American Shi'a Muslim Survey Results

1
The Qunoot Foundation Fall Conference Exploring
the Layers of Our Identity
American Shia Muslim Survey2004
Allah never changes the grace He has bestowed on
any people until they first change that which is
in their hearts and that is because Allah is
All-Hearing, All-Knowing -Glorious Quran 853
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• Survey Background
• Who did we talk to?
• What did they say?
• Summary and next steps

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Primary Objective
To take the first step to better understand the
American Shi'a perspectives on the politics,
discrimination, and inter-Muslim relations
Background, Methodology, and Limitations

• The product of e-mail conversations between
  friends in the fall of 2004 about the upcoming
  Presidential election, 9/11 and Shi'a-Sunni
  relations
• The result of the discussions was to survey as
  many Shi'as as possible via paper surveys
  distributed at Eid-ul-Fitr prayers and web-based
  surveys
• Survey questions were simply designed to strike a
  balance between survey length and obtaining the
  most data on a wide variety of issues
• Email invitations were sent to major email
  listserves, community directories, and personal
  contacts
• All responses, paper and electronic, were
  inputted using a web-based software and analyzed
  for trends
• While the survey had limitations, its results
  show trends and beg new questions
• Statistical significance Limited resources
  resulted in a good, but statistically
  insignificant number of respondents
• Internet bias Unable to reach those who are do
  not have internet access
• Questions were not worded by professional
  statisticians resulting in a few leading
  questions in the survey

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• Survey Background
• Who did we talk to?
• What did they say?
• Summary and next steps

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969 people responded to the survey of which 38
were women and 60 of the respondents were aged
35 or younger
Sample by Gender
Sample by Age
597 (62)
292 (30)
270 (22)
Number of Respondents
371 (38)
159 (16)
107 (11)
77 (8)
63 (7)
Source American Shi'a Muslim Survey 2004
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73 of the respondents were US citizens and over
70 of the respondents had a South Asian
background
Sample by Citizenship
Sample by Ethnicity
34
478 (49)
24

Number of Respondents
258 (27)
232 (24)
15
11
10
6
Source American Shi'a Muslim Survey 2004 Other
includes Afghan, African American, Caucasian,
and those who identify with more than one group
7

• Survey Background
• Who did we talk to?
• What did they say?
• Elections
• Post 9/11 Discrimination
• Inter-Muslim Relations
• Summary and next steps

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Over 60 of respondents registered to vote and
76 of those registered voters cast votes. This
trend was the same between naturalized citizens
and those born in the USA.
Voting Penetration
Why registered voters did not vote
Native Citizens
Did NotVote(24)
Naturalized Citizens
NotRegistered (36)
49
42
33


Voted (76)
Registered(64)
21
13
12
11
9
Source American Shi'a Muslim Survey 2004
Other includes missing absentee ballots, unable
to reach polls, and religious preference
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Respondents overwhelmingly voted for Kerry and
cited the Iraq war and civil rights as their main
concerns.
Candidate Selection
Top Voter Issues
32
Native Citizens
Female
85
Naturalized Citizens
Male
27
78
26
25
23
23
22
21

14
12
6
4
3
0
Source American Shi'a Muslim Survey 2004 Note
Numbers may not add up due to rounding
10
While the majority of respondents have not
experienced hate crimes, for those that have, the
crimes occurred after 9/11. Over 65 of these
crimes were un-reported to any government
authority or religious organization.
Have you been a victim of a hate crime?
When did the hate crimes occur?
Who did you report the crime to?
80
66
63



27
20
18
14
12
1
The most common response under Other was family
Source American Shi'a Muslim Survey 2004
11
Since 9/11, discrimination has increased the most
at airports and government facilities (e.g., DMV)
while most respondents felt that discrimination
in other areas remain relatively the same as
pre-9/11 experiences. These results were similar
for both men and women.
Since 9/11, has discrimination you personally
face in the following settings increased,
decreased or remained the same?
Increase
Same
Decrease
Percent
Source American Shi'a Muslim Survey 2004
12
Half of the respondents reported to have visited
a Sunni Islamic center within 12 months of the
survey. Of those that attended these centers,
approximately half did not encounter any
discrimination or different treatment.
Have you attended a Sunni Islamic center within
the past 12 months?
Were you treated differently due to your Shi'a
faith while attending a Sunni center?
53
50
50
Percent
Percent
27
20
Source American Shi'a Muslim Survey 2004
13
Less that one third of respondents reported any
dialogue between their Shi'a center and a local
Sunni center. Less than one quarter reported
that relations between Shi'as and Sunnis in the
US are improving.
Is there any dialogue between your local Shi'a
and Sunni centers?
How are Shi'a-Sunni relationships evolving in the
US?
48
47
26
23
29
Percent
Percent
24
14
Source American Shi'a Muslim Survey 2004
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• Survey Background
• Who did we talk to?
• What did they say?
• Summary and next steps

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The survey reveals interesting insights on the
American Shi'a community specifically with
regards to voting preferences, post-9/11
discrimination, and inter-Muslim relations

• Politically the Shi'a community appears eager to
  participate in the electoral process. Once
  registered to vote, respondents come out to vote
  in large numbers
• Although the vast majority of respondents did not
  experience hate crimes after 9/11, those that did
  were not able to, or chose not to, report the
  crime to an organization that could do something
  about it
• Half of the respondents attended a Sunni center
  of which about half encountered no discrimination
  or different treatment
• Often, differential treatment occurs during
  prayers or other rituals where there are over
  differences between Shi'as and Sunnis. While
  some of this differential treatment stems from
  bigotry, some of it comes from curiosity.
• Respondents who said there was a dialogue between
  Shi'a and Sunni centers were more likely to state
  Shi'a-Sunni relations in America are improving

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This should be a starting point for a more
rigorous study of the Shi'a community which
capitalizes on the lessons learned from this
experience

• Several lessons from this experience should help
  guide any future study of the American Shi'a
  community
• Paper based surveys, in English, Arabic, Farsi
  and Urdu, need to be disseminated and collected
  in an organized manor to understand the views of
  those not actively using the internet
• A stronger effort needs to be made to get
  responses from non-South Asian American Shi'as
• Professionals need to be involved to properly
  word the survey and aggregate the results

The American Shi'a Survey should be expanded to
be more encompassing and representative of the
Shia community in America.