On Tuesday night, President Barack Obama spoke about how many Americans, including those who are running for president in the 2016 election, are speaking negatively about Muslims and their religion in the wake of terrorist attacks in the country and world, often carried out by extremist terrorist groups claiming to be Islamic.
But how do Muslims feel about their identity, religion and religious leadership?
The Futures Initiative at Tabah Foundation answered that question in a recent survey that interviewed Muslim millennials from countries with a heavy concentration of Muslims, including the UAE, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Morocco, Bahrain, Egypt and Palestine.
"Muslim millennials comprise the largest demographic in the Arab world today. Future projections affirm this status," Abaas Yunas of the Futures Initiative wrote in the survey. "At the Futures Initiative at Tabah Foundation we believe that it is only by knowing this generation that we can address the seismic religious, cultural, social and political shifts taking place in the Arab world today and in the future."
Among the findings, the Tabah Foundation discovered that the majority of Muslim millennials find it important to be known by their Muslim identity and take pride in it. A majority of these Muslims also say that their inner circle of friends includes a member of another faith.
They also don't see religion as the reason for social, political and financial decline around the world, especially in Arab regions. Rather, they feel religion will play a key role in creating a better future.
And most don't feel like the Islamic State and Al-Qaeda use Islamic doctrine correctly, saying that it is "a complete perversion of Islam."
You can read more about the survey's findings over at the Tabah Foundation, or, for a quick glance at the data, view the infographic below: