About 120 researchers from 24 countries are scheduled to take part in the three-day International Conference on Takfeer (the act of declaring a Muslim an infidel or disbeliever) starting here Tuesday. On behalf of King Abdullah, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, Prince Naif Bin Abdul Aziz, Second Deputy Premier and Minister of Interior, will open the conference organized by Naif Bin Abdul Aziz International Prize for Prophet's Sunnah and Contemporary Islamic Studies, in cooperation with Imam Muhammad Bin Saud Islamic University. Sa'ed Al-Harithy, Advisor to the Second Deputy Premier, said over 120 researchers from 24 countries will present summaries of their research for discussions by scholars and specialists drawn from 45 countries. The conference's website will broadcast the event live with translation for those who do not speak Arabic, he said. Prince Naif is following up preparations for the conference that is important in its topic and purposes, he added. The conference's Higher Supervision Committee held several meetings and completed its preparations to make the event a success, said Al-Harithy, adding that Takfeer and its negative impact on individuals and nations, and ways to deal with it and form a social and individual immunity against it and its promoters will be discussed during the conference. The conference's scientific committee received 389 research projects, of which 119 were approved while the rest did not meet the requirements, he said. The conference, he said, will include an exhibition and be coincided with workshops and lectures all over the Kingdom. Discussions in the conference, he said, will be based on nine topics including Takfeer as a concept, and its controls in Islam. Another topic is Takfeer as a phenomenon with historic, Aqeeda (creed) and intellectual roots, which includes Takfeer among Muslims and among other nations, Al-Harithy said. The third topic will involve discussions on reasons leading to Takfeer as a phenomenon, which includes, among others, issues relating to religious extremism and intellectual factors like ignorance, erroneous interpretations and mixing with, and getting knowledge from, deviant groups. The fourth topic will be on doubtful centers of Takfeeri thought in the past and present, while the fifth will discuss doubtful matters of kharijites (Khawarij) and contemporary Takfeeri groups. Other topics are on security, social and economic impact of the phenomenon of Takfeer, the impact of Takfeer on the future of Islam, responsibility of social institutions in tackling the phenomenon, and on means and methods to be applied.
