SINGAPORE, September 4 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - The attacks on the United States last year falsely dented the image of Islam, but at the same time helped bridge the divide between Muslims and non-Muslims, speakers told a forum on the impact of the attacks on global Islam in Malaysia Wednesday, September 4.

"In a sense, it has brought the Muslim world much closer to the rest of the world," Singapore's Minister-in-Charge of Muslim Affairs Yaacob Ibrahim told the forum organized by the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).

The religion undoubtedly suffered as a result of the presumptuous responsibility attacks by the Al-Qaeda group in the U.S., charges that were not yet proved, speakers said.

Negative stereotyping of Islam was described as "both unfair and inaccurate", said Peter Riddell, a senior lecturer in Islamic studies and director of the London Bible College Center for Islamic Studies.

But the increased global scrutiny on Islam presented an opportunity for the majority of Muslims to dispel misconceptions about their faith, AFP added.

"The Muslim world has to accept the spotlight and embrace the moment of being in the spotlight to enlighten and explain what is going on," said Sharon Siddique, a specialist on Ethnicity and Development in Southeast Asia.

Siddique said the internal debate amongst Muslims, triggered by the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, was a healthy sign with most Muslims reject attacks on innocent people.

"Moderate Muslims have found a voice... to condemn what has been done in the name of Islam," she said, adding that "radical Islam is on the defensive in the Muslim world and that itself is a very optimistic trend."

Shad Saleem Faruqi, assistant vice chancellor for special functions and law at Malaysia's University of Technology, said "the international commentary on Islam has been unfair and unkind" since September 11.

Muslims must now face the urgent task of speaking up for the faith in order to counter wrongly held perceptions about Islam, he said.

"I think the pressing challenge for Muslims is to first of all confront these negative perceptions but confront it in a democratic and respectful way," he said, AFP reported.

Singapore's Muslim Affairs Minister Yaacob said: "the current changes taking place in some parts of the Muslim world will have an impact in other parts of the Muslim world. But there will not be a single monolithic response on some issues.