Last February a poll was published on Amr Khaled’s website for all site visitors: “Do you want to be an Islam Ambassador?” More than two thousand youth replied to this question, and they were filtered where a small group of 25 youth was selected to participate in the Denmark conference that has been broadly tackled by the press. The selected youth are graduates or undergraduates, who met the criteria set as a condition to travel. Those young people traveled to Denmark not only to represent the conference officially, but also to express an inner desire to hold a dialogue with those who insulted Prophet Muhammad (SAWS)[1].
- Today we will meet four of those young people: Sawsan Shobeiky a doctor from Algeria; Darah Rateb, a student in Faculty of Economics and Political Science, American University in Egypt; Sarah Al-Refaey, a graduate of Faculty of Fine Arts, Helwan University; Khaled Barakat, who co-operated in this conference, and who works in the IT field.
I would like to welcome you all.
Ø Thank you very much.
- I would like to ask you Mr. Khaled, what are the measures you have set for selecting the young people who traveled with you? Moreover, why did you choose this group in particular?
Ø We had various measures of choice, and we had a sophisticated application that was written by Human Resources and Recruitment specialists. We considered this as if we are hiring an Ambassador, and therefore, the applicant should have had particular capabilities in language, appearance, and dealing with strangers and foreigners. Besides, there was a condition that the applicant’s age should be between 18 and 27 or 28 years old. He/She should have had past experience in dealing with the West, non-Muslims, and those who live in Europe. The participant should also have had participated in previous conferences of inter-cultural dialogue, in addition to high communication skills. Eventually, we have set intellectual questions to see how they think, especially regarding the idea of dialogue.
- What are the types of questions that were set in the application? In other words, if any of the applicants were here now, what would you ask him/her?
Ø The following question was included in the application: “What would you do if the Prophet (SAWS) gets insulted in your country or abroad?”
- What are the correct answer and the wrong answer?
Ø This concept does not apply here. The whole idea focuses on whether the applicant comprehends the idea of dialogue and our desire to hold discussion with the other side who does not understand the reason behind what happened. Simply, we did not go to talk with the wrongdoers, but we went to talk with those who know nothing about the whole issue, i.e. the Danish youth. In fact, the Danish youth feels that something wrong happened in their country, but cannot perceive it. Hence, the reason behind our travel is to help them know who Prophet Muhammad (SAWS) is.
- Sawsan, please tell me about your experience in Denmark, and how you consider its success, or do you think it could be even better than this?
Ø Al-hamdulillah (all praises be to Allah), it was a successful trip, and the whole team was so optimistic about it. I had in mind a certain idea: that the Danish youth is just like us, and are curious to know the culture, traditions, and customs of the other party. Personally, I had that same curiosity to know everything about them. I was optimistic and felt that there would be interaction and response from their part, which is what actually happened.
- What kind of response was there? How did you sense it? In addition, how do you decide that it was a response?
Ø There was curiosity on their part, and inquiries about religion and my country Algeria.
- Give me examples of the questions they asked.
Ø When they first saw me they asked about my job, and I said I am a doctor. They further asked about my studies and country, and asked if my Hijab[2] forms an obstacle in my life. I replied saying that it is not an obstacle: I drive my car, practice sports, and go to university with it. They had many questions of that kind.
- Darah, who are the young people you met there? Did they meet you in the conference hall, or did each of you go individually to talk to the people through Denmark?
Ø Well, we applied both types of interaction. We first talked to them in the hall, at other times we would take a taxi to any place or go to buy some food, and so we dealt with all types of people in Denmark. Before traveling, I was very scared that they would not accept us as Muslims. However, I entered wearing my Hijab with no obstacles or problems at all, although some were watching us with doubt and curiosity. Nevertheless, they were so good to us.
- Does this mean that you returned carrying love and not hatred toward the Danish?
Ø Yes, subhan Allah (Glorified be Allah).
- Sarah, would you tell me about the main features of your trip to Denmark with Mr. Amr Khaled? As you know, there has been some attack against this trip, which we will tackle with Mr. Amr later; but now we would like to know about your experience.
Ø In Denmark, we met youth just like us. As Khaled said, they suddenly found there was a problem, and so they were ready to listen to us, which facilitated a major part of our mission. They treated us as fellow humans, with no difference between us, despite the cultural difference. Hence, we focused on the common things between us instead of focusing on the differences, which was awesome.
- Give me examples of the common things.
Ø Passion for knowledge and science, and the curiosity to know what is happening around us. By focusing on such points of agreement, the whole activity became very positive.
- Didn’t they think the issue was very big when you traveled to Denmark? I do not mean the idea of hatred, but the complicated state and the decision of the Islamic world to boycott the Danish products. Besides, there has been mutual attack between the two sides (the West and the Islamic countries). Tell me about this feeling, and the way they talked about that problem.
Ø Khaled Barakat: There is a point I would like to highlight, that for the government, ministries, and peoples the issue is different. We went to hold a dialogue with those who are like us, and whom we consider as objective or would like to know the reality of what happened. We did not go to talk to those who could be considered the reason of the “battle”. The Danish people really care to know why we got angry to that extent.
- Nevertheless, they heard of that battle, and they are suffering from its consequences.
Ø Ye, but that does not mean that they approve it. We talked with 25 youth, but this is not the actual number. Those 25 youth represented 700 associations with 800.000 members who really followed the discussions and dialogue, as all this was broadcasted to them. We were addressing the youth sector of the Danish population, and actually, most of them were not able to comprehend or identify the problem before, and therefore wanted to know the reason behind our rage...isn’t this mere criticism? That was the idea, and they were very curious- as Sawsan mentioned- and so we explained to them the meaning of the Prophet in our lives. It took us from morning until evening to make them understand that for us the issue was not simple at all. We worked hard to convince them that it could not even be compared to burning the flag, the act that enraged them, simply because the Prophet (SAWS) is the core of our whole life. They had to know all this because they could not understand the reason behind the rage, the boycott, the demonstrations, and the extremes of burning the embassies and flags. Thus, there was a key role to define the issue and the problem, as we helped people to identify the problem and acquaint them with Prophet Muhammad (SAWS).
01-22-2007, 10:15 PM
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