Muslim Countries’ Governments Also to Blame for Islamophobia
Hojat-ol-Islam Seyyed Salman Safavi, made the remark in a forum held Tuesday on “Origins and Consequences of Islamophobia in West”.
He said the West is looking for such opportunities to manipulate the public opinion of the world and spread anti-Muslim sentiments.
The cleric stressed that the role of Muslim countries should be considered along with the attempts by the west when studying the spread of Islamophobia.
He pointed to the historical roots of Islamophobia in the world, saying that it goes back to the early years after the advent of Islam.
He further noted that following the crusades, which lasted for two centuries, the spread of Islam in Christian areas caused the church to worry (and thus its Islamophobic attempts).
Elsewhere in his remarks, head of the International Peace Studies Center said with the victory of the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran, which was a turning point in the contemporary history, and then the collapse of the Soviet Union, the idea of Clash of Civilization was introduced which was a plot by the West to fight Islam.
Hojat-ol-Islam Safavi further said using the language of art is the best way for confronting Islamophobia in the world.
He hoped that Muslim world artists would use their art productions to open the way for dialogue and tackle the spread of Islamophobia.
The “Origins and Consequences of Islamophobia in West” forum was organized at the conference hall of the International Quran News Agency in Tehran.
Means and capabilities of the Muslim world for confronting the wave of Islamophobia, role of Takfiri and extremist groups in formation and intensification of Islamophobia, and strategies for containing the spread of Islamophobia in the West were the three main themes of the event.
In the past few years, Islamophobia has been on the rise all over the world especially in the West. Hence, it is a responsibility of Muslim scholars and the media to shed light on different aspects of the trend and try to confront it and that was the purpose of the forum.
http://iqna.ir/fa/News/1398542
