Quite a few Muslim organizations don't think that the Islamic Society of Denmark represents all Danish Muslims. Those organizations are currently establishing the Danish Muslim Union (DMU), which includes Muslims regardless of ethnic background.
The initiative, which has been underway for three years, comes from the umbrella organization of Muslim immigrant associations (Sammenslutningen af Muslimske Indvandrer Foreninger, DMGT), which has succeeded in getting together Turkish, Arab, Pakistani and Somali Muslim associations.
Nuri Ünlü, national secretary for DMGT, says that they would like to have an organization which would hold all Muslims in Denmark, so there isn't one group that speaks for all Muslims and so the Islamic society is not the only one who appears in the media and represents all Muslims.
He also thinks that the media bear part of the blame for the intense exposure of the Islamic Society.
Nuri Ünlü: We have for example existed since the mid 1980s and totally seen we are the largest Muslim organization in the country with 3,500 members and 28 chapters in the whole of Denmark. But it's very smart of the media to choose the Islamic Society since they will probably commit errors.
Nuri Ünlü thinks that Hizb ut-Tahrir and the organization's spokesperson, Fadi Abdullatif, have also gotten too much attention from the media.
Nuri Ünlü: It's the extremes that come to represent the whole of Muslim society and we are tired of it. If I was a journalist I wouldn't interview Jonni Hansen (head of the National Socialist Movement of Denmark) and say that he represents all Christians.
The DMU will be officially established on March 29 and will at first consist of the heads of the different organizations and associations. Later the council will get its own leader.
Nuri Ünlü explains that the different organizations will keep their independence. It will be a bit like the EU.
The members have already signed a declaration of intention. the Islamic Society was interested at first, but did not sign the declaration. Ünlü says he doesn't know why but expects them to come back in a year when they see that they are no longer seen as representatives for all Danish Muslims.
Source: JP (Danish) h/t Gülay Kocbay (Danish)
See also: Denmark: Turkish Muslims oppose Islamic Society
No comments:
Post a Comment