London-based scholar attending the 30th International Islamic Unity Conference in the Iranian capital of Tehran related on some moves which lead to Islamophobia and the actions which can be taken against the issue.
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Ali al-Hakim, senior lecturer at the University of Middlesex in London, in an interview with Taqrib News Agency (TNA) on the sideline of 30th International Islamic Unity Conference stressing the role of scholars and Muslims, both in their country and in foreign countries in introducing true Islam to non-Muslims as a way to prevent expansion of Islamophobia.
He welcomed the theme chosen for the 30th meeting of Islamic Unity, “Islamic Unity and Confrontation with Takfir” and added his proposals as the subtitles for the main topic and also an article “hijacking Islam, performing a Qur’anic task or realization of Zionist dreams” submitted to the conference.
He called Takfir (excommunication) as a global challenge with long background which has turned quite serious in the present era.
He said,” Based on my article Islam has been hijacked and b y that I mean that the real teaching of Islam and the genuine message of Islam has been hijacked and presented in a negative destructive way that Islam is all about violence, killing, enslaving the ladies and keep them as captives.”
Professor of Islamic studies noted,” This is while the real teaching of Islam is definitely not identical with what has been presented in the media.”
The cleric stressed,” Here comes the theory of “the third person” in the field of mass media which says something while the target is not either me or you (as the audiences) it is a third person so they say something which is ongoing while the fact is that they have been misusing this information for the European audience and for the non-Muslims so that they are prevented, frightened and all the time alerted that you shouldn’t come closer to teachings of Islam or Muslims because they are all terrorists they are all people of violence.”
According to the scholar the whole activity is meant to stir hatred in the converts and fully load them against their own society and sometimes to get them manipulated and move to the Middle East in a bid to put more fuel to this ongoing fire and promoting sectarianism, getting the Shia fight against the Sunni and the Sunni fighting against the Shia chopping each other’s hand killing each other.
Ali al-Hakim denounced those who make use of the propaganda to show Muslims as a nation where people fight and kill each other and the world of Islam as an ambiance where there is no space for peace or love and this way they have managed first their own people away from Islam and to create wrong image of Islam which would increase Islamophobia and at the same time having some of these converts to move to the Middle East to use them against other Muslims.
Based on the Middlesex University professor the whole effort is meant to prevent Muslims from any form of progress and keep them back warded forgetting the real message of Qur’an which is about peace and that is why he subtitled his article as a realization of Zionist dream.
When asked on a solution for the plague against the world of Islam he said he said,” The solution is a three-partite work; one is related to intellectual research and writings which have to present some books and seminars about the peace, peaceful teachings of Islam and also the pacifist nature of Qur’an.
He said,” Qur’an is all based on peace and about promoting peace among Muslims and non-Muslims as it describes God Almighty with the same title, Salam, which means peace.”
Ali al-Ahmad counted Muslims as the second party to solve the issue of Islamophobia in that they should be let understand and practice the tolerance.
As of the third side which can contribute to the cause, he referred to those Muslims in the west who should behave in a perfect way, to present what is called an exemplary way of behavior which would promote people increase their interest in Qur’an and remove all this negative propaganda.
“At the same time in their own countries” he said about Muslims,” is to have this tolerance in the form of not fighting each other, to understand how to live in peace and to get rid of this negative impact of sectarian division into a positive and constructive way of having different opinions of different denominations in order to understand each other and trying to enrich Islamic thoughts and increase their knowledge towards the best.
Ali al Hakim hoped that the conference will address all these issues keeping the interaction alive until the next meeting as well as helping promote cooperative work rather than acting in an individual level since that will be more constructive and effective for the future.
As of his second participation in the annual event by Iran he called for practical pursuit of the results achieved after each meeting saying, ”I really would like to see more interaction, better programming, more support and more mutual understanding of the situations rather than make it at one go and then leave it until next year.”
Ali al Hakim is working on a project which is writing an exegesis of Qur’an in 12 volumes.
