A library photo of French Muslim women wearing hijabs carrying the three colors of the French flag.

By Fathi Abu Hatab, IOL Correspondent

BUCHAREST, October 5, 2005 (IslamOnline.net) – An international conference has opened in Romania to discuss Muslim integration into European societies, enhance mutual respect and promote multicultural and inter-faith understanding.

"Islam and Europe: Mixed or Separated," which opened in Bucharest on October 2, also sheds light on the Muslim culture and how Islam fits into the Western world.

"We came together to discuss means of achieving integration between Islam and Europe ," said Emmanuela Rose, organizer of the six-day conference, which is organized by AEGEE Bucharest organization.

Young people from over 30 countries are participating in the event to exchange ideas on the Euro-Islam project, build empathy and make work for societal integration and progress.

"This can be done through fruitful dialogue between young people and intellectuals who are of different backgrounds," Rose added.

Leading among participants are Mufti of Romania Iusuf Murat, head of the AEGEE Bucharest organization Radan Racareanu, head of the Taiba Foundation Abu Al-Alaa Al-Ghethi, and Iain Lindsy, the spokesman for the British embassy in Bucharest.

AEGEE is a European NGO which enhances meetings between people with different backgrounds and facilitates a fertile dialogue between youths, politicians, journalists and scholars "in order to break down prejudices that are still prevalent in the Media and in the European current way of thinking," according to the group's Web site.

"Adaptive Islam"

Integration of the Muslim minorities into their European societies and Muslim adaptation have dominated discussions in the opening session of the conference with participants being at odds over the issue.

Bashy Qurashy, director of the Denmark-based Ethnic Debate Forum, said the question is: are the Europeans willing to accept Muslim integration into their societies?

"European societies can't yet accept Muslim integration," he answered.

Muslim minorities in the West, particularly in the United States, have been facing difficult times since the 9/11 attacks for many reasons, chiefly the misunderstanding of Islam in the west, which is fueled, according to experts, by distorted media coverage.

Professor Bassam Tibi, German, said that as Muslims should accept the European values, Europe should in turn accept Muslim integrationist efforts.

"Islam is able to adapt with any society," he told attendees.

Proving his point, Tibi stressed that the way African Muslims practice their religion differ from that of European Muslims or that of Indonesians.

"Every culture has its own way of practicing Islam."

Ajmal Masroor of Britain echoed a similar stance.

"Islam adopts any local culture and we should encourage Muslims in Europe to introduce themselves as European," he said.