Interfaith cultural exchanges to help project Islam’s true image

Islamabad : Speakers at a webinar have underlined the need for use of interfaith cultural exchanges and employment of soft power tools abroad to showcase the true image of Islam as a religion of peace and accommodation.

Besides, they urged the Muslim migrants with international civil society organisations to play their due role in that regard, said a press release.

They were addressing a webinar titled ‘Rising Islamophobia & the Otherisation of Muslims: Root Causes and Possible Remedies’ here organised by the Islamabad Policy Research Institute (IPRI).

Dr Mehmet urged the need to understand the socio-political angularities and the role of media in emphasizing the negative stereotypes about Muslims.

According to him the attitude of Muslims in alien societies also needs to be moderated as their lack of cultural integration also alienates the people from host countries.

Dr Amina Yaqeen held forth on the semiotics of Islamophobia highlighting the need to separate identity politics from religious markers of identity.

She quoted examples of anti-women cultural practices which were mistakenly conflated with Islamic radicalism.

She also mentioned intergenerational gap, class background and frustration as contributory factors towards acts of violence by Muslim youth in United Kingdom.

Dr Daniels mentioned the causes of structural racism that need to be understood in order to counter Islamophobia.