French scholar urges Muslims to denounce religious rhetoric employed by militants

Slimane Zeghidour says a century ago, Europeans perceived Arab Muslims as romantic heroes

KARACHI: The mainstream European media portrays Muslims in the negative image, said French journalist and scholar Slimane Zeghidour, who was speaking at Area Study Centre for Europe, Karachi University, Thursday morning.

In the talk, which was titled 'The Image of Muslims in Europe: A century of positive and negative stereotypes', he asserted that there was confusion among the mainstream Europeans due to inability to differentiate between the Arabs and Muslims. "Many Europeans are unaware of the fact that many Arabs are Christians," he said.

Zeghidour pinpointed that the current negative perception about Muslims in Europe had never been like that before. According to him, it might be surprising for some that a century ago, Europeans' attitude towards Arab Muslims was quite positive, who would perceive them as romantic heroes.



Zeghidour cited two major reasons for that. Firstly, the European powers could not colonise Arabian Peninsula whereas the remaining Muslim world was under their grip. Secondly, the British Empire was sympathetic towards the Muslims at the beginning of the 20th century, he said.

While discoursing over the changing dynamics of the relationship between Muslims and the West in the 20th century, he sub-divided his talk in three periods. The first period was the era of the colonial rule of Western powers over the Muslims. The second period was the time after World War II when most of the colonies gained independence with the beginning of the Cold War while the third period reflected on the demise of the Soviet Union.

According to the speaker, seeds of the current negative perception of Muslims were sown in the second period when, during the Cold War, the United States encouraged and promoted violent elements in the Muslim world so that communist teachings could not take ground. However, with the demise of the Soviet Union, many Muslim countries were engulfed by the same violent elements they had been nurturing against communism. That was the time when the negative image of the Muslim world started developing in the West.



In the 1920s, it was Hollywood that showed Rudolph Valentino playing the romanticised Arab as against the Japanese who were depicted to be a dangerous enemy on screen, said Zeghidour. He said the Iranian Revolution of 1979 associated the Muslims with hijacking and bombing.

While answering questions asked by the audience, the speaker said, "Many Muslims in Europe feel that European society is a Christian society whereas this is not the case. It is a secular society."

The French scholar said, "Majority of the Muslims need to communicate with their European counterparts. The problem lies in communication. However, when Muslims attack via religious slogans and rhetoric, they place themselves in a negative position."



The religious rhetoric employed by militants needs to be denounced, Zeghidour said. Such extreme rhetoric gives reasons to some political parties in France for their anti-Islam stance.

He gave an example where the Muslims adopt unwise path while putting forward their case. "If you are angry at the American government, there is no need to burn their flags on a foreign soil. [The flag] represents the entire nation. If you are angry you could chant slogans like 'Down with the White House', and 'Down with the Pentagon' but [do not burn their] flag, which represents them and which is very, very dear to them. They love their country. You shut them once you burn their flag!"

Answering a question on the refugee crisis, the speaker said France had taken 10,000 refugees within and was providing them with schooling, jobs and better housing. He questioned the Arab and the Muslim world as to what they had been doing to support their Syrian brethren.