ISLAMABAD, Jan 25: There may not be religious but cultural and historical reasons for the increased misunderstanding about Islam in the West.

This was stated during a discussion on: “Islam and the West” organized by Islamabad Social Sciences Forum on Friday. Chairman of Trust for Volunteers Organization (TVO) Iqbal Jaffar made the keynote presentation.

He said Muslims of Bosnia, Chechnya, Kashmir, Moro and Palestine feared persecution and were engaged in a struggle for their right of self-determination.

It is to be appreciated that in seeking respect and dignity the Muslims were inspired by the Western concept of human rights and liberalism, and Christian Arabs, who made up more than 30 per cent of Palestine were together in this struggle, he added.

Mr Jaffar also referred to the resentment found against America and the West in the Middle East and the Gulf region. However, the animus had nothing to do with religion. Rather, it was rooted in the West’s love for oil and went back to Mosadegh’s days when the US achieved monopoly on an Iranian oil company.

He said vested interests were harping on hatred against Islam especially after the September 11 incident. Fox Television Network led the tirade and prominent preachers such as Frank Graham were making shocking statements about Islam.

An eminent journalist, Robert Fisk, said on the Irish Radio that Muslims in Western countries were now subject to harassment. He said misunderstandings were deliberately created and they were clarified by a number of Western intellectuals.

In this regard he recalled Noam Chomsky who had written in his book ‘Faithful Triangle’ that Israel was colluding with the CIA in collecting information against a number of people accused of anti-establishment ideas and supposedly linked with acts of sabotage.

Mr Jaffar said it was sad that the Jews were acting against Muslims. Jews in particular had much to loose from the anti-democratic actions aimed at thought control of American citizens.

However, he also blamed the Muslim community for giving wrong impressions about Islam and their way of life.—Jonaid Iqbal