The Challenge of Islam

"There has been growing interest in the West in recent years to understand Islam as the Muslims understand it. This is a happy development. The Islamic Council of Europe is the principal institution for projecting the message of Islam in the West. It is engaged in a number of activities aimed at disseminating true knowledge about Islam and about the Muslim world. The Council hopes to promote Islamic activities amongst the Muslims of Europe on the one hand and, on the other, to establish new channels of communication, discussion and understanding between the West and the Muslim world at different levels, intellectual as well as socio-cultural.
During the year 1976 a number of exhibitions and other social programmes were organised in the United Kingdom to acquaint the West with the culture of the Islamic world. On that occasion the Islamic Council of Europe organised an International Islamic Conference, the first of its kind in recent European history, to enable the West to understand not only the cultural heritage of Islam but also its ideology and living tradition which constitute an abiding message for mankind. The theme of the Conference was "Islam and the Challenge of our Age". Over one hundred scholars and statesmen, representing some forty countries, participated in the Conference. Papers of outstanding merit were presented and discussed during the Conference identifying the issues confronting the world today."