Islamophobia has gradually taken centre-stage in the wake of events in certain Western countries, particularly France which has the biggest Muslim minority in Europe of over six million. The question begging an answer is whether the leadership of the Islamic states that matter is ready and united to counter this challenge.

It doesn’t look like that. There has been condemnation of French President Emmanuel Macron’s remarks blaming Islam for all problems and resolving to support the right to publish the caricatures of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) by arguing that it is a matter of freedom of the expression. The condemnations have been strong or weak depending on the interests of the countries concerned. Protests demonstrations, big and small, have been organised across the Islamic world and calls for boycott of French products have been made even though the scope of their impact isn’t clear.

However, no emergency meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has been called. The OIC is expected to organise a joint position on issues affecting Muslims. There has been no proper consultation among leaders of Muslim nations to discuss the issue and come up with a befitting response. The meek reaction has been yet another indication of the inability of the Islamic states to protect their religion from assaults by non-Muslims.

Saudi Arabia readily comes to mind when the most important Islamic countries in the world are counted. The oil-rich kingdom is among the prominent leaders of Muslim nations. It hosts the headquarters of the OIC, which with a membership of 57 states spread across four continents is the biggest inter-governmental body after the United Nations. The OIC is largely managed by Saudi Arabia which is its biggest donor. Riyadh could have convened its meeting to specifically coordinate the Islamic response to Islamophobia.

The Saudi statement on the issue said it rejected any attempt to link Islam with terrorism and condemned the offensive caricatures of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). Its foreign ministry also called for “intellectual and cultural freedom to be a beacon of respect, tolerance and peace that rejects practices and acts which generate hatred, violence and extremism and are contrary to the values of co-existence.” In an apparent reference to the beheading of a teacher in France by a Muslim man of Chechen origin deeply offended by the use of the caricatures in his class, the Saudi statement pointed out that the kingdom condemned all acts of terrorism regardless of who the perpetrators were. This was an obvious attempt to balance its condemnation of the French president without mentioning his name and the terrorist act that happened in Paris.

Unlike certain other Islamic governments and leaders, the Saudi statement didn’t call for a boycott of French products. However, calls for boycott of the French supermarket chain Carrefour trended on the social media in Saudi Arabia. The company claimed that it had yet to feel any impact of the boycott. Kuwait took the lead for calls in the Arab world for boycott of French goods and video footage showed stores being emptied of such products. In certain other Arab states, trade associations have tried to organise the boycott, but sustaining the campaign would require a bigger effort and better coordination. Symbolic acts such as burning French flags and effigies of President Macron and stepping on his images at hotels have also taken place.

However, no emergency meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has been called. The OIC is expected to organise a joint position on issues affecting Muslims.

The UAE minister of state for foreign affairs, Anwar Gargash, has become the only senior government functionary in the Muslim world to defend the French president’s position and reject the accusation that Macron is seeking to exclude Muslims. He said Muslims needed to be integrated in a better way as the French state had the right to look for ways to achieve this objective while also combating extremism and terrorism. His comments were in line with the current thinking among the pro-West rulers of the UAE, Saudi Arabia and their allies in the Arab world.

It wasn’t surprising that Iran and Turkey reacted aggressively to the French president’s remarks and the decision of Charlie Hebdo’s management to republish the highly offensive cartoons. Erdogan, who studied at a madrassah before going to a university and is never shy of mentioning his love for Islam and Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), was the most critical of President Macron. He even suggested that Macron needed a mental health examination. His government had threatened legal and diplomatic action when Charlie Hebdo published on its front cover insulting cartoons of President Erdogan as the row between France and Turkey intensified. At that stage, it looked as if the Turks led by Erdogan were fighting an increasingly lonely battle against the arrogant French.

Islamic states in the Far East and Africa have also reacted with anger, but the protest demonstrations have been few and far between. However, there is no doubt that Muslims were deeply hurt. This showed in their private conversations and media interactions even if the public demonstrations weren’t big or sustained.

Pakistan was among the Islamic states that highlighted the issue of Islamophobia. Prime Minister Imran Khan spoke with Erdogan and others in an effort to coordinate their reaction to the issue. He accused Macron of encouraging Islamophobia by choosing to deliberately provoke Muslims, including French citizens. He mentioned the late Nelson Mandela as a leader who had united his people and argued that Macron should have chosen to apply a healing touch and denied space to extremists rather than creating further polarisation and marginalisation that inevitably leads to radicalisation. Instead, he said, the French president had chosen to encourage Islamophobia by “attacking Islam rather than the terrorists who carry out violence.”

The Muslim Ummah, which is frequently taunted with the phrase “so-called” hasn’t been able to use its considerable potential in terms of population, geo-strategic location and resources to defend its interests. However, the anti-Macron protests and the calls for boycott of French products have prompted Macron to tone down his rhetoric by saying that he understood and respected the sentiments being expressed by Muslims. This shows that the Muslim Ummah needs to act more and coordinate better to be heard and taken seriously.

The writer is resident editor of The News in Peshawar. He can be reached at rahimyusufzai@yahoo.com