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Muslims
Are Fundamentalists, Not Terrorists, Orientalist
RABAT, July 22 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) – Western accusations of Arabs as terrorists are totally ungrounded, though Arabs tend to be fundamentalist, says prominent German orientalist Gerard Andress, head of Arabic Language Department at the University of Buschom.
The Islamic civilization is the basis of the western and they have more in common than in difference, he said in an interview with Al Quds Press Sunday, July 21, adding that the European right is too weak to prevent a unified Europe.
He said that the Western accusations of Arabs as savages and terrorists are not right, though such accusations can be currently justified because the Islamic world has neglected reason and freedom of thinking and concentrates on values that contradict modern civilization, such as hardship and fundamentalism.
The Islamic legislation, Fiqh, is the most important pillar of the Islamic civilization, and the reason it does not provide real justice is that it is not applied according to the real spirit and purposes of the Shari’ah, instead of the literal application of its rule without understanding, he said.
“The Taliban rule is a clear example of the literate hardliner way of explaining religion, which seriously hurts the image of religion, as well as the spirit of the modernization,” he added.
Andress emphasized the important role of Muslim intellectuals such as Ibn Rushd, Ibn Sinai and Al-Farabi in reviving the Western civilization. “These pioneers are extremely important to researchers in the fields of religions, history, sciences and philosophy,” he said.
“The Western citizen must, and needs to, understand what the Islamic civilization, with its authenticity and greatness, has presented to the world, not only because of its old heritage or the contributions it gave to Europe, but also through the modern Arabic modern thinking that still in the shadow,” he added.
He said the idea of interaction between Europe and the Arab world is very possible and necessary too because of the shared geography and heritage, as well as the shared future. “But both sides lack the awareness of the common things they have,” he added.
There is still a big margin of shared thinking and values between Europe and the Arab world due to common history, intellectual heritage and geography, he said.
He also said that the European right is only 10% of Europeans and has no impact on the German or European politics. “The unity of Europe is an extremely important strategic choice to face the right extremists from one side and the international balance of power from the other side,” he added.
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