Muslim World Divided over Koran's Influence on National Laws

The Muslim world is deeply divided as to whether the Koran should influence national laws, according to a new report by the Pew Research Center.

Pew surveyed people in 10 countries with significant Muslim populations.

Around half or more of the entire population in Pakistan, the Palestinian territories, Jordan, Malaysia and Senegal believes the laws in their nation should strictly follow the Koran.

On the other end of the spectrum, in Nigeria, Indonesia, Lebanon, Turkey and Burkina Faso, around a quarter or less of the population believes their country's laws should reflect Islam's holy book.

To break it down even further, 78 percent of the population of Pakistan, which is one of only five declared Islamic Republics in the world, believes this.

Sixty-five percent of the population in Palestinian territories believes laws should reflect the Koran, up from 36 percent of Palestinians who thought this in 2011.

In contrast, only 9 percent of the population of Burkina Faso believes this, and only 13 percent of the population of Turkey agrees.

The report also found that, in general, people who are more educated have more secular views related to this topic.

For example, in six of the 10 countries, "people with a secondary education or more are more likely to say that national laws should not be influenced by the Koran, compared with those who have less than a secondary education," according to the Pew Research Center survey.