ISLAM AND THE WEST

On the verge of the twenty-first century, the world witnesses anunprecedented instability. Wars and culture conflicts widen the gapbetween the various civilizations and sow the seeds of hatred betweenindividuals. Islam, with its universal precepts of peace and respect for thedignity of humanity, was and still is the most misunderstood religion.When represented in the West, it is always associated with negativeimages that repel Westerners from seeing what Islam really is. Hence thegreat necessity for a peaceful and enlightened dialogue between theworld of Islam and the West.A great deal has been said and written on the subject of Islam andthe West and many conferences have been convened, yet no discernibleprogress has been made in bringing a better understanding or dampeningthe assault on Islam and the Muslims in the western media. PrinceCharles noted in his lecture at Oxford:The depressing fact is that, despite the advances in technologyand mass communications of the second half of the twentiethcentury, despite mass travel, the intermingling of races, the evergrowingreduction- or so we believe- of the mysteries of ourworld, misunderstandings between Islam and the West continue.Indeed, they may be growing.The misrepresentation of Islam, which was limited in the past tothe printed word, has now mushroomed to all forms of mass communication.The entertainment industry, news telecasts, radio shows, themovie industry, children’s television programs, and even commercialson billboards all have become vehicles for propagating the misrepresentationof Islam in the West. Literary fiction and nonfiction remainamong the most insidious vehicles for permanently damaging theimage and concept of Islam in the minds of non-Muslim readers ...