5-7.04: Dr. Abdullah Al Shami attends "The Image of Arabs and Muslims in the World Literature" Conference in Damascus
Dr. Abdullah Al Shami, Professor of Comparative Islamic Jurisprudence and Islamic Studies at the Arts & Sciences Department, attended a conference at the Damascus University where he presented a paper and chaired a number of discussions.
The name of the conference was:
“The Image of Arabs and Muslims in the World Literature”
From the Syrian Arab News Agency H. Sabbagh / Ghossoun:
Damascus, (SANA) – A conference titled "The Image of Arabs and Muslims in World Literature" kicked off on Sunday, organized by Damascus University's Department of Arabic Language and Literature with the participation of researchers from several Arab and foreign universities.
Rector of Damascus University Dr. Wael Mualla underlined the importance of this conference, pointing out that the image of Arabs and Muslims in world public opinion has been undergoing dangerous distortion in recent years, linking them with terrorism, religious intolerance, political tyranny, and oppression of women, stressing that this distortion ignores reality completely and that Islam is a religion of peace, mercy, dialogue and respect.
Dr. Mualla noted that literature has a significant ability to affect the emotions and thoughts of readers, which calls for paying attention to the image of Arabs and Muslims in world literature and deal with the distortion of this image scientifically.
Dean of the Faculty of Literature and Human Sciences at Damascus University Dr. Amin Tarboush pointed out that the relation between Arab and Western cultures has developed into a clash of cultures, stressing the need for spreading awareness to improve the image of Arabs and Muslims.
Participants discussed the goals of the conference, agreeing that the image of Arabs and Muslims is related to the nation's material, spiritual and creative strengths, underlining the need to change the negative elements in this image instead of appealing for sympathy and pity in a world where only the strong are respected.
The three-day conference includes work sessions that discuss issues such as the image of Arabs and Muslims in European, Western, Asian, African and South American literature, and the role of Orientalism in establishing this image.
