Islam: Theory vs Experience

February 7, 2024 By Raymond Ibrahim

The gulf between understanding Islam in theory and in practice is wide and telling. Based on the findings of a recent study, what western peoples think of Islam when relying on secondhand information from the powers-that-be (the media, the political “elite,” etc.) is vastly different from what they think of Islam after personally experiencing it. According to the report:

In 2009, Public Issue investigated, for the first time in Greece, the attitudes of Greeks towards Islam, the social perceptions of the concepts and symbols associated with the Islamic religion, the degree of knowledge and familiarity of citizens with the Islamic tradition, as well as the existing social beliefs regarding Islam-West and Islam-Greece relations.

The study found a dramatic shift of opinion among Greeks between 2009, when Muslims in Greece were few and far between -- meaning Greek opinion on Islam was theoretical and largely shaped by the media, etc. -- and 2023, seven years after large Muslim migrant populations first began landing in or passing through Greece in 2016.

Now, after experiencing Islam firsthand, “Greek public opinion… treats the Muslim world clearly more negatively or even hostilely,” the report found..............Little wonder. Since 2016, Greeks have had a major taste of Islam, leading to a “Crime explosion in Greece -- 55% of prisoners are migrants,” to quote from another recent report............. One report found “a correlation between the increase in illegal migration and the incidents of attacks on Greek Orthodox religious churches and religious spaces during the five-year period which occurred during the peak of the migration crisis.”.............In short, although public opinion towards Islam is negatively shifting, these changes are not as pronounced as might be expected -- underscoring the power of generations’ worth of indoctrination. In other words, abstract theory -- enshrined by the notion that Islam is the otherwise forever “misunderstood” religion of “peace,” etc. -- is still having an influence..............To Read More....