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Photographers and Photo Editors on the Passion That Drives Them

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Why we do it? 13 photographers and photo editors talk about their motivation

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How 9/11 Shaped the Lives of American Muslims

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How 9/11 Shaped the Lives of American Muslims

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How 9/11 Shaped the Lives of American Muslims

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After 19 Muslim hijackers attacked the United States on 9/11, many Muslims living across the country had their allegiance to America questioned and faced problems being able to practice their religion. Ray Suarez reports from Tennessee on the state of life for Muslim-Americans, 10 years after the Sept. 11 attacks.

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In a 2011 meeting, the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations, as well as the League of Arab States, a key partner, identified Islamophobia as an important area of concern. Gallup developed a specific set of analyses, based on measurement of public opinions of majority and minority groups in multiple countries, to guide policymakers in their efforts to address the global issue of Islamophobia.

Research shows that the U.S. identified more than 160 Muslim-American terrorist suspects and perpetrators in the decade since 9/11, just a percentage of the thousands of acts of violence that occur in the United States each year. It is from this overall collection of violence that "an efficient system of government prosecution and media coverage brings Muslim-American terrorism suspects to national attention, creating the impression -- perhaps unintentionally -- that Muslim-American terrorism is more prevalent than it really is." Never mind that since 9/11, the Muslim-American community has helped security and law enforcement officials prevent nearly two of every five al Qaeda terrorist plots threatening the United States[1] and that tips from the Muslim-American community are the largest single source of initial information to authorities about these few plots.[2]

Islamophobia affects more than a small fringe group of Muslims. Through various research vehicles and global polling efforts, Gallup has collected a wealth of data detailing public opinion about various aspects of respect, treatment, and tolerance relative to Muslims worldwide. This brief serves as a snapshot of opinion and thought displayed by people from multiple countries, regions, and communities -- findings that chronicle perceptions associated with Islamophobia globally.
Respect and Fair Treatment
Globally, many Muslims report not feeling respected by those in the West. Significant percentages of several Western countries share this sentiment, saying that the West does not respect Muslim societies. Specifically, 52% of Americans and 48% of Canadians say the West does not respect Muslim societies. Smaller percentages of Italian, French, German, and British respondents agree.

Data reported from 2011[3]

Looking specifically at data from the U.S., U.K., France, and Germany, opinions about respect in the West for Muslim societies generally stayed consistent from 2008 to 2011, aside from a 9-percentage-point decrease among Germans.

Data reported from 2008 and 2011[4]

Several elements can affect the interactions and degree of respect between Muslim and Western societies. Differences in culture, religion, and political interests may shape one population's opinion toward the other. Definitions of Islamophobia tend to attribute fear or hatred of Muslims to their politics or culture, and to Islam and the religiosity of Muslims.

When asked where they think tensions between the Muslim and Western worlds originate, answers vary. Those in Middle East and North Africa (MENA) nations and in the U.S. and Canada equally cite religion and political interests as the primary cause of tensions. Sub-Saharan Africans more often cite religion than politics, while Europeans say political interests are the driving force behind Muslim-West tensions.

Data reported from 2008[5]

Religion and culture outpace politics across all regions surveyed as the root cause of tension between Muslim and Western worlds. This is significant in discussions about Islamophobia, considering political interests can vary and change while cultural and religious differences are more ingrained within populations.

Recent examples of Islamophobia exist within several countries. In late 2009, the largest party in the Swiss parliament put to referendum a ban on minaret construction. The government opposed the ban, citing harm to the country's image -- and particularly Muslims' views of Switzerland. Nearly 60% of Swiss voters and 22 out of 26 voting districts voted in favor of the ban, leading to cries of Islamophobia by leaders in countries such as Pakistan and organizations such as the United Nations.

In the month following the referendum, Gallup asked a representative sample of Swiss adults a series of questions about the issue specifically and Muslim rights in general. Most Swiss say that religious freedom is important for Swiss identity. About one-third agree that there is an irresolvable contradiction between liberal democracy and Islam. However, the Swiss are more likely to disagree (48%) than agree (38%) with that statement. Rather, 84% say it is possible for a Muslim to be a good Swiss patriot. When asked if those in the Swiss Muslim community have reason to believe they have been discriminated against in the wake of the minaret ban, two-thirds (68%) say no. Furthermore, most Swiss say they do not believe that the recent belief that Switzerland was being seen as willing to infringe on the rights of its Muslim minority in the wake of the referendum on minarets has harmed Switzerland's reputation in the international community.

Despite a very public debate on the banning of a religious symbol of Islam, much of the Swiss population did not believe that the Swiss Muslim community should feel discriminated against.

In 2008, Gallup asked representative samples from a subset of majority-Muslim countries about public perceptions of fair treatment of Muslims in the U.S., France, Britain, and China. While about one-third of this subset say that Muslims living in each of those countries are treated as equal citizens regarding their rights and freedoms, about one-quarter of respondents say these Muslims are not. About 40% of this subset of majority-Muslim countries say they don't know how these four countries treat their Muslim residents. The notion that Muslims in these countries are treated unfairly supports the idea that Muslims in general believe that unfair treatment of Muslims -- a component of Islamophobia -- does exist in Western societies.

