ISLAM VS WEST

Gulfnews: U.S. officials see deep rift between Islam and West

A former U.S. White House official and two other Western scholars have concluded a deep rift exists between Islam and the West because of Western misunderstanding of the religion, and argued dialogue and joint research are needed to bridge the gap.

What compounds the problem is that policy makers in the West have been influenced in their dealing with Muslims by anti-Islam ideas presented by Western intellectuals despite widespread endeavours by some Muslim scholars to present the real face of Islam, said Abdul Aziz Said, a member of the White House Commission on the Islamic World during the Administration of former U.S. President Jimmy Carter.