Terrorism harms image of Islam and Muslims, acedemician

A Malaysian academician has called on intellectuals and the civil society around the Islamic world to step up efforts to fight terrorism which he described as "a complex and worrying phenomenon," that harms the image of Islam and of Muslims around the globe.

Kotb Sano, director of the Malysian World Institute of the Umma (Islamic nation) Unity, was speaking at a lecture, in Rabat Monday, chaired by Moroccan King Mohammed VI, part of a series of religious lectures organized by the monarch during the holy fasting month of Ramadan.

Pr. Sano explained that in most cases, terrorists are young people and urged "intellectuals, scientists, the civil society, politicians, economists and security forces to step up efforts to extirpate this phenomenon and treat its current and future causes."

Terrorists embrace false theses that are rejected by science, logic and justice, and lack knowldege, said Pr. Kano who spoke about the virtues of peace and reconciliation as a "moral victory of the Islamic Umma" and emphasized the need to conform to the Hadiths (Prophet's sayings) and to his tradition that reject all forms of violence, hatred and exclusion that are at the origin of terrorism.

The Ramadan religious lectures, a tradition set by the late King Hassan II, father of the current monarch, are attended every year by prominent scholars and academicians from the Islamic World. They are chaired by King Mohammed VI in his capacity of Commander of the Faithful.