Data reported from 2008

Research in a subset of majority-Muslim countries from within the MENA region, though, finds that more than one-half do not agree that Muslims in the West are treated as equal citizens. One-quarter of this population say Muslims in the West receive equal treatment, while about one-fifth say they do not know. This is another example of Muslims globally seeing the West as mistreating Muslims in their countries. This belief adds to the perception of Muslims being excluded from social, political, and civic life in Western societies.

Data reported from 2008 and 2009

Majorities of representative populations within majority-Muslim countries globally say each of five actions Western societies could take are very important to showing respect to Muslim societies. About 8 in 10 say it would be very important to them, personally, if Western societies were to abstain from desecrating the Qur'an and other Muslim religious symbols. About 6 in 10 say it would be very important to them if those in the West treated Muslims fairly in the policies that affect them, protect the rights of Muslim minorities in these societies, accurately portray Muslims in Western media, and work with Muslim societies as equal partners on issues of mutual interest.

Data reported from 2011
Prejudice
According to "Fear, Inc.," a report by the Center for American Progress, a network of misinformation experts actively promotes Islamophobia in America. The promotion of Islamophobia creates both prejudice and discrimination among the general population. Prejudice plays a key role in the existence and proliferation of Islamophobia. Prejudice alone, as a negative judgment, opinion, or attitude, is a detriment to a population's overall well-being. Prejudice combined with overt actions, rising to the level of discrimination, creates a dangerous environment for its victims. Gallup analyses offer an examination of prejudice against Muslims and Islam in a number of countries and regions globally.

In the U.S., about one-half of nationally representative samples of Mormons, Protestants, Catholics, Muslims, and Jews agree that in general, most Americans are prejudiced toward Muslim Americans. Specifically, 66% of Jewish Americans and 60% of Muslim Americans say that Americans in general are prejudiced toward Muslim Americans.

Data reported from 2010

Muslims (48%) are more likely than Americans of other major religious groups to say they, personally, have experienced racial or religious discrimination in the past year. Muslim Americans are more than twice as likely as U.S. Jews, Catholics, and Protestants to say they experienced such discrimination in the past year.

Data reported from 2010

The 48% of Muslim Americans who say they experienced racial or religious discrimination is on par with Hispanic Americans (48%) and African Americans (45%), as calculated from a combination of these same groups. Arab Americans (52%) are most likely to say they experienced this type of discrimination.

Self-reported knowledge, whether accurate or not, about the religion of Islam seems to affect Americans' feelings of prejudice toward Muslims. Of Americans who say they have no personal prejudice toward Muslims, 29% say they have no knowledge at all about Islam. In fact, those who say they hold no prejudice toward Muslims are more likely than those who say they hold a little, some, or a great deal of prejudice to say they have no knowledge about Islam.

Data reported from 2007 and 2009

Even among Americans who report no personal prejudice toward Muslims, one-third say they have an unfavorable opinion about Islam (36%). Unsurprisingly, those indicating they have a great deal of prejudice toward Muslims are the most unfavorable about Islam (91% unfavorable). That one-third of those with no reported prejudice have an unfavorable opinion of Islam is alarming because it indicates that those who harbor no reported prejudice for the people maintain negative views about the religion.

Data reported from 2007 and 2009

People who display a personal prejudice toward Muslims are not negative about religion in general or minority religions overall. For example, Americans who say they are at least a little prejudiced against Muslims express favorable opinions about Judaism, regardless of the degree to which they hold prejudice against Muslims.

Familiarity with individual Muslims makes a small difference in reported levels of personal prejudice toward Muslims. Fifty-three percent of those Americans who say they hold no prejudice toward Muslims say they know someone who practices Islam. Comparatively, 44% of those who say they have a great deal of prejudice toward Muslims say the same.

The greater their self-reported prejudice toward Muslims, the more likely Americans are to say most Muslims around the world do not want peace and are not accepting of other religions and of people of races other than their own. Regardless of personal prejudice against Muslims, at least one in five Americans say that most Muslims around the world are not accepting of other religions and of people of different races other than their own. In fact, about one-third of those reporting no prejudice toward Muslims say Muslims around the world are not accepting of other religions.

Data reported from 2007 and 2009

Gallup finds Muslim Americans, however, are among the most integrated religious groups in the U.S. Gallup Religious Tolerance Index, which measures people's attitudes toward religious faiths different from their own and ranks survey respondents by three categories: Isolated, Tolerant, and Integrated people (see sidebar for definitions).

Among U.S. religious groups, 44% of Muslim Americans are integrated, on par with Mormons (46%) and greater than Jewish Americans (36%), Protestants (35%), and Catholics (34%).

When examining religious tolerance globally, the U.S. and Canada and sub-Saharan Africa rate as the most integrated regions Gallup studied. Respondents from sub-Saharan Africa are also most likely to explain the root causes of tensions between Muslim and Western societies as religious. MENA and Asia are the most isolated regions, along with Europe and the former Soviet Union.

Muslim respondents globally are no different from Western societies in their level of integration and openness to people of other faiths.

Data reported from 2008 through 2010[6]

Gallup's Global Practice Leader for Faith Communities, Dr. Albert L. Winseman, developed the Religious Tolerance Index in 2002 with Gallup scientists Dr. Jim Harter and Julie Hawkins to measure Americans' attitudes toward religious faiths that are different from their own. The Index is based on respondents' level of agreement with the following five statements on a scale of "1" (strongly disagree) to "5" (strongly agree):

· I always treat people of other religious faiths with respect.

