On Wednesday, May 23, 2007, "American Morning" anchor John Roberts talked with Zaheer Ali, along with Yasmin Hamidi (Network of Arab-American Professionals) and Haroon Moghul (Graduate Student, Columbia University), about the May 22, 2007 Pew Report on Muslims in America.

CNN's Transcript follows:

ROBERTS: Thirty-one minute after the hour now.

Startling statistics from a Pew Research poll have been making headlines in the last hour. The poll show that eight percent of U.S. Muslims -- this is Muslims living in the United States -- think that suicide bombings of civilian targets can often, or sometimes, be justified if it's in the defense of Islam. That number jumps look when you look at people between the ages of 18 and 29, 15 percent in that case.

But do the numbers tell the whole story? Here to talk about the Pew poll, I'm joined by three young Muslim-Americans, Yasmin Hamidi. She is with the Network of Arab-American Professionals. Haroon Moghul is a grad student at Columbia majoring in Islamic history, and Zaheer Ali is a Phd candidate who's doing an oral history of the Nation of Islam in Harlem.

Good morning to all of you.

Let's start with you, first of all, Yasmin. What do you make of this idea that -- now, we should say that it was only 1 percent of respondents who said that suicide bombings are justifiable in all cases, 7 percent said maybe in some cases. That would mean that the overwhelming majority is still against them, but I'm surprised that nearly 10 percent would say it's OK in some cases.

YASMIN HAMIDI, NETWORK OF ARAB-AMERICAN PROFESSIONALS: Well, I think it is a good news survey precisely for the reason you pointed out, which is that the overwhelming majority are against it.

I think what we have to look at that there is a minority that is unwilling to criticize violence against civilians as a political tactic, and I think that's what we have to look at. What that points to, I think, is the need for increased education of Muslim-Americans about the futility of violence as a political tactic, and I think that's what we need more of.

But I think that overall, it's good news in that the vast majority are against it.

ROBERTS: Haroon, what do you make of this idea that 15 percent of people under age 30 say that it's OK in some, if not all, cases?

HAROON MOGHUL, GRADUATE STUDENT: I think there's an ambiguity there, because as Yasmin was saying, that there's definitely a sense that this has become so common in the news that I wonder if we're not noticing a difference. Is there a difference between acknowledging violence and espousing it. These people weren't asked, you know, is this something tat you personally would do? Not that it makes it acceptable for even one person to espouse that kind of view. But at the same time there is an ambiguity there, and I think we also have a culture of violence in a broader sense, especially among youth, in terms of video games, and movies and just news that we get and the kind of environment that we're saturated by, and I wonder if that maybe affects the youth more so than the older generations.

ROBERTS: The poll also had another interesting finding. It found that 40 percent, only 40 percent, less than half of Muslims living in the United States, believe that Arabs were behind the 9/11 attacks. What do think is responsible for that number?

ZAHEER ALI, GRADUATE STUDENT: Well, I think It's important to keep in mind that events over the last few years, especially in the case of Iraq and the WMD that no one found has undermined the credibility of the U.S. government and its narratives. And certainly in the history of this country in terms of African-Americans there is enough reason to be suspicious and skeptical of the official narrative of the U.S. government.

ROBERTS: Can I ask you what do you think?

ALI: What do I think? I think that the -- I do think that the narrative we've been given is convincing.

ROBERTS: So you believe Arabs were behind it?

ALI: I believe as it has been presented to us pointed that the evidence does point in that direction. I do also believe, though, that it is very important to maintain skepticism, dissent, speaking truth to power and protests, which is very crucial to the Democratic process.

ROBERTS: Well, I think that the case for war going into Iraq and how it has been proven raised the skepticism level among all people.

Yasmin, do you know of Arab-Americans -- what about yourself -- or Muslim-Americans, Muslims in America, who may be skeptical of this?

HAMIDI: I'm sure. I definitely encounter that in my daily life. The majority of people I know think do believe that Arabs perpetrated the attacks.

I think as Zaheer said, there's a lot of skepticism. There's deep suspension in our community about the U.S.'s role in the region throughout history. And I think some of the policies that came about 9/11, the Patriot Act, special registration, the attack on Iraq, made people construct things in a certain way. It can be tempting to do so, especially when you have that mistrust, but I think it needs to go back to the facts, the evidence that's been presented and to look inside themselves.

ROBERTS: Haroon, you weren't born in this country?

MOGHUL: I was born here.

ROBERTS: You were born in this country.

How does your perspective as a Muslim in America of America differ, perhaps, from what we might see among Muslims in other areas of the world?

MOGHUL: I think there's definitely a lot of privilege that comes from being Muslim in America from my own background. A lot of immigrants who came here were able to do very well for themselves, and I think that's really reflected in the poll, that a lot of Muslim- Americans, 71 percent, I believe, think that if you work well in America, you'll do well for yourself, and that's definitely something that we've been inculcated with.

And being a minority in such a wealthy country definitely changes the way you look at Islam, I think, and the way you look at yourself and the world around you. And I think that's different from how a lot of Muslims in the rest of the world look at their own religion.

ROBERTS: When you look into the conversion to Islam, 91 percent of converts to Islam were born in the United States; 49 percent of those conversions happened before the age of 21.

Zaheer, were you a convert to Islam?

ALI: No. No.

ROBERTS: You were born in Muslim?

ALI: Yes.

ROBERTS: Give us some perspective here on why you think -- what is it about Islam that is attractive to people? What is it particularly attractive to young people? And what is attractive about it predominantly to African-Americans, who make up almost 50 percent of all the of converts?

ALI: Well, I think two things in particular. One, there's a strong history of many of the slaves who came to America came from predominantly Muslim parts of Africa, so there's an identification with the roots and history of Islam in Africa. Two, there's a long- standing history of Islam in the African-American community playing a very positive role. And when you look at the most prominent Muslim- Americans, many of them come out of the tradition of African-American Islam, Muhammad Ali, Malcolm X, Louis Farrakhan, Elijah Muhammad, Imam W.D. Muhammad (ph), Zay Shakir (ph), Sherman Jackson (ph), Anita McCloud (ph), and the list goes on, jazz artists, hip-hop artists. So there's a strong cultural, political and social component where African-Americans as Muslims have played a strong role in the African- American community.

ROBERTS: Well, you definitely have been doing your research. I hope that your thesis goes well and, do me a favor, send me a copy. I'd like to read it.

ALI: I will. Thank you.

ROBERTS: All right, Jasmin Hamidi, Haroon Moghul, Zaheer Ali, thanks very much for being with us to help put some perspective on this Pew Research study. It's a very interesting piece of information.