“Islamophobia is not just a problem of a few countries, but it’s Europe’s problem as a whole and this phenomenon is generally observed in Europe,” said Baptiste Brodard, a Lecturer in Islamic Studies at Aix-Marseille University from Switzerland, during his speech at the panel titled “Multiculturalism, Islam, and Clash of Civilizations Theory: Rethinking Islamophobia” within the framework of the international scientific conference “Embracing Diversity: Tackling Islamophobia in 2024” held in Baku, Paralel.Az reports.

He said that in the West, the idea of Islam and Muslims being dangerous, them creating social and economic difficulties, and them threatening the values of the West is spreading:

“But the problems of West has no relation with Islam, those are economical problems and politicians uses this (Islam – ed.), because the politicians need a scapegoat. There is no clash of civilizations, but if you start to believe in this concept, it will have effects in reality and you will see the effects. Islam has its own values, it should be recognized and accepted as a universal religion like Christianity. Islam is not a religion of an ethnic group, it is an universal religion, which people in the West sometimes do not understand.”