· Most religious faiths make a positive contribution to society.

· I would not object to a person of a different religious faith moving next door.

· People of other religions always treat me with respect.

· In the past year, I have learned something from someone of another religious faith.

From the combination of their answers, Gallup classifies populations as:

Isolated: Isolated individuals tend not to be members of any particular faith group, but if they are, they tend to believe in the truth of their perspective above all others. They do not want to know about other religions. They also neither respect nor feel respected by those of other faiths.

Tolerant: Tolerant individuals have a "live-and-let-live" attitude toward people of other faiths, and they generally feel that they treat others of different faiths with respect. However, they are not likely to learn from or about other religions.

Integrated: Integrated individuals go beyond a "live-and-let-live" attitude and actively seek to know more about and learn from others of different religious traditions. They believe that most faiths make a positive contribution to society. Furthermore, integrated people not only feel they respect people from other faith traditions, but they also feel respected by them.

In America, prejudice toward Muslim Americans exists among both men and women, young and old, uneducated and learned. Still, there are some differences in prejudice levels within different demographic groups. Men are more likely than women, for example, to say they have some or a great deal of prejudice toward Muslims. Those who report a great deal of prejudice toward Muslims are more likely than those who report none or smaller levels of prejudice to have completed only a high school-level education. And those who report a great deal of prejudice toward Muslims are more likely than those with lesser or no such prejudice to be married. Higher levels of prejudice toward Muslims do not correlate with age and urbanicity, though.

Data reported from 2007 and 2009

As Americans' self-proclaimed prejudice toward Muslims increases, so too does the likelihood of claiming the Republican party as their political affiliation. Fifty percent of those who report a great deal of prejudice toward Muslims say they are Republicans, compared with 17% of those who identify as Democrats and 7% as independents. Those who report no prejudice toward Muslims are more likely to be Democrats than Republicans, 39% to 23%, respectively.

Data reported from 2007 and 2009
Loyalty to the United States
Gallup asked Americans whether they think Muslim Americans are loyal or not loyal to the U.S. Perceptions of disloyalty tend to fuel the flames of Islamophobia. If one believes that Muslims are not loyal, one may also believe that Muslims should be feared, not trusted, and not treated fairly. A feeling that Muslim Americans are disloyal to the U.S. is examined as a crucial component of Islamophobia. Women are more likely than men to think that Muslims in American are not loyal to the U.S. Those who think Muslim Americans are loyal to the country are younger than those who say Muslim Americans aren't loyal to the U.S. And while most Americans (87%) strongly agree that they would not object to a person of a different religion living next door to them, those who say Muslim Americans are loyal to the U.S. are more likely than those who don't to strongly agree that they would not object to neighbors of a different faith.

Americans who think their Muslim peers are loyal to the U.S. are more likely than those who question this loyalty to have confidence in a number of major U.S. institutions. Specifically, those who say Muslim Americans are loyal to the country are more likely to say they themselves have confidence in the U.S. judicial system (63% vs. 41%), in honesty of elections (49% vs. 27%), in the media (29% vs. 14%), in the Federal Bureau of Investigation (73% vs. 61%), and in local police (82% vs. 75%). The exception to this is Americans' confidence in the military, which is slightly greater among those who say Muslim Americans are not loyal to the U.S. However, most Americans say they have confidence in the military, regardless of their opinion about Muslim Americans' loyalty.

Data reported from 2010

Overall, one-third of Americans say they think Muslim countries have a very unfavorable opinion of the U.S. People who say Muslim Americans are not loyal to the U.S. are much more likely than those who say Muslim Americans are loyal to think people in Muslim countries harbor very unfavorable views of the U.S. Overall, though, majorities of Americans who say Muslim Americans are loyal or not loyal to the U.S. think people in Muslim countries have at least somewhat unfavorable views of America.

Data reported from 2010

Of those who say Muslim countries have unfavorable views of America, more than one-half (57%) say it is based mostly on misinformation provided by the media and government in those countries about what the U.S. has done, while about one-third (32%) say it is mostly because of what the U.S. has done. Those who say Muslim Americans are not loyal to the U.S. are much more likely to say these unfavorable views in Muslim countries are because of misinformation by these countries' media and government (70%), and not based on past U.S. actions (17%). Those who say Muslim Americans are loyal to the U.S. are still more likely to say unfavorable views in Muslim countries are due to misinformation (54%) than to U.S. actions (35%).

Two-thirds of Americans surveyed in this particular study say that religion is an important part of their daily lives. Those who say Muslim Americans are not loyal to the U.S. are more likely than those who say Muslims are loyal to claim religion is an important part of their daily life (74% vs. 65%).
European Muslims Feeling the Pressure
Gallup collected data in 2008 from representative samples in Germany, France, and the U.K., focusing on several issues related to the social and cultural integration of Muslim communities in these three countries. And while majorities of the adults in these countries agree that people from minority groups enrich the cultural life of their nations, sizable minorities of these respondents express fear about certain aspects of Muslim culture.

