OIC to focus on US Muslims

JEDDAH: The Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), along with the American Islamic College, is organizing a three-day conference on Islam and Muslims in Chicago, US.

The objective of the event, to be held on Sept. 28-30, is to "discuss the issues of Muslims living in the US, seeking solutions to their problems, discussing possible contributions of the OIC to Muslims in the US, and creating ties between the OIC and Muslims and Islamic organizations in the US."

OIC Secretary-General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu will make the keynote speech along with John Esposito, professor of religion and international affairs and of Islamic studies at Georgetown University; Safa Zarzour, ISNA secretary-general; Rashad Hussain, special envoy of the White House to the OIC; and S. Abd Al-Hakim Jackson, professor of Arabic ad Islamic Studies at Michigan University.

Ihsanoglu will have a special meeting with Islamic leaders in the US on Sept. 29 and in the evening Sami Yusuf will sing at a concert at the newly restored Auditorium of the American Islamic College, which has a capacity to hold 1,000 people.

Meanwhile, ministers of foreign affairs of OIC member states delivered a declaration countering Islamaphobia at the UN in New York on Thursday. "While considering the importance of dialogue among civilizations and expansion of relations and cooperation between the Islamic world and other cultures and civilizations, we reiterate our commitment to continue efforts in engaging with the West in projecting the true tenets of Islam, and countering common challenges," said the ministers who attended the meeting under the motto "Countering Islamaphobia."

"However, we express profound regret and deep concern at the increasing acts of Islamaphobia, growing trend of intolerance and hatred towards Muslims, and mounting number of acts of violence against Muslims in some Western societies."

The ministers added that peaceful coexistence and the inter-communal and inter-religious tolerance that the international community is trying to achieve is "under threat from marginal and extremist fanatics and from the pervasive xenophobic discourse of a minority of extremist politicians."

The statement also rejected "all acts and attempts of distortion to associate Islam with terrorism." "Nothing could have been farther from the truth. Islam is a religion that implies peace by its very nomenclature. Such stereotyping leads to discrimination and poses grave and multidimensional challenges to global as well as regional peace, security and stability," it added.

The ministers further called on the international community to make collective efforts to prevent incitement of hatred and discrimination against Muslims and to take effective measures to discourage negative stereotyping of people on the basis of religion, faith or race.

They further called on the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to set up an observatory at her office to monitor and document acts that lead to the incitement of religious hatred, hostility and violence.

"With reference to the recent unfortunate episode pertaining to the "Burn a Koran Day", we express our appreciation for the strong and principled statements made by the US authorities as well as community and religious leaders and world leaders. We emphasize that inter-civilizational dialogue based on mutual respect and understanding amongst peoples should be effectively used for promoting human welfare and progress and for strengthening international peace and security, tolerance and global harmony."