Majority of Muslims think alcohol consumption morally wrong

World Bulletin / News Desk

In April 2013, The Pew Research Center, in Washington, published a well-rounded report on religion and public life as part of The Pew Forum. The report, consisted of five chapters pursuant to the world's Muslims within the scope of religion, politics and society. It's trying to answer to the questions of what the Muslim world believes, on everything from alcohol to honor killings, in 8 maps, 5 charts.

The report gives a sum of information connected with the beliefs about Sharia, such as introducing some comparisons between views on current laws and their realtion to Sharia. Within the fraim of religion and politics, some concepts are pointed out such as democracy, religious freedom, religious leader's role in politics and Islamic parties.

The report also exclusively points out beliefs, marriage, the family and beliefs about family honor within the context of morality. In report's fourth chapter, research focuses on some sociological and religious concepts such as women and veiling, wives role, women and divorce, inheritance rights for women (by referring women's views), sharia and women rights women in society.

The report tells about some other issues such as relations among Muslims and interfaith relations. However we have focused on the outcomes of the beliefs concerning honer killings across the world, particularly world's Muslim communities.

The data from this sweeping 226 page report, and some maps and charts studied by Max Fisher from The Washington Post, explore attidudes and opinions from Muslim communities throughout the world. 

But there have to be some caveats for reader, just as Fisher warns, “The findings here do not represent all Muslims; just as they show diversity of opinion between communities, so, too, is there diversity within communities. After all, a poll of all American Christians would not capture the differences between Baptists and Catholics, much less between New Jersey Catholics and Louisiana Catholics. There is, in other words, no such thing as a monolithic Muslim worldview.”

And also remember, the Pew Forum unfortunately did not survey the world's all countries or muslim communities. But it does, as Fisher said, offer a wide, comprehensive view of many of the world's largest Muslim communities and their opinions.”

The report tells about some other issues such as relations among Muslims and interfaith relations.

However we have focused on outcomes of the problems concerning alcohol consumption across the world, particularly world's Muslim communities.

Pew's survey shows that moral attitudes are less uniform when it comes to questions of family planning, divorce and polygamy. Almost all the regions surveyed, attitudes toward, for example, polygamy vary widely from country to country and more specifically from region to region. Again in the case of polygamy, just in Southern and Eastern Europe (68%) and Central Asia (62%) do most say that the practice of taking multiple wives is morally unacceptable.

There has also, according to the results sweeping the Pew Forum, been a wide agreement among the world's community that certain behaviours such as drinking alcohol are morally wrong. The percentage of Muslims who think alcohol consumption is morally wrong in Southern-Eastern Europe (62%), Central Asia (66%), Southeast Asia (93%), South Asia (82%), Middle East&North Africa (84%), Sub-Saharan Africa (82%). 

"HONOR KILLINGS"

Pew also asked survey respondents "whether honor killings are ever justified as punishment for pre- or extra-marital affair." Honor killings means, in the practice, that a person is killed (often by his or her own family) for having a relationship out of wedlock. And the victim of this practice is typically a woman.

From the results of the survey, designed and interpreted by the Pew Research Center, it can be concluded that according majorities of Muslims surveyed rejected the practice of honor killings in 14 out of 23 countries.

Fisher says “survey respondents were generally more likely to support honor killings when the "offense" was committed by a woman rather than a man, although the margin is typically quite small.”

Actually, just Fisher pictured with maps and charts, you could not get any clear information on responds to honor killing practice from report of the Pew Forum. Because percent of Muslims who say honor killings are never justified as said Fisher.