Data reported from 2008

Only the general population in the U.K. includes a sizable minority -- more than one-quarter -- that says people with different religious practices than theirs threaten respondents' way of life. The Muslim populations in France, Germany, and the U.K. are less likely than the general public in these countries to say those with differing religious practices threaten their way of life.

Between 16% and 21% of people in France, Germany, and the U.K. say they would not like Muslims as their neighbors, similar to the percentages of each country's general population that say they would not like homosexuals as neighbors. Generally, people in these countries are more likely to say they would not like Muslims as neighbors than they are to say the same about Jews, Christians, atheists, blacks, and Asians. An exception exists in the U.K., though, where 22% of people say they would not like immigrants or foreign workers as neighbors.

Data reported from 2008

Significant proportions of the French, German, and British publics consider different Muslim practices and relationships threatening. For example, 16% of Germans, 30% of British, and 39% of French say that wearing the hijab -- the traditional head covering worn by Muslim women -- is a threat to European culture. Similar proportions associate Muslims with terror, as 23% of Germans, 25% of the French, and 34% of the British say that Muslims are sympathetic to al Qaeda.

Overall, however, large majorities of French (90%), British (90%), and German (95%) respondents say they have not experienced racial or religious discrimination in the past year. Among Muslims in each of these three countries, those in France and Germany are significantly more likely than the general population to say they experienced discrimination in the past year.
Addressing Islamophobia by Bringing People Closer Together
Proportions of the general populations in these three countries are reluctant to have Muslims as neighbors. This reluctance manifests itself in people's decisions of whether or not to live in diverse communities. However, individuals living in mixed communities might be most open to those different from themselves, and least likely to be Islamophobic.

The general populations in France (49%), Germany (51%), and the U.K. (48%) are most likely to say they live in a neighborhood generally comprised of people who share their ethnic and religious backgrounds. Significant percentages of each population, though, say their neighborhoods are made up of a mix of people, including those who share their ethnic and religious backgrounds and others who do not. Specifically, 40% of French, 38% of German, and 43% of British respondents say they live among diverse neighborhoods. Muslims in France (74%), Germany (53%), and the U.K. (54%) are more likely to say they live in diverse neighborhoods than mostly homogenous ones.

Gallup studied more closely what types of neighborhoods people in each of these three European countries say they would live in if they could.

In France, people are most likely to want to live in neighborhoods with a mix of people of varying religious and ethnic backgrounds, regardless of where they currently live. Fifty-two percent of those who live in a more homogeneous community would prefer a diverse neighborhood, and 80% of those who currently live in a more diverse neighborhood or local area would want to stay in such a neighborhood.

In the U.K., people are more apt to prefer a community similar to the one in which they currently reside. Specifically, 55% of those who live in a mostly homogenous neighborhood now would prefer to live in that same type of situation, while 80% of those who live in a diverse neighborhood currently would prefer that if they could live in any neighborhood in the country.

Those in Germany who live among people of mostly similar religious and ethnic backgrounds are somewhat split between wanting to live in a mostly homogenous neighborhood (42%) or in a more varied one (48%) if they could chose anywhere in the country to live. Those who already live among people of different religious and ethnic backgrounds, though, are much more likely to say they would choose the same type of neighborhood (74%) than to reside among mostly similar people (19%) if given the choice.

In Germany, France, and the U.K., though, Gallup found that isolated individuals are more likely than tolerant and integrated people to say they live among people with mostly similar religious and ethnic backgrounds. Integrated (70%) and tolerant (65%) people are more likely than isolated individuals (49%) to say they live in more diverse neighborhoods.

Data reported from 2008

Additionally, isolated respondents in Germany, the U.K., and France are more likely than tolerant and integrated respondents to say they would not like Muslims as neighbors. The same holds true when considering whether they would want immigrants or foreign workers as their neighbors.

Data reported from 2008

Isolated people in France, the U.K., and Germany are more likely than their tolerant and integrated counterparts to say women who wear the hijab are a threat to European culture. Conversely, people are more likely to say the wearing of the hijab is an enrichment to European culture as they move from isolated to tolerant to integrated, as measured by the Religious Tolerance Index.

Data reported from 2008

People who are isolated (38%) are more likely than those who are tolerant (22%) or integrated (15%) to say Muslims are sympathetic to al Qaeda. Those who are isolated (29%) are also more likely than tolerant (13%) or integrated (6%) people to agree that others with different religious practices than their own threaten their way of life.

Within key Western societies, there are genuine negative perceptions, prejudices, and discriminations targeted against Muslims. Seeing Muslims as not loyal, voicing prejudice against Muslims, and avoiding Muslims as neighbors are all symptoms of Islamophobia that exist in the West. However, these feelings do not characterize Western countries. They are generally shared by a subset of the general population, though they exist in substantial enough numbers to draw both attention and concern. The very existence of Islamophobia is something to be addressed. The degree to which individuals expressing Islamophobia have particular views of Muslims in their communities, Muslims globally, and Islam as a religion is genuine and quantifiable with measurable outcomes.
Survey Methods
[1] Alejandro J. Beutel, "Data on Post-9/11 Terrorism in the United States" (Washington, D.C.: Muslim Public Affairs Council, 2011), available at http://www.mpac.org/assets/docs/publications/MPAC-Post-911-Terrorism-Data.pdf

[2] Charles Kurzman, "Muslim-American Terrorism Since 9/11: An Accounting" (Chapel Hill, NC: Triangle Center on Terrorism and Homeland Security, 2011), available at http://sanford.duke.edu/centers/tcths/about/documents/Kurzman_Muslim-American_Terrorism_Since_911_An_Accounting.pdf

[3] Please refer to the Gallup Muslim-West Perceptions Index: Inaugural Findings report for methodology.

