Czech President Urged to Apologize to Muslims for His Offensive Remarks
Zemen said at the Zionist regime embassy in Prague on May 26 that “Islamic ideology rather than individual groups of religious fundamentalists was behind violent actions similar to the gun attack at the Jewish Museum in Brussels.”
"I believe that this xenophobia and this racism or anti-Semitism stem from the very nature of the ideology on which these fanatical groups rely, I know about an anti-civilization movement that calls for the massive murdering of Jews," the Czech President was also quoted as saying.
Mr. Madani stated that the Czech President's recent statements on Islam are in line with the previous statements the president made in the past, where he linked "believers in the Quran with anti-Semitic and racist Nazis"; and that "the enemy is anti civilization spreading from North Africa to Indonesia, where two billion people live”.
Such statements, said Mr. Madani, not only shows President Zeman's lack of knowledge and misunderstanding of Islam, but also ignores the historical facts that anti-Semitism and Nazism are a European phenomena through and through. They have no roots in Islam, neither as a religion nor as a history or civilization.
President Zeman's statements are nothing more than misinformed stereotyping and Islamophopic, the Secretary General added.
Madani stressed that such statements, issued even before the identification of culprits and motives, are not only irresponsible but also feed the existing stereotyping, incitement to hatred, discrimination and violence against Muslims based on their religion. It also runs contrary to the ongoing global efforts to strengthen dialogue among civilizations, cultures and religions to promote multiculturalism, understanding, acceptance and peace.
The Secretary General reiterated that Islam is a religion of peace and tolerance and that terrorism should not be equated to any race or religion; a stance upheld by all major UN texts on the subject of countering terrorism. He added that the OIC countries share a profound respect for all religions and condemn any message of hatred and intolerance.
It is only appropriate that President Milōs Zeman apologizes to the millions of Muslims worldwide for his deeply offensive and hateful anti Islam statements.
Mr. Madani urged the international community to take strong and collective measures to promote peace, harmony and tolerant co-habitation among peoples of diverse religious faiths, beliefs, cultural and ethnic backgrounds. He also called upon all political, secular or religious leaders to join hands and strengthen their efforts in promoting dialogue and mutual understanding, which will prove that “what joins us together across religions and regions is far greater than what separates us”.
Source: OIC
