By Nawab Khan
(with photo) EINDOHOVEN, Holland, July 24 (KUNA) -- A renowned Islamic preacher has called on Muslims in Europe to integrate in the societies they live in and not to be isolated.
"You must learn how to integrate among the community. You should not be only among yourselves, and isolate yourselves," Mohammad Hussain Yee, told Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) in an interview.
A Malaysian national of Chinese descent, Yee is a frequent visitor to Europe to preach about Islam. He also regularly appears on Islamic television channels.
Hussain Yee runs the al-Khaadem foundation, a Malaysia-based international humanitarian charitable body dedicated to serving mankind regardless of colour race or creed.
Earlier this week he attended a summer camp of European Muslims held in southern Holland about 40 kms from the famous Dutch city of Eindhoven. It was organised by the Federation of Islamic Organisations of the Netherlands.
Yee explained that integration does not imply that Muslims should abandon their values and adopt un-Islamic ways.
He quoted a saying of Prophet Mohammad (pbuh) that "a true believer is a person who mixes around with the people and has all the patience to handle the problems that come from the people. He is better than the believer who isolates himself and does not face the problems that come from the community." "Islam has been promoting the right values since 1400 years. Islam values the freedom of every individual that is why God has said in the Quran that there is no compulsion in religion, (la ikraha fid-deen)," said Yee, 60, who was born in a Buddhist family and embraced Islam at the age of 18.
"Islam gives you the basic human rights that the West is promoting lately. Islamic value is an universal value because everybody wants peace, everybody wants to be honoured, everybody wants some security," he underlined.
Yee called on Western governments not to ban or put restrictions on Islamic preachers but instead open their doors to them to spread the real Islamic message of peace and harmony.
"Lately we see that a lot of politicians don't seem to understand the work of a Daieea (Islamic preacher). They think we are here to create unrest among the people, but we are here to make sure that people who have a wrong understanding of Islam will come back to the pure teaching of Islam that always promotes peace for humanity," said Yee.
"We are here to promote the right message to the Muslims because we want the Muslims to understand the Deen (religion) properly based on the guidance of the Quran and the Sunnah (the path) of the prophet. So when they understand it they will promote peace and love neighbours and respect (them)," he said.
Yee criticised a recent decision by the UK and Canada to ban the entry of an Indian Islamic preacher Dr. Zaki Naik on grounds of 'unacceptable behavior.
'" Naik is the president of the Mumbai-based Islamic Research Foundation which runs the Peace TV channel and has visited Canada, US and the UK numerous times previously.
"If they do this to the good Daei we are worried that other groups of people could start to create tensions among the Ummah (Muslim community) and they may get out of control" said Yee.
"We are here to promote peace and give the right message. We are not politicians. We have no hidden agenda except that the Muslims here should understand the true teachings of Islam," he underlined.
"We believe that any government that understands our nature of work should open their doors and help us to come and promote the pure teachings of Islam. There would be more peace, there would be more understanding," he said.
But Yee also cautioned Islamic preachers to be "more careful of words that they use." He said authorities should seek clarification on statements made by Islamic preachers and not act under pressure by certain groups or under a political agenda.
"Don't interpret by yourself because we use certain words and we know what we are saying but if you use the same word in another area, another context it may differ. The environment would have changed. So they must be fair to us," he noted (end) nk.sd KUNA 241623 Jul 10NNNN