researchers discovered that some 60 percent of American Muslims express concern in varying degrees about the increase of U.S. Islamic extremism, clearly a far more encouraging percentage than the percentage of the American general public expressing such concerns. American Muslims are generally satisfied with the country’s overall direction, still believing that hard work eventually ends up in success.
However, David Rusin concludes that “the moderate and largely silent [Muslim] masses do not offset a hundred thousand radicals, if not more, who approve of al-Qaeda and serve as potential recruits.” (Source: Islamist Watch.)
