OIC Vs Islamphobia

It is wellcoming that OIC listened to the issues confronting the muslim world and take its stand to have further dialogue of civilisations with the christian world.

DAKAR (Reuters) - World Muslim leaders on Friday condemned extremism and terrorism as incompatible with Islam and proposed a high-level international meeting to promote a "dialogue of civilizations" with the Christian world.

Leaders of the 57-nation Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), which represents 1.5 billion Muslims from across the Middle East, Africa and Asia, made the "Dakar Declaration" after a two-day summit in Senegal's capital.

"We continue to strongly condemn all forms of extremism and dogmatism which are incompatible with Islam, a religion of moderation and peaceful coexistence," the declaration said.

"We believe that it is important to plan along such lines a preparatory phase by organizing a major international gathering on Islamic-Christian dialogue that involves governments among other players," it said.

Read further here.

Looking at the followings reprint of Islamophia watch may seems indicating the long, harsh and difficult struggle to achieve its goal of fostering better relationship between Islam and Christianity.

"So Dr Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, claims that the adoption of Islamic law in Britain is unavoidable. He believes that in a multi-cultural society our laws must be adapted to accommodate the other law traditions of the immigrant population, especially the Muslim community, in Britain.

"What hope is there for our Christian traditions when the most senior of clergy in the country are opening the door and welcoming the enemy in. And make no mistake, Islam is the enemy of Christianity and seeks its complete destruction. The Archbishop of Canterbury can at best be considered mad, or at worst a dangerous threat to his faith and the Christian future of our country."

The rector of one of Oxford's largest Anglican churches last night called plans to broadcast the Muslim call to prayer from the city's main mosque "un-English". Charlie Cleverly, of St Aldate's Church, in a seven-point statement to his congregation, called on the Central Mosque, in Manzil Way, to drop its plans to broadcast the messages.

He said: "I feel it is un-English and very different from a bell. When such an area is subject to such a call to prayer, it may force people to move out and encourage Muslim families to move in.... Bells are just a signal and have been around for 1,500 years. They are a terribly English part of our culture. I do not believe in the imposition of another culture on our country."

Reverend R. Albert Mohler Jr., the president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, cited a number of reasons why he would not sign the letter which pushed for peace between Christians and Muslims, saying chief among his concerns were the apology for the sin of Crusaders and the ambiguous definition of God.

Speaking to the Towers Baptist seminary news publication, Rvd. Mohler said "I am not going to apologize for the Crusades because I am very thankful that the Muslim effort to reach a conquest of Europe was unsuccessful. Otherwise, we would be speaking Arabic on this program right now and we would be talking about the Muslim continent of Europe and potentially even of North America." Read here.

Some positive progress > Switzerland's Federal Court has overturned two decisions by local assemblies to refuse citizenship on the grounds of women wearing a religious veil. Muslim organisations welcomed the rulings, which were announced on Wednesday, as a "step forward". Under the Swiss federal system, communities also have a say on naturalisation issues.

The court ruling came after two local assemblies in canton Aargau, in northern Switzerland, rejected applications for Swiss citizenship by a Turkish woman and a Bosnian couple last year. Objectors said the veil was a sign of inequality between men and women and was therefore unconstitutional.

But Switzerland's highest court found that wearing a veil was an expression of religious beliefs, which are protected under the Swiss constitution. The veil in itself was not a sign of the debasement of women, the judges wrote. The court urged citizens to look beyond their prejudices and said the fact that a Muslim woman wore a veil did not mean she was flouting the basic values of Swiss society.

Waite is the author of Islam Uncovered, which holds that the Muslim faith is itself culpable for the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, Military.com reported. 'Undoubtedly our world will experience additional terrorist attempts or strikes all in the name of Allah. Some of these attacks may occur within the borders of our own nation by the remaining cell groups interspersed and hiding among the Muslim population of the United States. My words may make a number of Muslims in this country and abroad very uncomfortable. To them I would say, "Deal with it!" The suspicion that you encounter is merely a consequence to your own belief system....' Waite's book says. '...Should Islam be immune from attack because it calls itself a religion? If Adolf Hitler called Nazism a religion, would we be speaking German today? Evil is evil, no matter what nomenclature it hides under.' The book was removed from bookstore shelves after it was discovered that Waite had plagiarized much of the material and that the supporting blurbs on the back cover of the book from prominent members of the religious community had been fabricated." Read here