[4] Please refer to the Gallup Muslim-West Perceptions Index: Inaugural Findings report for methodology.

[5] Data appear in Abu Dhabi Gallup Center report Measuring the State of Muslim-West Relations: Assessing the "New Beginning," page 35.

[6] Results are based on face-to-face interviews with approximately 1,000 adults in each country in the regions listed, aged 15 and older, from 2008 through 2010.

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Islamophobia: Understanding Anti-Muslim Sentiment in the West

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Globally, many Muslims report not feeling respected by those in the West. Significant percentages of several Western countries share this sentiment, saying that the West does not respect Muslim societies. Specifically, 52% of Americans and 48% of Canadians say the West does not respect Muslim societies.

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Islam, major world religion promulgated by the Prophet Muhammad in Arabia in the 7th century ce. The Arabic term islām, literally "surrender," illuminates the fundamental religious idea of Islam-that the believer (called a Muslim, from the active particle of islām) accepts surrender to the will of Allah (in Arabic, Allāh: God). Allah is viewed as the sole God-creator, sustainer, and restorer of the world. The will of Allah, to which human beings must submit, is made known through the sacred scriptures, the Qurʾān (often spelled Koran in English), which Allah revealed to his messenger, Muhammad. In Islam Muhammad is considered the last of a series of prophets (including Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Solomon, and Jesus), and his message simultaneously consummates and completes the "revelations" attributed to earlier prophets.

Retaining its emphasis on an uncompromising monotheism and a strict adherence to certain essential religious practices, the religion taught by Muhammad to a small group of followers spread rapidly through the Middle East to Africa, Europe, the Indian subcontinent, the Malay Peninsula, and China. By the early 21st century there were more than 1.5 billion Muslims worldwide. Although many sectarian movements have arisen within Islam, all Muslims are bound by a common faith and a sense of belonging to a single community.

This article deals with the fundamental beliefs and practices of Islam and with the connection of religion and society in the Islamic world. The history of the various peoples who embraced Islam is covered in the article Islamic world.

The foundations of Islam

The legacy of Muhammad

From the very beginning of Islam, Muhammad had inculcated a sense of brotherhood and a bond of faith among his followers, both of which helped to develop among them a feeling of close relationship that was accentuated by their experiences of persecution as a nascent community in Mecca. The strong attachment to the tenets of the Qurʾānic revelation and the conspicuous socioeconomic content of Islamic religious practices cemented this bond of faith. In 622 ce, when the Prophet migrated to Medina, his preaching was soon accepted, and the community-state of Islam emerged. During this early period, Islam acquired its characteristic ethos as a religion uniting in itself both the spiritual and temporal aspects of life and seeking to regulate not only the individual's relationship to God (through conscience) but human relationships in a social setting as well. Thus, there is not only an Islamic religious institution but also an Islamic law, state, and other institutions governing society. Not until the 20th century were the religious (private) and the secular (public) distinguished by some Muslim thinkers and separated formally in certain places such as Turkey.

This dual religious and social character of Islam, expressing itself in one way as a religious community commissioned by God to bring its own value system to the world through the jihād ("exertion," commonly translated as "holy war" or "holy struggle"), explains the astonishing success of the early generations of Muslims. Within a century after the Prophet's death in 632 ce, they had brought a large part of the globe-from Spain across Central Asia to India-under a new Arab Muslim empire.

The period of Islamic conquests and empire building marks the first phase of the expansion of Islam as a religion. Islam's essential egalitarianism within the community of the faithful and its official discrimination against the followers of other religions won rapid converts. Jews and Christians were assigned a special status as communities possessing scriptures and were called the "people of the Book" (ahl al-kitāb) and, therefore, were allowed religious autonomy. They were, however, required to pay a per capita tax called jizyah, as opposed to pagans, who were required to either accept Islam or die. The same status of the "people of the Book" was later extended in particular times and places to Zoroastrians and Hindus, but many "people of the Book" joined Islam in order to escape the disability of the jizyah. A much more massive expansion of Islam after the 12th century was inaugurated by the Sufis (Muslim mystics), who were mainly responsible for the spread of Islam in India, Central Asia, Turkey, and sub-Saharan Africa ( see below).

Beside the jihad and Sufi missionary activity, another factor in the spread of Islam was the far-ranging influence of Muslim traders, who not only introduced Islam quite early to the Indian east coast and South India but also proved to be the main catalytic agents (beside the Sufis) in converting people to Islam in Indonesia, Malaya, and China. Islam was introduced to Indonesia in the 14th century, hardly having time to consolidate itself there politically before the region came under Dutch hegemony.

The vast variety of races and cultures embraced by Islam (an estimated total of more than 1.5 billion persons worldwide in the early 21st century) has produced important internal differences. All segments of Muslim society, however, are bound by a common faith and a sense of belonging to a single community. With the loss of political power during the period of Western colonialism in the 19th and 20th centuries, the concept of the Islamic community (ummah), instead of weakening, became stronger. The faith of Islam helped various Muslim peoples in their struggle to gain political freedom in the mid-20th century, and the unity of Islam contributed to later political solidarity.

