COPENHAGEN, March 10: Muslim and Christian scholars and clerics agreed at a conference on Friday that the West and Islam must use dialogue to repair ties frayed by the crisis over the blasphemous cartoons.
However, the Muslim panellists accused the Danish government of mishandling the crisis and said it must apologise to the Muslim world if it wants an Arab boycott on Danish goods to be lifted.
“We request an official apology from your government to the Muslim nation and to the Muslims in Denmark,” said Tariq Al Suweidan, an Islamic scholar from Kuwait. He also urged the European Union to enact a law ‘that forbids insult to religious figures’.
Despite massive Muslims protests and in some cases violent attacks on Danish embassies, the centre-right government in Copenhagen has refused to apologise, saying it cannot be held responsible for the actions of an independent newspaper.
The cartoons were published in Danish paper Jyllands-Posten in September, and have since been reprinted by other Western media.
“We cannot give you what you want,” Eyvind Vesselbo, a lawmaker belonging to Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen’s Liberal Party, said after Mr Suweidan repeated his demand for an apology at another panel discussion. Instead, Mr Vesselbo said he could offer friendship and dialogue.
Tempers occasionally flared at that discussion, which also included Soeren Espersen of the anti-immigration Danish People’s Party. Mr Espersen scoffed at suggestions from the audience that Muslims did not feel welcome in Denmark, saying ‘we are not a welcoming committee’.
At the earlier conference, Amr Khaled, a popular Egyptian preacher, said Danish people and their government should reach out to Muslim countries _ for example, by initiatives to promote small businesses or healthcare.
He told the crowd, including 50 youths from Denmark and Muslim countries, it was time for moderate forces on both sides to come together to solve the conflict. “The reasonable among us must be heard and our voices must come out clearer than the voices of the extremists,” said Mr Khaled, who is known for his youthful style and his sermons applying Islam to day-to-day life.
But amid the calls for reconciliation, a rift over free speech was revealed between some Danes and the panellists.
“Although I may find something insulting, I must tolerate it, because I don’t believe in an absolute truth,” said Stephan Schou a Liberal Party member. —AP
