Inside Islam: What a Billion Muslims Really Think - PBS

Inside Islam: What a Billion Muslims Really Think, a new 55 minute long documentary film from Unity Productions Foundation, explores the expertly gathered opinions of Muslims around the globe as revealed in the world’s first major opinion poll, conducted by Gallup, the preeminent polling organization. Following its release, the film was broadcast on select PBS stations during 2008 and 2009.

Gallup researchers began by asking the questions on every American’s mind. Why is there so much anti-Americanism in the Muslim world? Who are the extremists and how do Muslims feel about them? What do Muslims like and dislike about the West? What do Muslim women really want?

Crucial policy decisions hang on these questions. They continue to generate passionate disagreements in the public square. Yet for all the heat and controversy, the actual views of the world’s Muslims have been conspicuously missing from this debate.

Now, we have the missing answers and statistics, gathered, parsed, and analyzed not by pundits but by professional researchers.

As part of this groundbreaking six-year project, Gallup conducted tens of thousands of interviews with residents in 35 predominantly Muslim nations, as well as smaller populations in Europe and the USA. The broad extent of the polling has delivered findings for the world’s 1.4 billion Muslims with a plus or minus accuracy of 3%.

Focused on the issues of Gender Justice, Terrorism, and Democracy –the film presents this remarkable data deftly, showing how it challenges the popular notion that Muslims and the West are on a collision course. Like the research, the film highlights a shared relationship that is based on facts – not fear.

Experts featured (A Partial List): Dalia Mogahed, Executive Director of the Gallup Center for Muslim Studies, John Esposito, University Professor, Georgetown University, RamiKhoury, Editor of the Daily Star (Beirut), and Kenneth Pollack, Director of Research, Saban Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institute.

The extensive credits of Executive Producers Alex Kronemer and Michael Wolfe span over 10 years of film making and include: Enemy of the Reich; Islamic Art: Mirror of the Invisible World; Inside Islam: What a Billion Muslims Really Think; Allah Made Me Funny; On a Wing and A Prayer: An American Muslim Learns to Fly; Talking Through Walls; Prince Among Slaves; Cities of Light: The Rise and Fall of Islamic Spain; and Muhammad: Legacy of a Prophet.

This film was produced and directed by Rob Gardner, whose credits include Arab and Jew: Wounded Spirits in a Promised Land; Islam: Empire of Faith; Inside Islam: What a Billion Muslims Really Think; Cities of Light: The Rise and Fall of Islamic Spain; and Rome: Rise and Fall of an Empire.

Inside Islam: What a Billion Muslims Really Think explores the expertly gathered opinions of Muslims around the globe as revealed in the world’s first major opinion poll, conducted by Gallup, the preeminent polling organization.

Gallup researchers began by asking the questions on every American’s mind. Why is there so much anti-Americanism in the Muslim world? Who are the extremists and how do Muslims feel about them? What do Muslims like and dislike about the West? What do Muslim women really want?

Crucial policy decisions hang on these questions. They continue to generate passionate disagreements in the public square. Yet for all the heat and controversy, the actual views of the world’s Muslims have been conspicuously missing from this debate.

Now, we have the missing answers and statistics, gathered, parsed, and analyzed not by pundits but by professional researchers.

As part of this groundbreaking six-year project, Gallup conducted tens of thousands of interviews with residents in 35 predominantly Muslim nations, as well as smaller populations in Europe and the USA. The broad extent of the polling has delivered findings for the world's 1.4 billion Muslims with a plus or minus accuracy of 3%.

Focused on the issues of Gender Justice, Terrorism, and Democracy – Inside Islam presents this remarkable data deftly, showing how it challenges the popular notion that Muslims and the West are on a collision course. Like the research, the film highlights a shared relationship that is based on facts – not fear.

Directed by: Rob Gardner

READ MADELAINE ALBRIGHT’S INSIDE ISLAM KEYNOTE ADDRESS