Sources of Islamic doctrinal and social views

Islamic doctrine, law, and thinking in general are based upon four sources, or fundamental principles (uṣūl): (1) the Qurʾān, (2) the Sunnah ("Traditions"), (3) ijmāʿ ("consensus"), and (4) ijtihād ("individual thought").

The Qurʾān (literally, "reading" or "recitation") is regarded as the verbatim word, or speech, of God delivered to Muhammad by the archangel Gabriel. Divided into 114 suras (chapters) of unequal length, it is the fundamental source of Islamic teaching. The suras revealed at Mecca during the earliest part of Muhammad's career are concerned mostly with ethical and spiritual teachings and the Day of Judgment. The suras revealed at Medina at a later period in the career of the Prophet are concerned for the most part with social legislation and the politico-moral principles for constituting and ordering the community.

Sunnah ("a well-trodden path") was used by pre-Islamic Arabs to denote their tribal or common law. In Islam it came to mean the example of the Prophet-i.e., his words and deeds as recorded in compilations known as Hadith (in Arabic, Ḥadīth: literally, "report"; a collection of sayings attributed to the Prophet). Hadith provide the written documentation of the Prophet's words and deeds. Six of these collections, compiled in the 3rd century ah (9th century ce), came to be regarded as especially authoritative by the largest group in Islam, the Sunnis. Another large group, the Shiʿah, has its own Hadith contained in four canonical collections.

The doctrine of ijmāʿ, or consensus, was introduced in the 2nd century ah (8th century ce) in order to standardize legal theory and practice and to overcome individual and regional differences of opinion. Though conceived as a "consensus of scholars," ijmāʿ was in actual practice a more fundamental operative factor. From the 3rd century ah ijmāʿ has amounted to a principle of stability in thinking; points on which consensus was reached in practice were considered closed and further substantial questioning of them prohibited. Accepted interpretations of the Qurʾān and the actual content of the Sunnah (i.e., Hadith and theology) all rest finally on the ijmāʿ in the sense of the acceptance of the authority of their community.

Ijtihād, meaning "to endeavour" or "to exert effort," was required to find the legal or doctrinal solution to a new problem. In the early period of Islam, because ijtihād took the form of individual opinion (raʾy), there was a wealth of conflicting and chaotic opinions. In the 2nd century ah ijtihād was replaced by qiyās (reasoning by strict analogy), a formal procedure of deduction based on the texts of the Qurʾān and the Hadith. The transformation of ijmāʿ into a conservative mechanism and the acceptance of a definitive body of Hadith virtually closed the "gate of ijtihād" in Sunni Islam while ijtihād continued in Shiʿism. Nevertheless, certain outstanding Muslim thinkers (e.g., al-Ghazālī in the 11th-12th century) continued to claim the right of new ijtihād for themselves, and reformers in the 18th-20th centuries, because of modern influences, caused this principle once more to receive wider acceptance.

The Qurʾān and Hadith are discussed below. The significance of ijmāʿ and ijtihād are discussed below in the contexts of Islamic theology, philosophy, and law.

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Islam | Religion, Beliefs, Practices, & Facts

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Islam, major world religion that emphasizes monotheism, the unity of God ('Allah' in Arabic), and Muhammad as his final messenger in a series of revelations. As the literal word of God, the Qur'an makes known the will of God, to which humans must surrender (lending the name Islam, meaning 'surrender').

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On September 11, 2001, 19 militants associated with the Islamic extremist group al Qaeda hijacked four airplanes and carried out suicide attacks against targets in the United States. Two of the planes were flown into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, a third plane hit the Pentagon just outside Washington, D.C., and the fourth plane crashed in a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Almost 3,000 people were killed during the 9/11 terrorist attacks, which triggered major U.S. initiatives to combat terrorism and defined the presidency of George W. Bush.
WATCH: 102 Minutes That Changed America on HISTORY Vault
World Trade Center

On September 11, 2001, at 8:45 a.m. on a clear Tuesday morning, an American Airlines Boeing 767 loaded with 20,000 gallons of jet fuel crashed into the north tower of the World Trade Center in New York City.

The impact left a gaping, burning hole near the 80th floor of the 110-story skyscraper, instantly killing hundreds of people and trapping hundreds more in higher floors.

As the evacuation of the tower and its twin got underway, television cameras broadcasted live images of what initially appeared to be a freak accident. Then, 18 minutes after the first plane hit, a second Boeing 767-United Airlines Flight 175-appeared out of the sky, turned sharply toward the World Trade Center and sliced into the south tower near the 60th floor.

The collision caused a massive explosion that showered burning debris over surrounding buildings and onto the streets below. It immediately became clear that America was under attack.
READ MORE: How 9/11 Became the Deadliest Day in History for U.S. Firefighters
Osama bin Laden

The hijackers were Islamic terrorists from Saudi Arabia and several other Arab nations. Reportedly financed by the al Qaeda terrorist organization of Saudi fugitive Osama bin Laden, they were allegedly acting in retaliation for America's support of Israel, its involvement in the Persian Gulf War and its continued military presence in the Middle East.

