ID :
36482
Fri, 12/19/2008 - 15:13
Auther :

NEED TO TRAIN MORE MUSLIMS IN INTER-FAITH DIALOGUE, SAYS CANADA-BASED ACADEMIC

PETALING JAYA (Malaysia), Dec 19 (Bernama) -- There is a need to train more
Muslims, especially of the younger generation in the field of inter-faith
dialogue, said a Canada-based academician.

According to Professor Dr Ibrahim Abu-Rabi', the Edmonton Council of Muslim
Communities (ECMC) Chair in Islamic Studies at the Department of History and
Classics, University of Alberta, Canada, there was not enough Muslim scholars
in this field who could articulate and speak on various issues related to
inter-faith dialogue.

"It is very, very important to train Muslims in the understanding of
inter-faith dialogue and also history and globalisation," he said in his public
lecture on "Islam, Globalisation and Inter-Religious Understanding", here
Thursday.

The event was organised by the International Institute of Advanced Islamic
Studies (IAIS), Malaysia, which is dedicated to the pursuit of objective
academic and policy research on Islam and contemporary issues of concern to
Malaysia, Muslims worlwide and Islam's engagement with other
civilisations.

Dr Ibrahim, a Palestinian, said many Muslims were more keen to study
subjects such as medicine or engineering, adding that there were about
10,000-15,000 Muslim medical doctors in the United States alone.

Speaking at the same event, Dr Roger van Zwanenberg, the founder of The
Gateway Trust and Chairman of London-based Pluto Press, said the epicentre
of the conflict in the Muslim world was the Palestine issue, which had affected
the entire Arab Peninsula.

He said there was no possibility that the protracted conflict would be
solved even during the new United States administration under Barack
Obama.

He said what Washington interest was to keep the Arab world divided, so
that "Israel is there in its present form" and also to control Arab oil.

"The US has no interest to solve (the Palestine issue)...Israel is a very
useful bulwark for them (the US)," he said.

He said many of the Arab countries in the region are small, vulnerable and
dependent on the US in one way or another.

He said that the need for the US to dominate the entire region was
reflected in its threat to Iran over Iran's nuclear issue.

"I do see the US losing its world power (status) slowly," he added.
-- BERNAMA

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