Muslim world slow to respond to pressing ethical issues: Aga Khan - AGA KHAN SPEAKS TO THOUSANDS IN TORONTO AND VANCOUVER - 2005-06-10

The wealthy philanthropist, who praised Canada's multiculturalism, said it's time Islamic people joined global debates, writes HAYLEY MICK
The Aga Khan says the Muslim world has been late to join the West in the debate over the most pressing ethical issues of our time, such as stem-cell research.

'The Islamic world is far behind on some of these issues and yet we're facing them all the time,' the leader of 15 million Ismaili Muslims told the Citizen editorial board in a rare interview yesterday.

'Muslims will be looking to the Judeo-Christian debate when they, too, begin addressing them.' But the soft-spoken imam also emphasized that the West has a poor grasp of Islam and the difference between faith and politics