Some of the terrorists had lived in the United States for more than a year and had taken flying lessons at American commercial flight schools. Others had slipped into the country in the months before September 11 and acted as the "muscle" in the operation.

The 19 terrorists easily smuggled box-cutters and knives through security at three East Coast airports and boarded four early-morning flights bound for California, chosen because the planes were loaded with fuel for the long transcontinental journey. Soon after takeoff, the terrorists commandeered the four planes and took the controls, transforming ordinary passenger jets into guided missiles.
LISTEN NOW: Blindspot: The Road to 9/11 Podcast
Pentagon Attack

As millions watched the events unfolding in New York, American Airlines Flight 77 circled over downtown Washington, D.C., before crashing into the west side of the Pentagon military headquarters at 9:45 a.m.

Jet fuel from the Boeing 757 caused a devastating inferno that led to the structural collapse of a portion of the giant concrete building, which is the headquarters of the U.S. Department of Defense.

All told, 125 military personnel and civilians were killed in the Pentagon, along with all 64 people aboard the airliner.
READ MORE: How the Pentagon's Design Saved Lives on September 11
Twin Towers Collapse

Less than 15 minutes after the terrorists struck the nerve center of the U.S. military, the horror in New York took a catastrophic turn when the south tower of the World Trade Center collapsed in a massive cloud of dust and smoke.

The structural steel of the skyscraper, built to withstand winds in excess of 200 miles per hour and a large conventional fire, could not withstand the tremendous heat generated by the burning jet fuel.

At 10:30 a.m., the north building of the twin towers collapsed. Only six people in the World Trade Center towers at the time of their collapse survived. Almost 10,000 others were treated for injuries, many severe.
SEE MORE: 9/11 Photos
Flight 93

Meanwhile, a fourth California-bound plane- United Flight 93-was hijacked about 40 minutes after leaving Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey. Because the plane had been delayed in taking off, passengers on board learned of events in New York and Washington via cell phone and Airfone calls to the ground.

Knowing that the aircraft was not returning to an airport as the hijackers claimed, a group of passengers and flight attendants planned an insurrection.

One of the passengers, Thomas Burnett, Jr., told his wife over the phone that "I know we're all going to die. There's three of us who are going to do something about it. I love you, honey." Another passenger-Todd Beamer-was heard saying "Are you guys ready? Let's roll" over an open line.

Sandy Bradshaw, a flight attendant, called her husband and explained that she had slipped into a galley and was filling pitchers with boiling water. Her last words to him were "Everyone's running to first class. I've got to go. Bye."

The passengers fought the four hijackers and are suspected to have attacked the cockpit with a fire extinguisher. The plane then flipped over and sped toward the ground at upwards of 500 miles per hour, crashing in a rural field near Shanksville in western Pennsylvania at 10:10 a.m.

All 44 people aboard were killed. Its intended target is not known, but theories include the White House, the U.S. Capitol, the Camp David presidential retreat in Maryland or one of several nuclear power plants along the eastern seaboard.
READ MORE: On 9/11, Heather Penney Tried to Bring Down Flight 93 in a Kamikaze Mission
How Many People Died in 9/11 Attacks?

A total of 2,996 people were killed in the 9/11 attacks, including the 19 terrorist hijackers aboard the four airplanes. Citizens of 78 countries died in New York, Washington, D.C., and Pennsylvania.

At the World Trade Center, 2,763 died after the two planes slammed into the twin towers. That figure includes 343 firefighters and paramedics, 23 New York City police officers and 37 Port Authority police officers who were struggling to complete an evacuation of the buildings and save the office workers trapped on higher floors.

At the Pentagon, 189 people were killed, including 64 on American Airlines Flight 77, the airliner that struck the building. On Flight 93, 44 people died when the plane crash-landed in Pennsylvania.

America Responds to the Attacks

At 7 p.m., President George W. Bush, who was in Florida at the time of the attacks and had spent the day being shuttled around the country because of security concerns, returned to the White House.

At 9 p.m., he delivered a televised address from the Oval Office, declaring, "Terrorist attacks can shake the foundations of our biggest buildings, but they cannot touch the foundation of America. These acts shatter steel, but they cannot dent the steel of American resolve."

In a reference to the eventual U.S. military response he declared, "We will make no distinction between the terrorists who committed these acts and those who harbor them."

Operation Enduring Freedom, the American-led international effort to oust the Taliban regime in Afghanistan and destroy Osama bin Laden's terrorist network based there, began on October 7. Within two months, U.S. forces had effectively removed the Taliban from operational power, but the war continued, as U.S. and coalition forces attempted to defeat a Taliban insurgency campaign based in neighboring Pakistan.

Osama bin Laden, the mastermind behind the September 11th attacks, remained at large until May 2, 2011, when he was finally tracked down and killed by U.S. forces at a hideout in Abbottabad, Pakistan. In June 2011, then-President Barack Obama announced the beginning of large-scale troop withdrawals from Afghanistan.

Department of Homeland Security Is Created

In the wake of security fears raised by 9/11 and the mailing of letters containing anthrax that killed two and infected 17, The Homeland Security Act of 2002 created the Department of Homeland Security. It was signed into law by President George W. Bush on November 25, 2002. Today, the Department of Homeland Security is a cabinet responsible for preventing terror attacks, border security, immigrations and customs and disaster relief and prevention.

