The poll indicated that nothing highlights the divide between Muslims and the West more clearly than responses to the cartoon controversy.

CAIRO — While many in the West see Muslims as fanatical, violent, and intolerant and Muslims generally view Westerners as selfish, immoral and greedy, European Muslims seem to represent the middle ground between the two extremes, according to a new global poll.

"After a year marked by riots over cartoon portrayals of [Prophet] Muhammad, a major terrorist attack in London, and continuing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, most Muslims and Westerners are convinced that relations between them are generally bad these days," said a survey by the American Pew Global Attitudes Project involving 14,000 people in 13 countries and posted on its website.

About 83 percent of Spaniards and 78 percent of Germans seem Muslims as fanatics, showed the results.

Nearly half of the French and Britons interviews, 50 and 48 respectively, share the same view.

In the United States, the percentage went slightly down with 43 percent of those surveyed associating Muslims with fanaticism.

Similarly, sixty percent of Spaniards and 52 percent of Germans believe that Muslims are violent people, according to the poll.

The numbers went down in the US, France and Britain to 45, 41 and 32 percent respectively.

Despite the negative trait attributions, solid majorities in France, Britain and the US still retain overall favorable opinions of Muslims.

The Germans and Spanish express much more negative views of both Muslims and Arabs than do the French, British or Americans.

Selfish

Muslim opinions about the West and its people have worsened over the past year and by overwhelming margins, Muslims blame Westerners for the strained relationship between the two sides, according to the poll.

Muslims in the Middle East and Asia generally see Westerners as selfish, arrogant and violent.

In Indonesia, the world's most populous country, 81 percent of those polled see Westerners as selfish while 72 percent seem them as arrogant.

The figure is slightly lower in Jordan and Turkey, with 73 and 69 percents respectively.

In Egypt, 63 percent of those surveyed believe Westerners are selfish while less than 5o percent seem them as arrogant.

For the most part, Muslim publics feel more embittered toward the West and its people than vice versa.

Also solid majorities in Indonesia, Jordan and Nigeria express favorable opinions of Christians.

Cartoons

Nothing highlights the divide between Muslims and the West more clearly than their responses to the controversy triggered by the Danish cartoons lampooning Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him).

Most people in Jordan, Egypt, Indonesia and Turkey blame the controversy on West's disrespect for Islam, showed the survey.

In contrast, majorities of Americans and Europeans accuse Muslims of intolerance to different points of view.

Last September, cartoons mocking Prophet Muhammad were published by Denmark's mass circulation Jyllands-Posten.

The blasphemous cartoons, including one showing the Prophet with a bomb-shaped turban, were later reprinted by European newspapers on claims of freedom of expression.

Bridge

In many ways, the views of Europe's Muslims represent a middle ground between the way Western publics and Muslims in the Middle East and Asia view each other.

Europe's Muslim minorities more often associate positive attributes to Westerners - including tolerance, generosity, and respect for women.

And in a number of respects Muslims in Europe are less inclined to see a clash of civilizations than are some of the general publics surveyed in Europe.

Solid majorities in Germany and Spain believe there is a natural conflict between being a devout Muslim and living in a modern society.

But most Muslims in both countries disagree.

In France, home to the largest Muslim minority in Europe estimated between six to seven millions, large percentages of both the general public and the Muslim minority see no such conflict.

Most European Muslims express favorable opinions of Christians, and while their views of Jews are less positive than those of Western publics, they are far more positive than those of Muslim publics.

In France, for example, a large majority of Muslims (71%) say they have favorable opinions of Jews.

Moreover, while publics in largely Muslim countries generally view Westerners as violent and immoral, this view is not nearly as prevalent among Muslims in France, Spain and Germany.

Peaceful Defense

The poll also showed that there were substantial declines among Muslims who say violence can be justified in the defense of Islam.

One-in-seven of Muslims in France, Spain, and Great Britain feel that attacks against civilian targets can at least sometimes be justified to defend Islam against its enemies.

The percentage was much higher in Nigeria with nearly half (46%) feel that attacks can be justified often or sometimes in the defense of Islam.

Freed Indonesian Muslim scholar Abu Bakar Bashir called on Muslims around the world to use peaceful means in their struggle to defend their faith, saying violence was only playing into the hands of the enemies of Islam.

The 68-year old Muslim scholar also said those who carried out terrorist attacks in Bali and elsewhere were "misguided" and should revise their violent methods.

Indonesia's Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), one of the largest independent Islamic organizations in the world, has also urged moderate Muslims to speak up against extremism.

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