ANKARA
Turkey’s head of religious affairs has said that Islam is under threat because of what he called new misunderstandings and urged Muslims to focus on Islam's message of peace.
In comments made during an iftar meal organized for ambassadors of Muslim countries Monday evening in Ankara, president of the Presidency of Religious Affairs Mehmet Gormez said: "Islam is under the threat of new misunderstandings. New religious understandings showing up in shades of violence during the last decade have started to threaten the graceful messages of Islam."
He called on every Muslim to understand the true meaning of Islam. "Look what we did to the world which is our mutual home and homeland. Why did we lose the [Muslim greeting of] ‘salaam’ in the Islamic world? There is no Islam without ‘salaam’ and no belief without faith," he added.
"Rage and hostility are causing hostility against Islam. The Islamic world is not the only one which suffers from security problems,” he pointed out.
"We are passing through a period of time when hearts have been hardened. How can a Muslim, who is obliged to show tenderness even to an ant, attempt to kill his own brother in a mosque by saying Allah Akbar [God is great]?"
Recalling his visit to the al-Aqsa Mosque, Gormez said that he had witnessed how the place, which consists of mutual faith values of Jews, Christians and Muslims, was now isolated in front of people's eyes.
"And I painfully observed how Gaza, where two million people live, got transformed into a concentration camp," he added.
Gormez added that Muslims must focus on Islam’s messages of peace and grace.
