One of the leaders of the local Muslim community, Imam Douglas Owen-Ali has spoken about some of the recent atrocities inflicted on innocent people by Muslim extremists.

Ahead of his "Global Oneness Campaign", the spiritual teacher seized the opportunity to comment on the number of killings by Muslims in strife-torn Saudi Arabia, calling them 'unislamic' and uncivilised.

"I think I have an obligation to issue a statement. It is unislamic and uncivilised to take the life of an innocent human being," declared Owen-Ali who is shortly to embark on his overseas crusade to tie into the promotion of his latest book, Islam Building Bridges of Understanding - A Jamaican Voice of Unity.

"I'm taking with me a message for the human family," asserts Owen-Ali on a recent visit to the Observer. "Islam is a universal religion which proclaims unity and peace among the whole human family," he continues. "It is a religion and a life of peace and blessings. It has, therefore, nothing to do with terrorism and ill-will."

Owen Ali also condemned recent reports of torture of Iraqi prisoners by American soldiers, saying it was an unfortunate event. "I want to speak to that issue and say it is inhuman and wrong. And whoever commits a wrong, it is a wrong. Whether it is an American, a Muslim, a Jew, a Christian, it is wrong and it's deplorable and we have to speak against that injustice that was inflicted on Iraqi prisoners by American soldiers."
Owen-Ali said his tour was triggered by his recent detention in Washington by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) because he had told immigration officers "there is no bomb in my shoes".

"I was pulled from the flight and detained by the FBI for questioning, and the police had the dogs sniffing my shoes and found it was OK... After several hours, I met with the FBI director for the region, Ank Hamburger, and I was treated with extreme cordiality and he apologised for the misunderstanding and misjudgement, and I also apologised for my own indiscretion. So out of this incident came an opportunity to build bridges of understanding."

As a result, Owen-Ali says he will be doing a series of lectures in the next few months in Washington, with the FBI. "The invitation came from the FBI to build bridges between the agents and the Islamic community on my next trip to America in July and also make available to them copies of the book."
Expressing appreciation to Air Jamaica for support of his Global Oneness tour, the self-proclaimed Islamic Ambassador of Peace argues that his initiative will seek to bring Jamaica to the world stage in a positive way.

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