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Makkah: Stating that the
violence that is claiming Muslim lives across the globe was due to
division of the Islamic world, King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz, of
Saudi Arabia, while opening the two-day summit of the Organization
of Islamic Conference (OIC) Tuesday late in the midnight called
for cooperation between Muslim states as a way to safeguard “the
dignity and history of Muslims.”
“Because of division, the blood of the Muslim nation is shedding,”
King Abdullah said in his opening speech.
Proposing the establishment of a
center of dialogue between Islamic doctrines, he called for
cooperation between Muslim states as a way to safeguard “the
dignity and history of Muslims.”
“Sedition is worse than killing,” the king said and called for
dialogue among the various Muslim sects.
The OIC represents 1.5 billion Muslims worldwide and that it is
holding a meeting Tuesday night in Makkah, the holiest Islamic
city, is of particular significance –the 26th of the holy month of
Ramadan is one of the nights when the Koran was revealed to the Prophet
Mohammed, according to Muslim tradition.
Foreign ministers who held a preparatory meeting on Monday
recommended the suspension of Syria’s membership, the OIC chief
Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu said.
Tensions had been simmering for months between Sunni-dominated
Gulf States and Shiite-dominated Iran, as both long-standing
regional rivals had taken opposite stances on the uprising in
Syria, which topped the summit’s agenda.
The United States said that Rashad Hussain, its special envoy to
the OIC, would take also part in the Makkah summit as an observer
and hold meetings with other delegates on the sidelines.
His attendance “demonstrates the United States’ commitment to
working with our partners in the international community to
support the aspirations of the Syrian people and bring additional
pressure to bear on the Assad regime,” a State Department
statement said Monday.
Iran is the Syrian regime’s biggest regional ally and has pledged
its full support for embattled President Bashar al-Assad in his
fight to remain in power, though it denies providing him with
soldiers or arms.
Tehran accuses Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey of arming and
financing the mainly Sunni Syrian rebels against Assad, who hails
from the Alawite minority –an off-shoot of Shiite Islam.
Earlier, King Abdullah received the Muslim leaders at his palace,
including Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Egyptian
President Muhammad Mursi and Qatari Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa
Al-Thani.
In a gesture that would be interpreted as a sign of the summit’s
success, King Abdullah made Ahmadinejad to sit right beside him.
Qatari Emir Sheikh Hamad was on the king’s other side.
There was optimism and a sense of delight among the hosts, Saudis,
as well as their foreign guests.
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