The recent Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) summit in the Senegalese capital Dakar was indeed historic, as Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, OIC secretary general, described it. Not only for adopting a new charter replacing the "outdated" one, but mainly for focusing on a serious contemporary issue: Islamophobia in the West.
When OIC was launched in 1969 in response to a terrorist attack on Al Aqsa mosque in Palestine, extremism was not portrayed as being "Islamic", as is the case now. There still was communism in the Soviet Union, and leftist groups from Red Brigades in Italy to Red Army in Japan were active. Leftists and nationalists were seen as the "main enemies of the West". Yet, Islamophobia was taking root.
Actually, the mocking of Muslims and Islam precedes 9/11 and its aftermath. The image of the wealthy Bedouin from Arabia in a tent, with a camel outside and a barrel of oil as the source of his fortune has been a stereotype propagated by media since the 1970s. There is no point in debating now whether the behaviour of some wealthy Arabs in the nightclubs and casinos of Western capitals helped reinforce this distorted image, or was it a deliberate manipulation by the media and hypocritical politicians.
Some Muslims and Arabs are really examples of the "critical mass of success" in the West, but they rarely come to focus in the media. Spotlight is always occupied by the likes of semi-talented and superficial celebrities such as Salman Rushdie or the arrogant liar Ayaan Hirsi-Ali - stripped of her Dutch citizenship acquired after telling lies about her alleged persecution in a Muslim community. And you can never persuade those politicians or media in the West to turn from Islamophobia to Islamophilia, let alone hundreds of millions of ordinary people around the globe intoxicated by the vilification campaign.
No surrender
That does not mean Muslims have to give up and surrender to the fate the West wants for them. It seeks to portray them as the main enemy of modernity and civilisation. Ihsanoglu told the Dakar conference that "Muslims are being targeted by a campaign of defamation, denigration, stereotyping, intolerance and discrimination". He rightly added that "in our relation with the Western world, we are going through a difficult time ... Islamophobia cannot be dealt with through cultural activities, but [through] robust political engagement".
That is what the modern version of political Islam is going through in his native country, Turkey, and eclipsing radical trends, like the militant groups.
Some at the OIC summit proposed pressing for legal action against Islamophobic actions in the West, and drew analogy with the anti-racism laws forbidding defamation of other communities in the West - like the laws against anti-Semitism. That, most likely, will not stop Islamophobia and will definitely not promote Islamophilia. People in the West might not mention a word about Jews (as they fear the law) but many don't like them either - and do not believe the hypocrisy of the politicians and media. Besides, most of the jokes in bad taste in the West are about Jews.
But Muslims are not seen as the persecuted Jews of the past two centuries. They are seen stereotypically, as greedy billionaires controlling the world's oil and gas. Even those Western expatriates who benefit from the oil boom, are more influenced by the media distortions about Muslims and Arabs than by any positive things they experience first-hand by dealing with Muslims.
By tackling the issue of Islam and Muslims' perception in the world, the OIC is doing a good job. Besides monitoring Islamophobia, it has to devise a proactive approach to deal with it, and not only complain about it.
Highlighting positive developments in the Muslim world and successes of Muslim communities is one way of doing it. Other approaches might be more difficult, but not impossible, like pushing for political change in Muslim countries - not necessarily through the American or French way but in their own way -and empowering the people, so that they have a say in running their affairs.
Dr Ahmad Mustafa is a London-based Arab writer.
