Sarajevo, July 10 (QNA) - Qatar participated in the international conference titled Beyond East and West: Eurasian Encounters Reimagined, which was held in Sarajevo.

Qatar's delegation was headed by Undersecretary of the Ministry of Education and Higher Education Dr. Ibrahim bin Saleh Al Nuaimi, who is also the Chairman of the Board of the Doha International Center for Interfaith Dialogue (DICID).

The conference was organized by the Qatar National Commission for Education, Culture and Science and the Islam and Muslims Initiative, in cooperation with the University of Sarajevo, Hamad Bin Khalifa University, the Center for Advanced Studies in Sarajevo, and QatarDebate. It brought together leading researchers, academics, policymakers, religious leaders, and media professionals from around the world.

Over the course of two days, the conference addressed issues related to education, knowledge production, civilizational studies, interfaith dialogue, and cultural pluralism, treating them as interconnected fields that contribute to greater mutual understanding and stronger social peace.

During the conference's second academic session, titled "Islam and Europe: Historical Encounters, Identity, and Contemporary Reconfigurations," Dr. Al Nuaimi focused on several key intellectual themes.

He emphasized the need to reinterpret the historical relationship between Islam and Europe as one of sustained intellectual and civilizational interaction rather than separation or conflict, noting that many of the conceptual binaries that have shaped this relationship emerged from historical and colonial contexts rather than accurately reflecting historical reality.

He also discussed Islam's civilizational contribution to the production and transmission of knowledge across civilizations and stressed the importance of reexamining the intellectual frameworks that shaped perceptions of the East and the West.

He highlighted the emergence of the concept of Occidentalism in contemporary Islamic thought as a parallel critical approach to the study of the West.

Dr. Al Nuaimi further addressed contemporary developments affecting Muslims in Europe, particularly the evolution of a distinct European Muslim identity and Europe's growing role as a center for knowledge production and Islamic legal reasoning.

He discussed the contributions of several contemporary scholars to debates on identity, citizenship, the jurisprudence of Muslim minorities, and the relationship between Islam and modernity.

He also stressed that overcoming traditional intellectual divisions requires adopting a more balanced historical and human-centered perspective based on mutual recognition, intellectual humility, and shared responsibility in addressing today's global challenges.

In a separate address delivered as part of the conference's official program, Dr. Al Nuaimi praised the organizers and the conference's academic standards. He said academic gatherings of this kind help build bridges between researchers, provide opportunities to rethink shared history, and promote scientific and cultural cooperation among different peoples and civilizations.

He noted that the conference discussions demonstrated that the concepts of the East and the West extend beyond geography to encompass historical, intellectual, and human dimensions, and that such academic exchanges contribute to a deeper understanding of shared human experiences.

He added that Sarajevo represented a historical model of interaction among cultures and religions, making it an appropriate venue for discussing coexistence and reexamining civilizational relationships beyond rigid binary perspectives.

Dr. Al Nuaimi also expressed hope that the conference's academic dialogue would lead to research projects and institutional partnerships that strengthen mutual understanding and cooperation among academic institutions worldwide.

Qatar's participation in the conference reflects its commitment to strengthening its academic and intellectual presence in international forums and supporting initiatives that promote dialogue, encourage scientific research, and foster more open and balanced knowledge production on issues related to religion, education, and civilizational relations. (QNA)