Azerbaijan, Baku, 2 April / Trend corr. G.Ahmadova, R.Hafizoglu / Staging of the scandal play 'Satanic verse' by Salman Rushdie in Germany may damage the dialogue between Muslims and Christians.
"Recent events show that the European community is not ready for the dialogue," Abdulvahid Alvani, Islamist-researcher from the Saudi Arabia, stated to Trend .
According to the information spread by the Turkish press on 31 March, the play 'Satanic verse' by Rushdie will be staged in Germany. The Muslims living in Germany went on mass protest actions.
"Today, there is a need for the exchange of cultural knowledge among the populations, particularly, in dialogue between the Christians and Muslims," Alvani stated by email from Jidda. According to him, today, there is a political, military and cultural fight between the Christians and Muslims. The best way to keep the Islamic values is by holding a profound dialogue between the two, he said.
He added that the Muslims cannot reach anything by separating from the community.
"According to the official estimate, Christian and Muslim religions have countless followers. Strong relations and dialogue between the two religions means stability in the world," he noted.
The expert believes that 'Satanic verses' by Rushdie will not be staged. "Staging of the play may cause a huge contradiction between the two religions and damage the inter-religious dialogue," he said.
Raza Nadim, a spokes person from the Committee on Muslims Public Relations in Britain, considers unacceptable insult towards the Islamic and its religious values in Europe. "In spite of the support for freedom of speech, we believe that the freedom is relative sense and it should be used with responsibility," Nadim stated to Trend by a telephone from London.
The distribution of the film produced by Wilders and its staging in Germany is insulting the Islam followers and attempt to stir up the anger. "Muslims and Christians should prevent distribution of such film which cause damage between the religions," Nadim stated.
Nadim said that staging of 'Satanic verses' play should not be treated as a position of the entire Christian world. "It is high time to hold a dialogue between Muslims and Christians," he noted.
On 27 March, 15 minutes film by the Holland producer Gert Wilders, which stir up outrage on the Koran and Islam values, was placed on the Internet.
In 1989, Ayatollah Khomeini, the leader of the religious Iranian Islamic Revolution, pronounced death sentence upon the Indian origin writer Rushdie for his book 'Satanic verse'.
The correspondent can be contacted at: [email protected]