The act was followed two days later by the formation of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States. The bipartisan " 9/11 Commission," as it came to be known, was charged with investigating the events that lead up to September 11th. The 9/11 Commission Report was released on July 22, 2004. It named Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the accused mastermind behind 9/11, "the principal architect of the 9/11 attacks."

Mohammed led propaganda operations for al Qaeda from 1999-2001. He was captured on March 1, 2003 by the Central Intelligence Agency and Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence and interrogated before being imprisoned in Guantanamo Bay detention camp with four other accused terrorists charged with 9/11-related war crimes. The use of torture, including waterboarding, during Khalid Sheikh Mohammed's interrogation has received international attention. In August 2019, a U.S. military court judge in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba set a trial date for Mohammed and the other four men charged with plotting the 9/11 terrorist attacks, to begin in 2021.

Economic Impact of 9/11

The 9/11 attacks had an immediate negative effect on the U.S. economy. Many Wall Street institutions, including the New York Stock Exchange, were evacuated during the attacks. On the first day of trading after the attacks, the market fell 7.1 percent, or 684 points. New York City's economy alone lost 143,000 jobs a month and $2.8 billion wages in the first three months. The heaviest losses were in finance and air transportation, which accounted for 60 percent of lost jobs. The estimated cost of the World Trade Center damage is $60 billion. The cost to clean the debris at Ground Zero was $750 million.
READ MORE: 5 Ways 9/11 Changed America
Victim Compensation Fund

Thousands of first responders and people working and living in lower Manhattan near Ground Zero were exposed to toxic fumes and particles emanating from the towers as they burned and fell. By 2018, 10,000 people were diagnosed with 9/11-related cancer.

From 2001 to 2004, over $7 billion dollars in compensation was given to families of the 9/11 victims and the 2,680 people injured in the attacks. Funding was renewed on January 2, 2011, when President Barack Obama signed The James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act into law. Named for James Zadroga, a New York City Police officer who died of respiratory disease he contracted after rescuing people from the rubble at Ground Zero, the law continued health monitoring and compensation for 9/11 first responders and survivors.

In 2015, funding for the treatment of 9/11-related illness was renewed for five more years at a total of $7.4 billion. The Victim Compensation Fund was set to stop accepting claims in December 2020.

On July 29, 2019, President Trump signed a law authorizing support for the September 11 Victim Compensation Fund through 2092. Previously, administrators had cut benefits by up to 70 percent as the $7.4 billion fund depleted. Vocal lobbyists for the fund included Jon Stewart, 9/11 first responder John Feal and retired New York Police Department detective and 9/11 responder Luis Alvarez, who died of cancer 18 days after testifying before Congress.

9/11 Anniversary and Memorial

On December 18, 2001, Congress approved naming September 11 "Patriot Day" to commemorate the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. In 2009, Congress named September 11 a National Day of Service and Remembrance.

The first memorials to September 11 came in the immediate wake of the attacks, with candlelight vigils and flower tributes at U.S. embassies around the world. In Great Britain, Queen Elizabeth sang the American national anthem during the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace. Rio de Janeiro put up billboards showing the city's Christ the Redeemer statue embracing the New York City skyline.

For the first anniversary of the attacks in New York City in 2002, two bright columns of light were shot up into the sky from where the Twin Towers once stood. The "Tribute in Light" then became an annual installation run by the Municipal Art Society of New York. On clear nights, the beams are visible from over 60 miles away.

A World Trade Center Site Memorial Competition was held to select an appropriate permanent memorial to the victims of 9/11. The winning design by Michael Arad, "Reflecting Absence," now sits outside the museum in an eight-acre park. It consists of two reflecting pools with waterfalls rushing down where the Twin Towers once rose into the sky.

The names of all 2,983 victims are engraved on the 152 bronze panels surrounding the pools, arranged by where individuals were on the day of the attacks, so coworkers and people on the same flight are memorialized together. The site was opened to the public on September 11, 2011, to commemorate the 10-year anniversary of 9/11. The National September 11 Memorial & Museum followed, opening on the original World Trade Center site in May 2014. The Freedom Tower, also on the original World Trade Center site, opened in November 2014.

Photo Galleries

Sources

"Study Confirms 9/11 Impact on New York City Economy." The New York Times
"September 11: nearly 10,000 people affected by 'cesspool of cancer.'" The Guardian.
"Congress passes 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund extension championed by Jon Stewart." CNN.com
The Encyclopedia of 9/11. New York Magazine.
FAQ About 9/11. 9/11 Memorial.
September 11th Terror Attacks Fast Facts. CNN.
9/11 Death Statistics. StatisticBrain.com.

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On September 11, 2001, 19 militants associated with the Islamic extremist group al Qaeda hijacked four airplanes and carried out suicide attacks against targets in the United States. Two of the planes were flown into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, a third plane hit the Pentagon just outside Washington, D.C., and the fourth plane crashed in a field in Pennsylvania.

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Defining images from the 9/11 attacks | Pictures | Reuters

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The second tower of the World Trade Center bursts into flames after being hit by a hijacked airplane, September 11, 2001. REUTERS/Sara K. Schwittek

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