Imran Khan blames Muslim leaders for Islamophobia

(FMT) – Pakistan’s Imran Khan today blamed Muslim leaders for failing to explain issues affecting the community to the West, including the controversy sparked by “The Satanic Verses”, which he said contributed to the rise of Islamophobia.

The prime minister of the Islamic republic said the reaction of the Muslim world to the book penned by Salman Rushdie could not be understood by the West.

Released in 1988, the book – which contained references to Prophet Muhammad – led to Muslims accusing Rushdie of blasphemy with Iran’s leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, issuing a fatwa to kill the British Indian novelist.

“I consider this the biggest failure of the Muslim world and leadership because it was up to them to explain to the West why it mattered to us,” he said at a talk titled “Vision for Regional Peace and Security” at the International Institute of Advanced Islamic Studies, here.

This failure, Khan said, led to to the belief that Islam was an intolerant religion and was against Western values.

The West, especially Europe, Khan added, do not value religion the same way Muslims do. He noted that there were comedy programmes about religious figures on the continent.

He also said that the Sept 11 terror attack on the US World Trade Centre was a big disaster for the Muslim world as Western leaders began calling it Islamic terrorism.

And this was a term Muslim leaders should have objected to.

“What has an act of terror have to do with Islam?

“We didn’t question the term nor did we de-link Islam to suicide attacks.”

Khan said it was also unfortunate that some Muslim leaders started using terms such as “moderate Islam” and “radical Islam”.

“And that, I’m afraid, is the worst thing to happen to Muslims all over the world, especially to those in non-Muslim countries.”