Western societies should try harder to understand Islam to curb misconceptions and bring an end to prejudice against Muslims, Malaysia's foreign minister said Monday. The image of Islam has deteriorated worldwide "primarily as a result of association with extremism, radicalism and poverty," Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar told a seminar on Islam and international politics. "There is indeed a wide gap between the predominantly Christian West and the Muslims," Syed Hamid told academics, religious representatives and diplomats at the event jointly organized by a Malaysian think-tank and the French Embassy in Kuala Lumpur. "It is imperative that the phenomenon now widely known as 'Islamophobia' is stopped dead in its tracks," Syed Hamid was quoted as saying by The Associated Press. "In this regard, more inter-civilizational dialogues should be organized to foster deeper understanding and bridge the gap." Syed Hamid _ whose country chairs the 57-nation Organization of the Islamic Conference, the world's largest Muslim political grouping, blamed some of the problems on "distorted" reporting in the international media that link Islam with terrorism, poverty and backwardness. "The negative profiling of Islam needs to be changed," he said. "Islam and Muslims must not be viewed with suspicion or as an enemy of the West. It is a religion of peace and justice."
