Pro-Islam Ads Appear in London as Muslims Push Progressive Image

People have long wondered: What would Jesus do? Now some seem to be asking: What would Muhammad do?

On Monday, an advertising campaign aimed at combating negative perceptions of Islam was launched across London. The "Inspired by Muhammad" campaign consists of posters featuring a variety of British Muslim professionals. One shows a female lawyer -- wearing a veil -- next to the text, "I believe in women's rights. So did Muhammad." Another shows a charity worker beside the headline: "I believe in social justice. So did Muhammad." The idea is to emphasize the ways Muslims balance religious tradition with contemporary human rights and social responsibility.

The ads are running on buses, in subway stations throughout London and on a fleet of the city's distinctive black cabs. They are sponsored by the Exploring Islam Foundation, which is devoted to publishing and marketing materials that creatively explore the numerous aspects of Islam. Remona Aly, campaigns director for the foundation, said many Muslims were concerned about the way their faith was perceived by the public. "We want to foster a greater understanding of what British Muslims are about and our contribution to British society. We are proud of being British and being Muslim," she said.

The campaign comes on the heels of a recent survey of 2,152 U.K. adults in which 58 percent said they associated Islam with extremism and 50 percent associated it with terrorism. The poll also found that 69 percent believe Islam encourages the repression of women.

How much British Muslims actually subscribe to extremist views is a matter of debate, as I noted in an article on the Christmas Day bomber earlier this year. One poll taken last year by the Centre for Social Cohesion found that 60 percent of active members of campus Islamic groups believe that killing in the name of religion can be justified. But another study by Cambridge University's Center for Development Studies found that the vast majority of young Muslims were far more concerned with democracy and human rights than with al-Qaida or terrorism.

Regardless of the reality, the perception of Islam in the United Kingdom remains largely negative. And perhaps by employing the tools of popular religious education, this new ad campaign can move public opinion too. The "What would Jesus do?" campaign in the United States in the 1990s was enormously successful in fusing Christian messages with popular culture in the form of bracelets, T-shirts, coffee mugs and CDs. In an entirely different vein, last year's Atheist Bus Campaign in London with its slogan, "God probably doesn't exist: So stop worrying and enjoy life," raised record amounts of cash and inspired spin-off campaigns in Spain and Italy.

When I first read about the "Inspired by Muhammad" campaign, I thought that it must be a uniquely European (if not uniquely British) phenomenon. There are nearly 2.5 million Muslims living in the United Kingdom (a country with roughly 61 million people). As the above polls suggest, Islam is a live -- and at times, tense -- political, cultural and social issue here right now. Ditto France, the Netherlands, Switzerland and pretty much any other major European country.

But it turns out that Islam has motivated similar campaigns in the United States as well (where estimates place the number of Muslims anywhere between 1.3 and 7 million, out of nearly 310 million people). In 2008, various Muslim groups in the United States began running pro-Islam bus campaigns in cities like Chicago. One such campaign -- dubbed "Calling Islam" -- took place in South Florida and was intended to create a positive awareness of the religion.

There are even counter-campaigns. Last month, conservative activist Pamela Geller, who runs an organization called Stop Islamization of America, financed an ad campaign called "Leaving Islam?" The ads direct you to a website, RefugefromIslam.com, which Geller says is "meant to help provide resources for Muslims who are fearful of leaving the faith." The ads have run on buses in both South Florida and New York City.

On Tuesday, my colleague David Gibson reported on a ballot initiative by Oklahoma legislators to forbid the state's courts from invoking Sharia (Islamic) law when making rulings (a practice used occasionally in Great Britain to resolve disputes between Muslims). Apparently, some legislators fear that Islam is slowly taking over America, even in Oklahoma (a place not normally known for its cornfield mosques).

Taken together, these two trends suggest that we're likely to see more attempts to sway popular opinion around the message and practice of Islam in the West. And some of it won't be pretty.

I think I'll take my bike.

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