Malaysia urges West to learn about Islam

Western societies should try harder to understand Islam to curb misconceptions and bring an end to prejudice against Muslims, Malaysia’s foreign minister said today.

The image of Islam has deteriorated worldwide since the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, “primarily as a result of association with extremism, radicalism and poverty,” Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar told a seminar on Islam and international politics.

“There is indeed a wide gap between the predominantly Christian West and the Muslims,” Syed Hamid told academics, religious representatives and diplomats at the event jointly organised by a Malaysian think-tank and the French Embassy in Kuala Lumpur.

“It is imperative that the phenomenon now widely known as ‘Islamophobia’ is stopped dead in its tracks,” Syed Hamid said. “In this regard, more inter-civilisational dialogues should be organised to foster deeper understanding and bridge the gap.”

Syed Hamid – whose country chairs the 57-nation Organisation of the Islamic Conference, the world’s largest Muslim political grouping, blamed some of the problems on “distorted” reporting that linked Islam with terrorism, poverty and backwardness.

“The negative profiling of Islam needs to be changed,” he said. “Islam and Muslims must not be viewed with suspicion or as an enemy of the West. It is a religion of peace and justice.”

Syed Hamid noted that Muslim nations must also bear responsibility for improving their image by overhauling their education systems, economies and technological development so that they will be “respected and welcomed in the councils of the powerful.”