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'Muslims Should Go on the Offensive'
Javid Hassan, Arab News
Muslims should do some introspection and diagnose the ills afflicting their societies. They should also go on the offensive by pinpointing the shortcomings of their critics. It was also time to forge alliances with the supporters of Islam in the West in order to take the battle into their adversaries' court.
| Guess the Left is going to come into some money, huh? |
This was the opinion of a cross-section of participants at the international conference on "The Image of Saudi Arabia in the World" which entered its third day yesterday. However, security concerns seemed to have played out in keeping the level of attendance rather low.
| Never can tell about these meetings to put to rest misunderstanding of the Religion of Peace. You never know who's going to explode. |
Participating in the discussion, Sheikh Saleh Al-Hussein, an Islamic scholar, underlined the need for a concerted effort to project a good image of the Kingdom among the pilgrims coming here either for Haj or Umrah. The views were echoed by Dr. Abdullah Al-Lohaidan who spelled out his strategy for making use of the mass media to correct the misconceptions about the Kingdom and Islam. Mohammed Aslam Khan, an executive editor working for Internews Pakistan, took up the theme at a later stage when he proposed high-caliber training programs to hone the professional skills of Muslim journalists as well as an Islamic think tank to undertake indepth research on each Muslim country. Khan had a dig at the United States and asked when the US could not bring democracy to Haiti since the time of President Woodrow Wilson in 1915, how could it think of fast-forwarding democratic reforms in the Arab world? Dr. Keith Rowe, professor of comparative religions from New Zealand, said the Arabs should not think that it is all "gloom and doom in the West." There were some fairminded Westerners, too, who were ready to support the cause of Islam and debunk the myth surrounding it. He proposed an alliance with the saner elements from the West in the joint task of meeting the challenge head on. Omar A. Bahalaiwa, secretary-general of the Saudi Committee for the Development of International Trade, told Arab News later that it was time to do some stock-taking and discover our own shortcomings. "Islam is a religion of peace. What message are we conveying when there are acts of terrorism?" he asked.
| That all the "religion of peace" crap is all bullsquat to cover a long-term plan for world domination? That sounds about right... |
Posted by: Fred 2004-10-04 |
