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Muslim World League
secretary-general Abdullah Al-Turki
(Arab
News) |
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Saudi King calls for Interfaith Dialogue:
The Saudi king has
made an impassioned plea for dialogue among Muslims, Christians and
Jews — the first such proposal from a nation with no diplomatic ties
to Israel and a ban on non-Muslim religious services....
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CNN Lauds King’s
Call for Interfaith Dialogue
Introducing Islam
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Malegaon:
Highlighting the significance of the interfaith dialogue initiated
by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah, Abdullah Al-Turki,
secretary-general of the Makkah-based Muslim World League (MWL) said
the conference would contribute to strengthening world peace and
stability, reports Arab News, Saudi Arabia's leading English
daily.
In a statement on the occasion of the
fourth interfaith conference Al-Turki said the Geneva meet is a
continuation of efforts that began in Makkah to promote interfaith
dialogue.
The conference opens in Geneva on
September 30 and will be participated by religious leaders and
intellectuals from several countries.
“King Abdullah’s interfaith dialogue
initiative aims at disseminating human values, promoting coexistence
of the people of different faiths, spreading the values of peace and
security, fighting evil in the world and promoting cooperation
between communities,” Al-Turki said.
The MWL chief, who left here on
Thursday for Geneva at the head of a high-level Saudi delegation to
organize the conference, said the two-day event at Geneva
InterContinental would discuss a number of papers under the banner
“The Impact of King Abdullah’s Initiative in Disseminating Human
Values.”
As many as 166 religious leaders,
academics and other prominent personalities from around the world,
including the US, the UK, China, Italy, India, Saudi Arabia, Egypt,
Japan and the Philippines, will take part in the event, which is
scheduled to be opened by the president of Switzerland.
In addition to the MWL
secretary-general, Bandar Al-Aiban, president of the Saudi Human
Rights Commission, Olav Fykse Tveit, general secretary of the World
Council of Churches, and Abdul Rahman Al-Zaid, MWL’s assistant
secretary-general, will address the opening session.
The research papers will include
titles such as “King Abdullah’s Initiative and the Scope of
Coexistence Among the Various Civilizations”, “The Role of Religion
and Culture in Promoting Dialogue”, “The Impact of Religious Values
in Reforming Societies”, and “The Role of Media in Strengthening
Dialogue and Human Values”, says the Arab News report.
Rev. Metropolitan Emmanuel of the
Orthodox Church will moderate the first session while Baba Jain,
secretary-general of Millennium World Peace Summit, the second
session, Salih bin Hussein Al-Ayid, secretary-general of the Supreme
Council of Islamic Affairs in Saudi Arabia, the third session, Rabbi
Steven Jacobs of Emeritus Temple in the US, the fourth, Yuzo Itagaki,
chairman of the Islamic-Japanese Dialogue Forum, the fifth, and
Prince Harith Shihab of Maronite Patriarchate in Lebanon, the sixth
session.
The first interfaith conference was
held in Makkah, the second in Madrid and the third at the United
Nations headquarters in New York. The Makkah conference, which was
held on June 4, 2008, brought together about 500 Muslim leaders from
around the world in order to set an agenda for the building of
better relations between Muslims and followers of other faiths.
On July 16, 2008, the MWL invited
nearly 300 religious, political and cultural leaders from 50
different countries to Madrid.
“If we want this historic encounter to
succeed, we must look to the things that unite us: Our profound
faith in God, the noble principles and elevated ethics that
represent the foundation of religions,” the king told the Madrid
conference.
The participants of the Geneva summit
include William Baker, president of Christians and Muslims for Peace
in the US; David Rosen, director of inter-religious affairs at the
American Jewish Committee; John Esposito, head of Muslim-Christian
Understanding; Terje Roed-Larsen, director of the Institute of
Peace; and Larry Shaw, chairman of the Council on American-Islamic
Relations, Mohammad Hamid Ansari, vice president of India; Pramjeet
Singh Sarna, president of Delhi Sikh Gurudwara Rakab Ganj Sahib;
Kuniaki Kuni, president of the Association of Shinto Temples in
Japan; Xue Cheng, vice chairman of the Buddhist Association of
China, writes Arab News.
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