WASHINGTON, November 8 (IslamOnline.net) - A majority of Americans feel they have poor knowledge of Islam and its established principles, but many others believe that it is a religion of peace, a number of recent surveys unveiled.

A poll carried out by ABC News network in September 2003 found that 65 per cent of the respondents admitted having no principal understanding of the teachings of Islam, while 33 per cent were standing on the opposite line.

Americans are thus still divided on their vision of the religion, with 39 per cent polled consider it from a positive prospective, down from 47 per cent in October 2001, the results have revealed, according to the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) website Sunday, December 7.

Asked whether Islam calls for violence against non-Muslims, some 52 per cent of those polled answered in negative against 23 per cent who nodded in positive while 24 per cent favored a neutral stand.

The pollsters also found 57 per cent of the respondents against the idea of war prevailing between Islam and the West, although those believing the two sides are on a collision course raised to 35 against 28 per cent in 2001.

But the number turned smaller when those polled were asked whether they believe that Islam shows respect to other religions.

Some 31 per cent said Islam carried this respect, down from 41 per cent last year, against 43 per cent on the opposite side.

A new survey by the Public Information Office (PIO) found that 35 per cent of Americans believe that the September 11 attacks could be a lead to a larger conflict between U.S. and European peoples on one hand and the Muslim peoples on the other.

While 52 per cent believe the conflict is rather with a small “radical” group, the results said, in reference to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network, blamed by Washington for the 9/11 deadly attacks.

Another Gallop survey in October 2001 discovered that 66 per cent of Americans think positive of Muslims in the U.S., 54 per cent of Arabs and 52 per cent of Afghans.

Some 27 per cent think negative of Muslim community, 37 per cent of Arabs and 40 per cent of Afghans.

The results show that Americans are divided on Islam-related issues, Alaa Bayoumi of CAIR said.

"People are very important section for Muslims and Arabs concerned about being in touch with the United States," Bayoumi said.

"The surveys showed how great the challenges and actions needed to face them are," Bayoumi added.

CAIR had published a report on the experience of Muslim Americans two years after the September attacks, unveiling a larger sympathy with Muslim and Arab issues among many Americans, including civil advocacy groups, human rights groups and anti-war advocates.

"Minority-protection groups even linked the suffering of Muslims and Arabs in the aftermath of the attacks to the situation of the Japanese after WWI," said Bayoumi.

But attacks against Muslims are still up and running, given the high degree of ignorance and stereotyping.

Syndicated radio commentator Paul Harvey claimed in a program followed by many avid listeners around the country that Islam "encourages killing" a few days ago.

In the meantime, a new research found that there is no evidence that Islam restricts economic growth, casting doubt on the widely-held belief that Muslim societies are intrinsically less conducive to capitalism than those dominated by other religions.

The study, by Marcus Noland at the Institute for International Economics think-tank in Washington, reviewed growth in developing countries over the past few decades and found no evidence that countries with large Muslim populations grew more slowly, or had lower productivity growth, The Financial Times reported

Growth within three religiously mixed countries - India, Malaysia and Ghana - only Malaysia showed statistically significant lower growth within its Muslim population.

"Islam does not appear to be a drag on growth or an anchor on development as alleged," the paper concludes.

Excluding the effects of oil production, which dominates the Islamic Middle East, or studying Muslim Arab countries separately made no difference to the results, the Times said.

Conventional economic fundamentals such as the level of education and the share of investment and government in the economy - which were found to be unrelated to the prevalence of Islam - mattered far more for economic success, it added.

The view that particular religious affiliations affect growth has been a fertile ground for sociologists since the pioneering work of Max Weber, the German sociologist.

Some sociologists have argued that the tendency of Islamic education to rely on reiteration of a finite set of information, together with the disapproval of lending money at interest, has restricted innovation and growth in Muslim countries.