Muslim women call on president of Sarawak Islamic Council

KUCHING: A group of Muslim women from Asian countries paid a courtesy call on the new president of Sarawak Islamic Council, Datu Misnu Taha recently.

The women came from Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Myanmar, the Philippnes, Korea, Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia.

They were accompanied by the CEO of Islamic Information Centre ( IIC), Zabariah Matali and secretary-general of Regional Islamic Da’wah Council of Southeast Asia and the Pacific ( Riseap), Marzuki Mohd Omar.

The group was welcomed by Misnu who highlighted the situation in Sarawak.

“What is unique here is that Muslims and people of other faiths live in a peaceful and harmonious environment. The respect for each other is always there,” he said.

Misnu spoke on the importance of understanding the religion and not to equate the actions of a few to the teachings of Islam.

“There is a common misconception that anything that involves terrorism is the teaching of Islam. It is mostly a Western misconception due to the actions of a few Muslims.

“We cannot equate bad things carried out by a few Muslims to the teachings of Islam. The Islamic Information Centre was established for the purpose of sharing knowledge about Islam.

“That is why its building was architecturally designed to portray Sarawak culture,” he said.

A four- day workshop themed ‘ Building Muslimah, Strengthening the Ummah’ was held here by Riseap and IIC from July 26 to 29.

IIC believes that the workshop is an excellent platform not only to discuss and deliberate on current issues relating to Muslims, but also showcases Sarawak as a model state in terms of unity and harmonious relations among the people.