MINARETS BAN CONDEMNED

Muslim scholars have criticised a blanket Swiss ban on the building of mosque minarets as a serious violation of the Muslim minority’s rights and a precedent that may undermine interfaith dialogue. “The International Union for Muslim Scholars (IUMS) has received the outcome of the minarets ban referendum with shock and surprise,” the Dublin-based IUMS said in statement. “I was greatly sadden by the result of this referendum,” Sheikh Yusuf Al-Qaradawi, IUMS president and chairman of the European Council for Fatwa and Research, said in a separate statement. He expressed fears that the anti-Muslim campaigns might move from rejecting minarets to opposing mosques. Egypt’s Al-Azhar, the highest seat of religious learning in the Sunni world, also denounced the ban. Muslim scholars said the ban showed the extent of Islamophobia in the West. Muslim scholars cautioned that the far-right anti-Islam campaigns are threatening to undermine years of dialogue between Muslims and Christians.