Professor Bennoune Interviewed on Islam and the Media
Professor Karima Bennoune was interviewed on the UK-based internet radio program The Monocle Daily regarding a speech given at Oxford by the mother of the Qatari Emir. Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, chair of the Qatar Foundation and considered to be among the most influential women in the Arab world, talked about the "dehumanization" of Muslims in the media and the "double standards" that are applied in reporting on the deaths of Muslims.
Professor Bennoune said that negative stereotyping of Muslims is a valid concern. "But to my mind she puts the blame on the way in which the problem of Muslim fundamentalism and jihadist terrorism is being discussed," she said. "I actually think that a great deal of that problem is being caused by that terrorism itself."
Bennoune disagreed with the idea that a "great divide" exists between the Islam and the West. "I really reject all of these ideas that we have now about clashes of civilizations," she said. "I think what is more important is the clash that we have within every civilization in the world today between what might be called ‘democrats' and ‘theocrats.' I think people who are defending liberal values and human rights within any different global context may find a great deal of common ground."
Karima Bennoune is an author, lecturer, teacher, and international law scholar as well as the first Arab-American to be honored with the Derrick A. Bell Award from the Section on Minority Groups of the Association of American Law Schools. She recently was awarded the Dayton Literary Peace Prize for her book Your Fatwa Does Not Apply Here: Untold Stories from the Fight against Muslim Fundamentalism, now available in paperback from W.W. Norton & Company.