This weekend in Malaysia a conference titled ‘Islam and the West – Bridging the Gap’ will be conducted. Organized by the Institute of Diplomacy and Foreign Relations, this conference hopes to cover the following objectives:

i) To determine the areas and causes of misunderstanding of Islam by the West;

ii) To bridge the information gap that divides the Muslims and the West; and

iii) To find a common language understood by both sides of the divide.

Invited speakers include: Dr Beate Winkler, Professor Michael Feener, Professor Abdullah Saeed and Professor Sherman Jackson. A public lecture by Dr. Karen Armstrong, author of highly acclaimed History Of God: The 4000-Year Quest of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam and many more, is also being organized. We are glad to see Professor Abdul Hakim Jackson speaking on the international circuit. Check out his On Faith blog on WashingtonPost.com and the ALIM Institute.

Malaysia’s Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar gave an insightful interview regarding the issues involved.

Q: How serious is the divide between Muslims and the West?

A: The gap is between theory and practice. There is a serious intention to create dialogue but that’s at the conceptual level. When it comes to practice on the ground, there are still inherent prejudices and biases.
There is a feeling, whether perceived or real, among Muslims, that they’re being targeted, and that they are not getting balanced treatment.
On the other hand, there is this feeling in the West, as if we (Muslims) are aliens. The West says we must accept universal values, the standard practices, as if there is no standard practice, no universal values among Muslims!
Building blocks (of understanding) need to be built. I’ve attended many, many interfaith and intercivilisational dialogues organised by Asean and bodies in Europe, and I found that at one point, if you said something not acceptable, there was a strong reaction. Now, at least, we can sit down and discuss. There is less tension. But we still have not found an acceptable model.

For more information, click here. Any Malaysian/Singaporean/Indonesian readers out there who will be attending? Please drop us a line and provide your feedback. Terima kasih!