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Books on Islam for non-Muslims

DUBAI - The New Muslims Section of Dubai Auqaf and Islamic Affairs Department has recently published books about Islam in more than 13 different languages as part of its campaign to correct many misconceptions about Islam held by many in the Western world.

Eman Ismail Abdullah, Head of the New Muslims Section, said that the aim of this campaign is to correct misconceptions about Islam and spread Islamic teachings among the non-Muslim residents and visitors of the UAE. The campaign also aims to correct many widespread misconceptions held by some Muslims, including the educated and some Muslim scholars who tend to interpret Islam in the way that suits them. The books were published in English, Arabic, Spanish, Russian, German, two Iranian languages, two Indian languages, Urdu, Italian, French and Chinese. The books were printed with an eye-catching designed to attract non-Muslim readers. The books are displayed on special stands which have been distributed to shops and shopping malls and various tourist locations.

The books can be found at the Heritage Village, Sahara Centre, Dubai City Centre, Al Attar Centre, BurJuman Centre, the American Hospital in Dubai and Kanoo Group. More stands were also set up yesterday in Jebel Ali, where many Western expatriates live and work, offices of the Dubai Naturalisation and Residency Department as well as Dubai and Sharjah central jails.

"A female preacher comes to Dubai Plaza once a week to deliver lectures about Islam and answer people's queries." Eman Ismail Abdullah said. She said that the books have attracted large number of non-Muslims and foreign tourists who read them and call the Auqaf department for more information and clarifications.

"These books have played a great role in bringing many non-Muslims to Islam, especially Germans. The books also corrected the wrong notions about Islam held by many foreign tourists. For example, in Hatta Centre three non-Muslims converted to Islam after they read about the Muslim faith." she said.

She said that the New Muslims Section will hold lectures about Islam on September 15 at Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry as well as Fujairah, in addition to setting up book stalls in all hotels in Dubai during Dubai 2003, the Meeting of the Board of Governors of the World Bank Group and International Monetary Fund, so that members of delegations may learn about Islam.