Annex 1 to OIC/COMCEC/36-20/REP
77
However, despite all our efforts, we still have not been able to establish the
coordination we desire between our countries.
I invite the Islamic Chamber of Commerce to undertake the necessary effort in
cooperation with the Standards and Metrology Institute of Islamic Countries.
My esteemed brothers and sisters,
As Muslims, not only are we fighting a deadly epidemic this year, but we’re also
struggling with Islamophobia which has recently raised its ugly head in western
countries.
Businesses, homes, places of worship and schools belonging to our brothers and sisters
living in these countries are exposed to neo-Nazi attacks nearly everyday.
Muslim women are subjected to insults or harassment on the streets, in the bazaars, on
busses or on ferryboats because the wear headscarves.
While our holy values are violated under the cover of freedom of thought and the press,
cruel attacks are carried out against the Prophet.
Today, unlawfulness against Muslims has become a common occurrence in many
western states that have left democracy in the dust.
In fact, Islam and anti-Muslim hostility has turned into policy personally protected at
the presidential level in some European countries.
To be honest, today’s Muslims face the same campaign of lynching and animosity
against the Jews who lived in Europe before World War II.
Just like the European Jews of the 1940s, Muslims are excluded, marginalized and
turned into ‘scapegoats’ by the media and politicians.
It is not only Muslims that bear the brunt of this hate spree, other segments with
different ethnic identity, appearance, origins, languages and religions are also affected.
None of us have the luxury of staying silent in the face of these horrific circumstances.
Struggling against Islamophobia and xenophobia is a requirement of our obligation
towards our brothers and sisters living in those lands.
We cannot sacrifice the rights and laws of our millions of people to the ambitions of
incompetent politicians.
We cannot let the worries of newspaper sales of a racist media poison our future.
We have to fight within the scope of laws and democracy, using international platforms
against cultural racism that surrounds the West like the plague.
Undoubtedly, the only way to do this is if we cooperate with each other.