'Humanitarian image' of Islam needed in media

The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Fri, 04/27/2007 3:30 PM

Veeramalla Anjaiah, The Jakarta Post, Baku

In a bid to fight all forms of bias, including Islamophobia, the media in OIC member countries should project a universal humanitarian image of Islam, the chief of the OIC said in Baku.

""Islam must be presented as it truly is, a noble message that preaches peace, compassion and love between people of all races and religions,"" the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) Secretary-General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu said Wednesday upon inaugurating an international conference on the role of the media in promoting tolerance and mutual understanding of Islam in the Azerbaijani capital.

""Islam's true essence of enlightened moderation"" should also be voiced across the global mass media, he said.

The issue is a major concern in OIC member countries, Ihsanoglu said, given what he describes as intolerance and prejudice against Muslims in political discourse and in the media, particularly after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the United States.

The hijacking of Islam by a small number of ""extremists and terrorists"" has generated fear in the West, with the backlash ""targeting all Muslims,"" he said.

Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov said his own country was a predominantly Muslim nation with secular elements, well known not only for its oil but also for religious, cultural and ethnic tolerance.

""More than 20 percent of our territory was occupied by Armenia. A lot of atrocities were committed against our people by Armenia. Yet thousands of Armenians are still living in Azerbaijan without being discriminated against,"" Mammadyarov said.

Though 97 percent of its population embraces Islam, Azerbaijan also has a Jewish community and diplomatic relations with Israel.

The Indonesian Foreign Ministry's acting director of information and media, Dalton Sembiring, said that Indonesia and Azerbaijan share similarities regarding religious tolerance and that the Indonesian media promotes this tolerance.

The Director General of the Islamic Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization, Abdulaziz Othman Altwaijri, said that tolerance is a kind of defense mechanism against extremism.

""Tolerance is one of the highest values that immunizes humans against extremism and fanaticism and elevates their thinking and conduct to integrate society, accept others and recognize differences,"" Altwaijri said.

He said that tolerance does not mean weakness or concession, ""nor is it synonymous with the renunciation of one's rights to gain the confidence of an individual or community.""

He said that respect for and acceptance of diverse cultures and different ""forms of expression and ways of being human ... is fostered by knowledge, openness, communication and freedom of thought, conscience and belief.

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