82% of Danish Muslims reject terrorism, 18% support the Islamic Jihad and 31% see the Iraq/Afghanistan wars as an attack against Islam.
For more study results see:
* Denmark: 55% of Muslims think criticizing religion should be forbidden, 64% support curtailing freedom of speech
* Denmark: Close to 90% of Muslims would vote for the Left
* Denmark: 60% don't go to mosque, imams unrepresentative
* Denmark: 18% of Muslims want to see Sharia law implemented
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An overwhelming majority of the Danish population clearly rejects terrorism. But in the group of Muslims the numbers are not as high as in the rest of the population.
When asking the non-Muslim part of the population, 97% says that terrorism is unacceptable.
But only 82% of Muslims clearly reject terrorism, a survey conducted by Capacent for DR Nyheder shows.
The rest of the Muslims do not directly reject terrorism. Six percent agree that terrorism can be acceptable.
Justice minister Brian Mikkelsen is concerned about the numbers.
"We live in a rule of law and a democracy. In a society like ours it should have been all Muslims without exception who reject terrorism."
Terrorism researcher Jørgen Staun of the Danish Institute for International Studies is however not as concerned as the minister.
"It can be that those who were asked have a different understanding than what people here in th country have of what is terrorism. It can be that they don't think it's terrorism, but a war of liberation," he told Radioavisen. [DR's radio news]
A tenth of Muslims in the study had no position on the issue.
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Most Muslims in Denmark disagree with the extremist Muslim organizations Islamic Jihad, al-Qaeda and Hizb-ut-Tahrir.
But there are also some who agree with the organization. In DR's survey 'Your Muslim Neighbor', analysis institute Capacent asked participants to which degree they agree with the message of Islamic Jihad, al-Qaeda and Hizb-ut-Tahrir.
(From top to bottom: agree to a high degree, to some degree,to a lesser degree, not at all, don't know, won't answer)
Al-Qaeda got the least support, with 6% agreeing in some way (to a high degree, some or lesser degree) with the organization's message.
A few more support the message of Hizb-ut-Tahrir, 11%, while 18% more or less agree with the Islamic Jihad.
TV AVISEN spoke with two young Muslims in order to understand why some Muslims in Denmark sympathize with the Muslim organization.
Ehsan Zarar and Abdullahi Mohammed from Greve Gymnasium reject Islamic fundamentalists.
At the same time, Abdullahi Mohammed can understand the Muslim who support the organization, for example, when it comes to the Islamic Jihad's war against Israel.
He says that when people see all the violence all the children and old people who are killed in Palestine, it makes people want to support those who fight against it.
But he agrees with his classmate that there is a clear limit.
"I can support their idea of protecting people in Gaza, but I can't support their idea of killing innocent peo9ple, who have nothing to do with the war."
But sympathy with fundamentalists can be dangerous, says former PET (Danish Security Service) head Hans Jørgen Bonnichsen. He says it can often be a very thin line between idealism and fanaticism.
He doesn't think there's a big problem in Denmark. He says that when one hears the public debate, one gets the impression that everyone is a supporter. But the study shows that there are just a few.
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Sabri Durukan comes from Turkish Kurdistan, but has lived in Denmark for 13 years. He opposes Denmark's participation in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
"I think it's wrong, that people are being killed because of such things in the year 2009," says Sabri Durukan.
Sabri Durukan is one of those who thinks the wars are an attack against the Muslim world, also while th aim included removing Saddam Hussein in Iraq and the Taliban in Afghanistan.
"I think it's an attack, because the USA itself was involved in fostering the two characters in the two Muslim countries," says Sabri Durukan.
According to DR's survey 'Your Muslim Neighbor' a third of Muslims in Denmark think that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are an attack against the Muslim world.
This does not mean that the Muslims in Denmark are anti-Danish, thinks Peter Viggo Jakobsen, a security-policy researcher at Copenhagen University.
He says that the Muslims have a completely different angle on these wars than the Danes. For the Danes it's just far-away conflicts, but the Muslims a cultural and historic ties to those countries. Many of them probably have families in those countries which they know are suffering from the war.
The media coverage of the wars can also contribute to giving a different image of the coalition war Denmark is part of.
He says that the people who were interviewed probably see more Arab TV, where the coverage is completely different. While the general Danish population only watches Danish news, and are force-fed that this is a fantastic effort by the Danes. So the Muslims are subjected to a different angel.
Sabri Durukan doesn't understand the war efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan, but he does support war against the Taliban and Saddam Hussein.
"People could have done it in a different way. Instead of going directly into the country, people could have done it via democracy and maybe eduction in the schools," thinks Sabri Durukan.
Denmark' war efforts in Afghanistan and Iraq are an attack against the Muslim world:
Completely agree: 13% (Muslims), 1% (Danes)
Agree: 18% (Muslims), 7% (Danes)
Neither agree nor disagree: 18% (Muslims), 17% (Danes)
Disagree: 24% (Muslims), 26% (Danes)
Completely disagree: 16% (Muslims), 43% (Danes)
Don't know: 13% (Muslims), 6% (Danes)
Won't answer: 2% (Muslims), 1% (Danes)
Sources: DR 1, 2, 3 (Danish)
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