Britain's Prince Charles told Muslim scholars and students yesterday that the backlash over Danish cartoons depicting Prophet Mohammed showed the danger of religious insensitivity and intolerance.

Addressing 800 people at Al Azhar University, the heir to the British throne who will one day become head of the Church of England, said mistrust between the West and Islam was having "dreadful results" and urged tolerance.

"The recent ghastly strife and anger over the Danish cartoons shows the danger that comes of our failure to listen and to respect what is precious and sacred to others," he told the audience at one of Islam's top seats of learning.

Charles, who has urged the West to learn from Islam and received an honorary doctorate from Al Azhar yesterday, is on a tour which includes Saudi Arabia and India.

Mutual respect between faiths needs to be restored so as to overcome the distrust that poisons so many people's lives, he said.

"This, of course, is made infinitely more difficult by the stereotypes and absurdities propagated by certain sections of the media," he said.

Charles said it was not acceptable to stigmatize Muslims in Europe or to discriminate against Christians in the Islamic world.

"I think of the experience of Muslims living in Europe who are subject to varied and continuous expressions of Islamophobia by fellow-Europeans.

GDN