Pukyong National University

'1.75 billion, misunderstanding and truth about Islamic culture'
A review of <Pukyong CEO Happiness Humanities Concert> Lecture 71st, Professor Lee Hee-soo

The 71st lecture on Pukyong National University's course on humanities <Pukyung CEO Happiness and Literature Concert> was held on October 10 under the title 'Understanding the Recent Middle East Situation and Understanding Islamic Culture'.

△ Professor Lee Hee-soo, who is giving a lecture. ⓒPhoto by Lee Sung-jae (PR team)

He is the first South Korean student in the 550-year history of Istanbul University in Turkey, an Islamic State group, and a graduate student who earned a doctorate in history from the university's graduate school. He has served as president of the Korea Muslim Association and president of the Korea Middle East Association, and is currently a member of the foreign ministry's policy advisory committee.

How do you understand the Islamic culture?
Where did these enlightenment come from?
Why should you understand correctly?

This was the point of Lee's lecture.

Professor Lee introduced, "Islamic culture has the world's largest religious population with 1.7 billion people, and 22 of the 57 permanent members of the United Nations are Arab countries, making it the world's largest market with large international weight and abundant capital and resources."

He stressed, “We must face coldly whether this 'jade stone' is left to us with thin prejudice or distorted perspective.”

Prior to the lecture, Lee first introduced useful tips on what to do when we meet people from the Islamic culture community in our daily lives.

When you meet an Islamic culture, don't just shake hands, but first, say “Assalmu Alaikum” and pull out and hug. Even among strangers, such greetings are said to be very important in creating a sense of familiarity.

This means "God's peace to you." Professor Lee said, "This greeting shows how much people in this region, where there has been no lasting peace, are longing for peace."

Iran is Arab? Professor Lee said, "I hate to say 'Arab' to people in Iran. The opposite is also true. Arab is a culture that speaks Arabic, and Iran has a separate language."

Turkey also has a different language from Arabic. Why is Turkey a brother country with us? He said, "Teaching the Turkish national book is a nation of ours and our brothers. Turkish ancestors, the Dolgans and Uighurs, lived near the Goguryeo Baekje and gradually began to move westward, and were built 10,000 kilometers away in 1071, Turkey.” "It is Turkey where Korea is treated more than other advanced countries."

Delete the word IS? Lee said, "IS refers to an anti-humanitarian crime group. In Islamic culture, it is an emotionally uncomfortable term. Do not use IS. The official term for our Foreign Ministry is ‘Daesh.’"

Gulf is Persian Gulf (persian gulf), has separated the Arabian Gulf (arabian gulf), (as Dokdo and Takeshima) as used in accordance with the area when using care must be taken. It's 'The Gulf.'

Do people in Islamic cultures ride camels and live in desert tents? Professor Lee said, "To understand other cultures, we have to remove the curtain of our stereotypes.", "That's right to think that 95 percent of the culture lives in more colorful cities than in Seoul or Busan."

He said, "The only thing that's stimulus about the news is that Islam is not a place to live for people who are full of terrorism, war, violence.", "Islam no longer oppresses or imprisons women, and Islamic countries have different cultures and are designing a much more favorable future than ours."

As examples of the dynamics of Islamic countries, Professor Lee introduced ▷Saudi Arabia of the 2030 SA Vision, the dream of exporting wheat in the desert and investing 500 trillion won in the Red Sea coast to build a 44 times smart city in Seoul, ▷Dubai, which creates a miracle under the First Best Host policy, ▷Kuwait, which invested 4 trillion won to build a smart city three times that of Yeouido.

"We have to be prepared for 'the second Middle East boom', If we break our stereotypes and go beyond prejudice, this area will be a blue ocean that creates future wealth for us." he said.

Professor Lee said, "85 million women, half of the 1.7 billion Muslim population, are huge markets. Revolutionary crustal movements are expected to drive the global market as they become consumers of consumption."

"Korea is the maker that is driving the advancement of the hijab or clothes they use," he said. "They include hijab, which can also be used in swimming pools with waterproof coating treatment, hijab, which smells like jasmine rose herbs, and clothes made of cooling fiber, which is popular in the country of heat."

"Islamic cultures like our Koreans, like Korean goods, and think of Korea as their role model," Professor Lee said. "But it is true that we have perceived Islam as a terrorist in the eyes of hostile stakeholders due to a lack of communication and understanding."

Why did this happen?
Professor Lee said, “In the meantime, there was no group of experts who analyzed and delivered news from the Middle East. They should reflect on whether they were busy translating and delivering news from foreign media. So, most of our people had no choice but to access information mainly that analyzed A's problems from the perspective of the hostile country, B."

"Our country has never had an uncomfortable relationship with Islam historically," he said. "Recognizing the Muslim culture is not a matter of ideology. It is a matter of truth and substance. It is not the logic of the superpower, but we need to try to understand the culture and history with our own unique perspective and to recognize it correctly and precisely," he said.

Professor Lee's second lecture follows the title of "Understanding World History and Business Correlations with Islam's Eyes" on October 24 (Thursday). Contact me to participate in the lecture: Pukyong National University's Foreign Cooperation Division (629-5092) <Pukyong today>


△View of Somin Hall where lectures are held.