It was a challenging conversation. The Moroccan parliamentarian I was talking to wasn’t having any of it. Egypt was the largest Muslim country in the world, he insisted. Why on earth was I talking about Indonesia?

Five years on, I would like to think he has learned that the Arab world does not have a monopoly on Islam. Indonesia, with a population of 250 million, is the world’s largest Muslim-majority country. And Bangladesh and Pakistan are not that far behind.

But I’m afraid things may not have changed all that much. My Moroccan interlocutor’s lack of knowledge of Islam’s global outreach is not unusual.

Certainly here in Europe, ignorance about Islam’s presence outside the Arab world is surprisingly widespread. For too many people, Islam is still often seen as a Middle-Eastern religion, a preserve of the Arab world.

There is recognition of Iran and Turkey as non-Arab Muslim countries but few have an inkling that the Middle East and North Africa are home to only 20 per cent of the world’s 1.6 billion Muslims and that an estimated 60pc of the global Muslim population lives in Asia.

Also, as the Pew Research Center points out, more than 300 million Muslims, or about one-fifth of the world’s Muslim population, live in countries including India, China and Russia, where Islam is not the majority religion.

The narrow focus on Arabs and Islam has several unhappy consequences. Glossing over the Shia-Sunni divide and various other manifestations of the religion, it leads to an unfortunate equation between Islam and its extremist Wahabi interpretations.

The Arab-Islam focus also links Islam to Middle-Eastern terrorism, wars and conflicts. And it ties Islam to largely unpleasant authoritarian regimes, monarchies and fragile states.

The reality is different. Wahabism may be spreading its devastating message across vast swathes of the Muslim world, but gentler interpretations of Islam still survive — and struggle to thrive — in many parts of Asia.

There are Asian Muslim countries which have embraced democracy. And there are Muslim democrats who are struggling to make freedom, justice, gender rights, democracy and the rule of law as part of a progressive message of Islam in the 21st century.

Most find it difficult to make their voice heard over the strident clamour of extremists. Unlike those advocating violence and terror, Muslim democrats don’t make the headlines. And their struggle can lead to confrontation — even incarceration — by governments.

In fact, authentic Muslim democracies are few and far between and mostly flawed. Indonesia is well placed to lead the struggle for Islamic renewal given its largely positive record in transitioning from dictatorship to democracy. But human rights organisations warn against creeping intolerance in the country. There are sporadic attacks on churches and against the Ahmadi community.

Malaysia’s political troubles are worsening. Pakistan’s domestic difficulties include terrorism, ethnic tensions and endemic corruption. Bangladesh has seen an alarming increase in attacks against minorities, secular bloggers, intellectuals and foreigners.

The task of an organisation such as the World Forum for Muslim Democrats is, therefore, immensely challenging. Since its first international conference in Malaysia in 2014, the forum has been struggling to craft a new narrative of Islam as a force for social justice and good governance.

At their second conference in Jakarta in 2015, the forum members underlined the need to break away from the encroaching Wahabi interpretation of Islam, to listen to other interpretations and highlight diversity and freedom of thought.

Muslim nations on the “periphery” should have the self-confidence to take ownership of Islam, to take the dominant narrative of the religion “away from the heartland”, said Surin Pitsuwan, the former ASEAN secretary general who is from Thailand’s small Muslim minority.

Even as they prepare for their third meeting later this year, the work being done in the forum — and outside it among scholars, feminists, human rights groups and some politicians — remains largely unnoticed.

But it is important. The war in Syria, the rise of the militant Islamic State group, terrorist attacks in major global capitals, dictatorships and intolerant regimes cast a dark shadow over Islam and Muslims across the world.

The spread of extremism and ultra-conservative interpretations of Islam reinforce perceptions of the religion as violent, cruel and anti-democratic.

The Forum for Muslim Democrats is proof that contrary to popular perceptions of Islam as static and unchanging, there are Muslims who are trying to thrash out a new course for their religion and for themselves.

Their task is not easy, not least because it requires a fundamental shift in attitudes and mindset away from the Middle East.

The future of Islam’s renewal probably does lie in Asia and the non-Arab world. But for that to happen the region’s intellectuals, scholars and democrats will have to engage more actively with each other.

As economic power shifts to Asia, Muslim democrats of the continent can and should also take the lead in crafting and disseminating a different and truer narrative of Islam to challenge existing Middle Eastern interpretations.

If they succeed, they will be helping Asian Muslims and millions of others.

The writer is Dawn’s correspondent in Brussels.

Published in Dawn, May 21st, 2016