ID :
185585
Tue, 05/31/2011 - 13:46
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British Muslim scholar says religion still plays important role in European

By Nawab Khan
BRUSSELS, May 31 (KUNA) -- A British Muslim scholar has expressed his happiness that the European Union is engaging with religious communities to deal with the present-day problems in European socieites.
"It is good to see that religion still has a significant position in the European society although it is increasingly becoming a secular society. Nevertheless religious communities can still influence how society is going forward," Shaykh Ibrahim Mogra, Assistant Secretary General of the Muslim Council of Britain, told the Kuwait news agency (KUNA), in an interview.
Mogra was in Brussels to take part in an annual meeting of EU leaders with the representatives of religious communities in Europe hosted by European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso.
Mogra said the focus of the one-day gathering was the role religion can play in the process of ensuring human rights, freedom of religion and expression and how religious communities in Europe can be engaged by the EU in taking this agenda forward.
"The meeting is a perfect example how willing the EU as a whole is prepared to engage with faith communities," said Mogra who is a British citizen but originally hails from the Indian state of Gujarat.
He said that the issue of the rising Islamophobia in Europe or the ban of the burqa (face covering veil) in France and Belgium was not directly raised at the meeting.
But the British Muslim scholar said he told the meeting that when an EU member state proposes any piece of legislation they should ensure that that law does not deprive minority communities of their right to exercise their religious and cultural practices.
Around twenty senior representatives from the Christian, Jewish, Muslim religions as well as from the Buddhist communities met in Brussels yesterday on the invitation of Barroso and co-chaired by Jerzy Buzek, President of the European Parliament and Herman Van Rompuy, EU President.
Mogra also addressed a meet ing Monday evening in the European Parliament on the issue of better and meaningful engagement between the EU and with the European religious communities.
He noted that the Muslim communities in Europe are very diverse but by and large "Muslims in Europe understand the true spirit of Islam that we have to live peacefully with respect of others with tolerance and contribute to societies that we made our homes." Mogra explained that the Muslim Council of Britain has several committees and one of them is the mosque and community affairs committee of which he is the chairman.
In the UK there are approximately 1600 mosques and Muslim prayer halls which previously were old factories and warehouses and converted to places of worship for Muslims.

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