Role of Muslim Communities and Islamic Institutions
in Highlighting the Image of Islam
Relation of Muslim Minorities and Communities with their Immediate Environment
From this perspective, the relation of Muslim minorities with non-Muslims should be founded upon a basis of Islamic values which shape individuals and communities and make the presence of Muslim individuals effective and influential in their immediate circle, their environment at large and everywhere they live. The Muslim individual responds to the situations and events with which life is congested, reacts to the ideas, opinions and attitudes prevailing in society and assimilates everything taking place around him or her with an inspecting eye, a calculating mind and an acute intellect.
As soon as Muslim minorities rise up to this level of response to, interrelation and dialogue with the communities of which they are members, they will bask in an eminent presence in the fields of general work. They will have an influential impact on the events taking place and, eventually, have a say and enjoy a commendable reputation.
The way Muslim minorities deal with non-Muslims is not the same. The degree of this attitude and its influence differ as a result of the difference in terms of the conditions of each of the Muslim minorities. Consequently, this leads to different levels of interaction between Muslim minorities and the different components of the community to which they belong, which bears on the relation these minorities have with non-Muslims; whether at the political level or at the cultural and humanitarian echelon in general.
There is no doubt that cultural relations do not bring forth the desired results unless they are founded upon a firm basis of mutual respect and confidence in the motives that prompted each party to establish these relations. People should have a strong belief and conviction in the common objectives which should converge at one point and be attached all importance and interest so that they would be achieved in reality.
The Muslim minorities will definitely gain a lot of benefit and plenty of advantages if they succeed in establishing rich and fruitful cultural relations with the other classes of the communities they are integrating and coexisting with. Consolidating cultural relations between Muslim minorities and non-Muslims can lead to building up solid humanitarian ties; which will consolidate the presence of Muslim minorities in non-Muslim countries and contribute in highlighting the veritable image of Islam in such a way as to counter the allegations, accusations and aberrations with which Islam, as a doctrine, a religion, a culture and a civilization, has been taxed.
Establishing active , effective and fruitful cultural relations, at all levels, involves following legal procedure and applying the scientific approach geared to the most straightforward means always conducive to achieving the goals agreed on.
Building up these relations entails referring to local laws, abiding by their provisions and holding to their spirit and text. The reason is to avoid any confusion or ambiguity and to keep away from any suspicion and blemish, in order achieve the noble goals moderately and temperately.
There are various opportunities for the Muslim minorities residing in several places and countries to work to this effect, especially Muslim minorities living in European countries, the United States of America, Canada, Australia, Japan, and some states in southern America. The national laws in these places provide a lot of opportunities to create associations, institutions and leagues that regulate relations among minorities, on one side, and their relations with all the other social classes and categories on the other. These laws also ensure for the minorities the right to practice their religious rituals and perform their cultural activities geared to serving the desired objectives. These laws that pave the way for developing cooperation relations with the elements of their societies of residence are such that they provide ample chances to develop their capacities, tighten their entity and consolidate their relation with any of the categories or factions, regardless of their trends, doctrines or orientations.
On the other hand, national Muslim minorities living in their homelands, like in India and China, to mention but these two countries, are in dire need to unite together within a legal framework, such as may enable them to work towards promoting their identity and to knit cultural relations with their immediate environment, in order to preserve their cultural identity of which religious faith stands as its strongest and most important fundamental.
No doubt that Muslim minorities in these countries do not, most often, find the favourable conditions to work to this effect. Here, it rests with the official and popular Islamic organizations and institutions to assume their responsibility toward Muslim minorities who are bereaved, persecuted, or subject to constraining forces. The most important of these duties for the Islamic countries is to muster up their efforts to provide these minorities with material and moral support and to consolidate their relations with them to make them feel that they are part and parcel of the Islamic world which responds to their needs, supports and back them.
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