Mohammed Al-Issa, Secretary General of the Muslim World League, in an interview with Euronews, discusses a wide range of religious and political issues of shared concern between Europe and the Islamic world.
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00:00People should fight hatred with love and build bridges between communities.
00:14This was the message of Mohamed Alissa, the Secretary-General of the Muslim World League, in the Europe conversation.
00:22Mohamed Alissa, you are the Secretary-General of the Muslim World League.
00:30You just met with members of the French government.
00:35Did you discuss the situation of the Muslim communities here in France and generally in Europe?
00:43Muslim societies around the world are peaceful and coexisting societies based on appropriate understanding of the Islamic religion,
00:54with around two billion people around the world.
01:05This large community is self-aware, enjoys love for others and perfect coexistence with them.
01:13There are exceptions. They represent only themselves and are few.
01:22They espouse extremist ideologies and misconceptions about Islam.
01:27Or they have an agenda outside of Islam.
01:32And they use Islam in order to achieve their agenda.
01:36What would be your advice to Muslims living in Europe?
01:50How should they engage in a society that is mostly secular?
01:55My advice to them is to engage in Islamic work, which represents their religious identity,
02:04and also to engage in national work, which represents their national identity,
02:10assuring them that there is no conflict between their religious identity, which makes them Muslims, and their national identity.
02:18Because all civilized constitutions around the world do not affect the essence of the identity of any religion.
02:25Let me rephrase this question a little bit.
02:27Sometimes European laws forbid religious rituals or habits related to the Islam.
02:32I'm talking about a ban of headscarf for women in different countries.
02:35Should Muslims here in Europe follow these rules?
02:37I don't think there's any benefit at all in preventing any individual from exercising their religious rights.
02:44However, if a specific religious particularity is prohibited,
02:49I don't think there's any benefit at all in preventing any individual from exercising their religious rights.
03:09However, if a specific religious particularity is prohibited, there will be a contradiction,
03:16because other religions are allowed to manifest their particularities of other religions that
03:20are allowed. There must also be tolerance in legislation. Yes, and this doesn't affect
03:28national identities at all.
03:30You're an advocate for tolerance and dialogue. Do you think there is enough dialogue between
03:37Muslims and non-Muslims in Europe?
03:39Dialogue must be effective, transparent and have goals. We're now facing a qualitative
03:49shift in dialogue. The Muslim World League is a very important actor in this field. We
04:00have allies from all religions that participate in these dialogues in order for them to be
04:04effective and achieve common goals. Many issues were discussed in a transparent
04:13and clear manner. And many problems were answered that were excluded in the past due to a mistaken
04:20belief that they might cause a clash or an intellectual conflict, but this isn't true.
04:24At the United Nations, you recently spoke out against Islamophobia. What can be done to,
04:40you know, fight this development?
04:42Of course, we need to be more serious and effective in fighting hatred in general and Islamophobia in
04:50particular. This requires several things. The first thing is to promote awareness in societies,
05:01starting with the family and at school, where the curriculum and the teacher must formulate sound
05:06thinking in order to give a message to students.
05:09What is hate? Why hate? What is love? Why love?
05:21All school curriculums around the world focus on scientific subjects at the expense of educational
05:26subjects. And the curriculum is not the only key aspect to education, but also the teacher,
05:32who is a major influential actor. Islamophobia is a very bad behavior. Hate in general is a very bad
05:42behavior. What comes from extremism, whether it's violence or verbal abuse or incitement or terrorism,
05:52actually only speaks for itself. And this isn't just found in the Islamic religion.
05:57religion. And it's not done by those adhering to the Islamic religion only, but other religions as
06:06well. In Europe recently, we have very huge political developments in some countries. Anti-Islam
06:17parties are developing. The tensions between communities are rising. Do you feel confident
06:26that the co-existence and the cooperation between Muslims and non-Muslims in Europe will be peaceful?
06:36Whoever adopts the approach of hatred and racism on their electoral platforms ultimately will never
06:42achieve their full goals. And by looking at the history of those who did so before, you'll find that
06:51they ended up with a negative and even dark record, not only for those we call racists, whether Muslims or
06:59non-Muslims.
07:04We meet with everyone. We speak with everyone. You talk about certain groups that we meet. I'm very
07:14happy that many of them understood. And some of them have realized that this ideology is wrong and a dead
07:21present. The issue is that we have to clarify the truth. The issue is that we must accommodate
07:31our religious, ethnic and cultural diversity. We shouldn't be afraid of others because
07:38of their religion or their ethnicity. Never, ever.
07:48We talk a lot about how to fight hatred with love. This is beautiful, but what do you feel
07:55when you see the images coming from Gaza, and what does the Muslim world feel?
08:02Of course, what is happening in Gaza is a tragedy and is akin to genocide. What is happening
08:13in Gaza violates international and humanitarian law. However diverse, the world conferred and
08:24reached an agreement about this. Our world today has not witnessed such a tragedy. We're optimistic.
08:33This tragedy will result in accountability. This tragedy will unite us further. We're optimistic
08:47that Gaza will regain its strength, but in the context of a Palestinian state, it is the right
08:56of the Palestinian people to live in an independent state, with East Jerusalem as its capital.
09:05This is the right of the Palestinians.
09:12Anti-Semitism is also rising in Europe, but also globally. What can be done to fight this
09:19phenomenon? We're against any form of hatred, no matter what manifestation it takes. And we're
09:29against antagonizing people of faith for their religious choice. We work with our partners
09:37around the world to fight these ploys. Of course, we visited Auschwitz to tell everyone that Islam
09:46rejects, condemns, and strongly deplores the Holocaust. We told everyone that
09:54Islam rejects, condemns, and strongly criminalizes the genocide and destruction of the Jewish community,
10:00because they were Jewish by religion or ethnicity. We said that this visit also is not of political
10:10significance, but is humanitarian, moral, and values-based.
10:17We also said that what is happening in Gaza is born by the current Israeli occupation government,
10:23and not by other Jews. We make this distinction.
10:44Should women have the same rights as men across the Middle East when it comes to schooling and
10:52other rights?
10:53Women, like men, have the right to receive education throughout their schooling, without
11:01exception, whether in terms of schooling or in academic specializations. The Mecca document,
11:13which was signed by 1,200 muftis, academics, and 4,500 Islamic thinkers, has an article dedicated
11:21to empowering women and talking about all their rights, including equality, even in salaries.
11:30Because unfortunately, in many countries, women still do not receive equal pay.
11:36women still do not receive equal pay.
11:45Mohamed Alisa, Secretary General, thank you very much for this interview.
11:49Thank you, thank you.
11:50Let me be clear.
11:51Let me talk about it.
11:52I am very happy about this meeting.
11:53Thanks, you, my son.
11:58Yeah.