Analyst's note: It remains important to know the enemy as well as the "fields" in which they operate. Dr. Hamid is helping in this understanding.
Dr. Tawfik Hamid (aka Tarek Abdelhamid), is an Islamic thinker and reformer, and one time Islamic extremist from Egypt. He was a member of a terrorist Islamic organization JI with Dr. Ayman Al-Zawaherri who became later on the second in command of Al-Qaeda. Dr. Hamid is currently a Senior Fellow and Chair of the study of Islamic Radicalism at the Potomac Institute for Policy Studies.
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"It is fair to say that the methodology and statistical analysis of Pew surveys in the Muslim world follow correct scientific methods. However, the results of the survey can be significantly affected by the type and the wording of the Questions (as the survey itself acknowledged[i]).
This can be illustrated in the recent Pew survey in Egypt that was released on April 25. The results of this survey could have yielded much more accurate description of the situation in Egypt if the following points were addressed.
1- Better selection of the words of the survey:
One of the questions of the survey asked the participants to give their opinion about the future law in Egypt. The question offered 3 possibilities:
a- If they would prefer the laws in the country should strictly follow the teachings of the Quran or
b- Only follow the values and principles of Islam
c- The laws should not be influenced by the Quran.
The results showed that 62% of the participants wanted the law to strictly follow the Quran. These results would indicate for many that the overwhelming majority of the Egyptians will choose an Islamic party like the Muslim Brotherhood to rule the next government. To the contrary, the result of the survey showed that only 17% of the participants in the survey wanted the Muslim Brotherhood to rule the next government (compared to a majority of 57% wanted Non-Islamic parties to rule the government).
The use of the word "Sharia Law" rather than using the word "Quran" was a better indicator of the percentage of the population who truly want to see full implementation of Sharia Laws in the country. For example some Muslims (especially Sufis) may see the Quran mainly as a book for doing rituals; others (such as the Quranics) may reject several elements of Sharia Laws such as stoning for adulteries as it is against the Quran. In fact, some progressive Muslims currently try to 'strictly' use verses from the Quran to support freedom of religion (Quran 2:256, 18:29) and to stop the traditional Sharia principle of killing the apostates. This, again, illustrates the importance of making a distinction in the questions between "Sharia Law" and the "Quran".
Ideally, the questions should have been even more specific by asking the participant if they want to see the Egypt controlled by Sharia Laws such as the case of Saudi Arabia, Iran, Somalia, and the Taliban or that they are content by the Sharia inspired Law that they already have in the country. The results of such a specific question can clearly demonstrate if Egypt will turn into another country that is ruled by Sharia Laws (which may will grave consequences on the economy as such a choice will be a big blow to tourism industry) or the country will be secular with Islamic flavor as in the case of Turkey (in this situation tourism Industry can survive with its positive impact on the economy).
2- Asking some questions in a specific context:
According to the survey 54% of the participants wanted to annul the peace treaty with Israel. This is a useful piece of information that is compatible with the level of growing Anti-Semitism in the country. However, the result did not clarify if the majority of the Egyptians would still support ending the peace treaty with Israel if this step will cause significant damage to their economy. For example, a person who might be working at a Hotel or as a Taxi driver may support ending the peace treaty with Israel as an abstract concept but may have different response if he recognized that this decision can damage tourism in the country and thus affect negatively his personal income or job.
To illustrate this point in the Egyptian culture it is useful to use a well-known Egyptian joke that says that a Muslim farmer asked the Sheik (Religious Scholar) of his village that what Islam says if a dog touched a wall. The Sheik answered him by saying that "the wall must be destroyed". The farmer then informed the Sheik that he has asked this question as a dog touched the wall of the house of the Sheik himself. The Sheck-according to the story said to him "in this situation all what is needed is to clean it with small amount of water"!!! The point here is that asking the same question in a different context may yield a completely different answer.
It was also important to ask the participants of the survey if they would also support ending the peace treaty with Israel even if this decision would cause serious damage to the economy of the country and their personal income as well. If the percentage of those who want to annul the peace treaty with Israel decline significantly when they consider the impact of the decision on their economy this could be used to start information and educational media campaign to clarify to the population in Egypt the negative impacts of ending the peace treaty with Israel on the economy of the country and their personal welfare.
3- Put clear definition to the used terminology:
According to the survey 31% percent sympathize with the Islamic Fundamentalists. The word "fundamentalists" need to be clearly defined in this situation as it might mean for some "terrorists" and for others it might mean those Muslims who want to force women to wear the Niquab (full face cover). The former case is frightening as it simply means that 31% of the population would support terrorism. This could be true, however, a clear definition for the word MUST be given to understand the true way of thinking within the society.
In addition, the survey demonstrated that 50% of the participants consider religious freedom as one of their top priorities. Again, the expression "Religious Freedom" MUST be clearly defined as it might mean for some people in the Egyptian society the right of every individual to choose his faith and believe and for others it might mean the freedom of Muslims to implement suppressive Sharia Laws.
In general, the survey was very beneficial however; some improvements on the questions are needed to yield more useful results.
