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Beyond Dialogue: Possible Areas of Cooperation
dialogue with the Muslim world will again and again be confronted with the reproach of hegemony and double standards. Let us be frank – in the minds of the Muslim masses there are many pertinent questions. There is also growing mistrust. One of the accusations is that our reform discourse is only a cover up for a policy exclusively interested in securing our energy needs. Or the kind of public diplomacy in order to paint the West in beautiful and bright pictures. Without doubt – there is a lot of attractiveness for young Muslims in the West. The freedom and the opportunities in the Western world are great. But one has to work very hard to become an achiever. When I see some data that in some universities in the Arab world between 50 % and 60 % of the students are only dreaming of running away from their home country emigrating to Europe or other Western countries - it is a clear indication for the high level of frustration. To fight this frustration we must empower the young generation, especially the future leaders. This is in the interest of both sides. We have to look jointly into the future to try and tackle existing problems. According to my understanding it will not help us to look back to the glorious time of the early four caliphs – but we can learn from history. Everybody who has studied the history of Islam will witness that in the early Middle Ages this part of the world was so much more developed than the Western world. There was much more freedom and criticism possible than nowadays. So to revive the traditional standards of openness and tolerance and high level learning in the Arab world would be a good incentive for the future. Malaysia’s Islam hadara is a good example to follow. One other thing is also very clear: if you compare the development in the Arab world or the Muslim world at large and the non-Muslim world, especially in Asia, you will see that in other societies women are much more actively engaged in politics and in business is the case in many traditional Muslim countries. No country can strive for improvement and competition
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