CAIRO, April 18, 2005 (IslamOnline.net) – Danish Queen Margrethe II’s statements on Islam have been distorted by some Western media, which unsurprisingly make too much fuss about nothing when it comes to the Muslim faith, a Danish Muslim activist has said.

“The queen did say that 'radical Islam' and not 'Islam' posed a threat and was a cause of concern,” Abul Hassan Mohammad Shehada, the director of Al-Aqsa Cultural Center in the northern city of Odense, told IslamOnline.net by phone.

“Make no mistake: I'm not defending her, but it is impossible for a queen best known for her moderation and acceptance of the other to attack Islam as a whole,” he added.

Shehada said representatives of Islamic centers in Denmark, who met Sunday, April 17, in Odense, saw nothing offensive in the queen's statements.

“It was just a routine meeting but the fuss made by some media has really forced itself on the agenda.”

Several international media outlets, including Reuters and Daily Telegraph, quoted the Danish monarch as saying: “We are being challenged by Islam these years - globally as well as locally.”

She told Danish journalist Annelise Bistrup, who gathered her most famous quotes over the years in an authorized book entitled “Margrethe”, that the Danes should show their “opposition to Islam”.

“It is a challenge we have to take seriously. We have let this issue float about for too long because we are tolerant and lazy,” the queen reported said.

Shehada said that the Muslim minority in Denmark, estimated at 150,000 people most of them of Turkish and Pakistani origin, have been facing difficulties that never existed before the 9/11 attacks in the US.

He said the government has enacted laws that many Muslims see as unjust and discriminatory.

“A law, for instance, gave private companies the right to reject the employment of any applicant without citing the reason, which is tailored for hijab-clad Muslim women. In the past, no one dared to fire or reject an employee because of his/her ethnic backgrounds,” said the Muslim activist.

“It is really unfair that Muslims who were born in Denmark and studied in its schools and universities find no place for them in the labor market. It is indeed a black chapter in the Danish human rights record.”

Shehada, who immigrated from Lebanon to Denmark in 1986, further cited another law that prevents Danes over 24, with neither a minimum bank account of 50,000 krones nor a home, getting married from abroad.

“The '24 law' implicitly targets Muslims because they often prefer to get married to a woman from their native countries.”

On the Muslims’ political activity, Shehada said they can play a key role on the political landscape of the country should they be united.

“Unfortunately, they are divided since each of the different communities, like the Turkish, the Arabs and the Pakistanis, has its own causes and problems,” he regretted.

“I myself have been calling for an umbrella group for all Muslim centers in the country.”

Shehada, however, said Muslim activist Abdel Wahed Bederson has joined the nascent Minorities Party as a representative for the minority.

Al-Aqsa Cultural Center was founded in 1990 as a liaison between Odense Muslims and Danish authorities.

The center, which is one of the largest Muslim establishments in Denmark, provides Muslims in the city with their basic needs like matrimonial and burial services and educational courses.