British Foreign Secretary speaks on Islam

“The debt our culture owes to Islam is something the West would do well to remember, as we develop our relations with the Islamic world. Because we have grown too far apart, we have let misunderstanding and mistrust develop between the West and Islam. We cannot afford to let this misunderstanding continue. Not just because it is wrong that two great cultures should misjudge each other so sadly, but also because in the modern world we have no choice but to live and work together. The challenges we face are global challenges.

“Some have said that the West needs an enemy, and that with the Cold War over, Islam will take the place of the old Soviet Union. They say that there will be a ‘Clash of Civilizations’.

“They say it is inevitable. I say they are wrong, profoundly wrong. Far from needing Islam as an enemy, we cannot afford to have Islam as anything but a friend. We may have different cultures and different religions, but that does not mean that we can never get along. So we need to work to make sure that this prophecy does not become self-fulfilling. The Holy Quran says: ‘O people! We have created you from a single pair of a male and female and made you into nations and tribes that you may know each other’ (49:13), not that you may despise each other.

“In that spirit, we must work together to improve our understanding of each other, to break down stereotypes and erase mistrust.

“We see each other too much through the dangerous prism of stereotype. Islam sees the West as materialistic, lacking respect for the spiritual, anti-Islamic and determined to use its liberal values as a way of undermining their societies. The West equates Islam with the actions of its most extreme adherents. Too much of the media presents Islam not as a rich and varied culture underpinned by one of the world’s great religions, but as the sum of terrorist bombings and atrocities conducted by a few in its name. Both views are profoundly misplaced. … And far from having incompatible cultures, we have a great deal to learn from each other.

“The West owes much to Islam. Islam laid the intellectual foundations for large portions of Western civilization. From our numbers to our understanding of the stars, much of the basis of our civilization is rooted in Islamic learning.

“One of the biggest errors the West could make would be to think that Islamic culture is something alien. It is not. Our cultures have intertwined throughout history. They intertwine today. And they must continue to do so, as our futures become more and more closely bound together. …

“It is now time to start building the understanding and trust we so urgently need. Today, I want to propose we begin a proper dialogue between Europe and the Islamic world. It is time the European Union and the Organization of Islamic Conference started talking at a high level about the many issues of common interest.

“About the Balkans, the Middle East Peace Process, Afghanistan, terrorism, drugs, human rights and the treatment of minorities. By talking, we can learn to understand and trust one another.

“But such a dialogue cannot be a dialogue just for diplomats, or even for Foreign Secretaries. I have a grand title and a big office, but I never lose sight of the fact that what really matters is the people. And that the relationships that really matter are the ones between our peoples.

“So the dialogue we must build between Europe and the Islamic world must be between our peoples as well. Our teachers need to talk. Our artists, and architects, and philosophers need to talk, and urgently. Because we have so much to gain from doing so. And so much to lose if we do not do so.

“There is much going on already. Britain has several outstanding academic institutions doing excellent work in this field. There are private groups that are helping redress the balance. But we will not make the progress we need until mainstream opinion formers on both sides in the media, in education and elsewhere, start to smash the stereotypes and misguided attitudes that lie at the heart of so much of the strife and polemic between our two cultures.”