Intercultural communication between the West and Islam under the spectre of islamophobia (original) (raw)

The article is an attempt to discover the origin and causes of conflicts between Islam and other cultures and civilisations, given the fact that Islam has become the fastest spreading religion in the world 3 . The issue investigated emanates from the widespread and prevailing ideas and opinions promoted by the Western media, especially after September11 th , about Muslims representing a violent and bloody civilisation that cannot engage in intercultural dialogue. The hypothesis exists that a highly tense and unfriendly relationship prevails between the Islamic and the Western world in which Muslims are generally negatively stereotyped as violent terrorists. I considered the most efficient ways to get these two blocks into reconciliatory and friendly terms and clear out the perceptual misrepresentations of Muslims and Islam from the minds of mainstream westerners. Therefore, I questioned the possibility of coexistence of Muslims with other cultures and civilisations. The paper draws its conclusions from a qualitative analysis of various interviews carried out in the public and private sectors. In short, the conflict between Islam and the West unveils a clash of economic and political interests hidden under a clash of civilisations. 5 What do Americans think of Muslims?