King Mohammed urges correcting false image of Islam in the west
Morocco-Regional, Religion, 1/10/2002

Morocco's King Mohammed VI on Wednesday called the media in the Muslim world to play an active part in correcting the false image of Islam in the west by shedding light on its truths, facts and ethic values.

In a message addressed to participants in an international colloquy on "The Muslim World Image in Western Media: between Fairness and Bias" held by the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO) in Rabat, the sovereign deplored the negative stereotypes circulated by the western media about Islam. The Royal message deplores that last September's attacks in the USA "were exploited, especially by the enemies of the Islamic world, to distort its image in some western media, and even to charge Islam itself with false accusations that are fundamentally contrary to its creed and to its values of tolerance."

The sovereign also recalled that the Islamic world has "demonstrated solidarity with the international community in the struggle against terrorism" and brought "an effective contribution to consolidate peace, security and co-existence in the frame of international legality."

After he underscored the increasingly important role by the media in orienting the international public opinion, he regretted that most of the audio-visual and written media deliberately undertake to tarnish the image of Islam. "This must be condemned and rejected for they mislead these societies, in addition to the fact that these accusations are baseless and do not grasp the goals sought by the international will to spread concord nor the difficult challenges that the world wise men and leaders are trying to take up to spread peace and co-existence between nations," the sovereign cautioned.

He further ascribed this phenomenon to "a poor knowledge of the truths of Islam when it pretends that Islam constitutes a threat to the western civilization and its values, knowing that Islam has interacted with all civilization and preaches dialogue and debate."

The media in the Islamic world ought to use modern technologies and draw "a sound information strategy, endowed with the appropriate means and potentials, and conveying a harmonized message, in order to confront information campaigns against Islam." Journalists in the Islamic world should also understand that the western mentality is "only convinced by rational and realistic discourse." "The success of such strategy depends, however, on the extent of the development of our media and their ability to be influential, supported by the needed technologies, funds, institutions and knowledge," the royal message insists.

He further noted "that changing this negative image of Muslims must be accompanied, at the level of information, with earnest and sustained efforts on the part of Muslims to develop their energies, solidarity, and mutual aid. They must incarnate the supreme values preached by Islam."

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