RIYADH, 20 August 2006 — US President George W. Bush’s recent usage of the term “Islamic fascists” and other remarks made by White House officials are encouraging extremism, said Dr. Saleh Al-Wohaibi, secretary-general of the World Assembly of Muslim Youth (WAMY).
In an interview with Arab News, Al-Wohaibi described Bush’s remarks as being unhelpful and said they were instrumental in creating problems for a pan-Islamic organization such as WAMY, which is trying to fight extremism among the youth. “They make our task difficult,” he said.
The WAMY chief has appealed to the Western intelligentsia in general and those from the US in particular to counter the “unjust campaign against Muslims and their beliefs to avoid any possible conflict, which the neocons and their spokesmen are instigating.”
Al-Wohaibi said that in any such conflict the bigger loser would be the West, which plays a central role in the international arena. He said that wars never solve problems and appealed to the US president to learn about Islam through the right channels because “Islam is a religion of peace for all mankind.”
Referring to Bush’s usage of the term “Islamic fascist,” the WAMY secretary-general said that such terms are unhelpful in promoting international understanding. “They only add more fuel to the prevailing explosive situation caused by the US policy over the past few years,” he said, adding that the US president’s statements have caused a shock among those who have known America and lived there for a long time. “Americans themselves have been offended by their president’s comments,” he said.
Al-Wohaibi also made a point of saying that associating the term “fascism” with Islam is in itself insulting, since fascism is a Western and not an Islamic product just like the term “fundamentalism,” which has roots in Christianity in the US.
“Islam, as a religion and culture, is free of such connotations,” said the secretary-general, adding that the terms “terrorists” or “extremists” were also recent additions that described Islam in a highly derogatory way.
Muhammad Abdullah Al-Harbi, a Saudi youth, said young Saudis were getting increasingly disenchanted with the US and felt hostile toward Israel after watching TV images of the large-scale destruction of life and property in Lebanon.
“We can see a new trend starting everywhere, young people are reading the history of Israeli-Lebanese relations and books on the US. When they discover how the Palestinians were wiped out during the civil war in 1982 or for example how the US, as a superpower, is controlled by the Zionist lobby, their whole attitude toward the US changes.
“The US leadership does not realize that it is losing the battle of the hearts and minds in the Middle East. Maybe, it knows but doesn’t care,” he added.
Abdul Mohsen Al-Sobaie, a Saudi English teacher, said recent events had made it clear that the West was unable to differentiate between Islam and Muslims. He said that in any religion there was bound to be a gap between religious teachings and practice. “It would be wrong to judge Islam by the behavior of some misguided Muslims,” he added.
