"There Is a Tsunami of Islamophobia in the West"

Translated from al-Sharq al-Awsat, 22 March 2011:

President of the Association of Muslim Social Scientists in Great Britain: "There Is a Tsunami of Islamophobia in the West"

Safat Salama 

Dr. Anas al-Shaykh 'Ali is a British national of Iraqi descent, and the president of the Association of Muslim Social Scientists in Great Britain, and director of the International Institute of Islamic Thought in London. He is one of the 500 most influential Muslims in the world, and in June 2009 received the British Royal Medal of Honor in the class of "civil leader" for his role and distinguished service in developing cultural and social relations between the different components of British society. He said to al-Sharq al-Awsat in London that, "There is a tsunami of Islamophobia in the West," stating that curricula for Islamic studies in Britain need to be developed. He stressed the importance of the issue of "integration of knowledge" in the education systems in our educational institutions. 

He indicated that religious discourse in the West needed to be expanded. He also stressed the importance of social media in communicating with others and spreading the values of Islamic tolerance, and to discuss issues raised in Western media. Due to Dr. 'Ali's wide interest in contemporary popular novels, he pointed in his interview to the role of these novels in distorting Islam, and offending Muslims. He emphasized the importance of contributing to producing literature in European languages to address this. He touched on everyone's negligence of the issue of raising children in the West, as well as other contemporary issues that are problematic for Islam and Muslims in the West. ...