King Abdullah, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, called on Muslims to counter challenges of rigidity, ignorance, narrow-mindedness so as to make the world accommodate the concepts and prospects of the message of Islam. “We are the voice of justice and moral values, we are the voice of rational and just co-existence and dialogue, the voice of wisdom and admonition, and dialogue with the best way possible as Allah says in the Holy Qur'an, ‘Invite all to the way of thy Lord with wisdom and beautiful preaching and discuss with them in ways that are best',” the King said, inaugurating a three-day conference on inter-faith dialogue here Wednesday. “The way to the others will be through the common values: the values that the Almighty has sent for man's goodness, the values which discard unfaithfulness and that protect from crimes and fight terrorism, values that belittle lies and establish moral principles, truth, honesty and justice and enforce family ties.” “Our hearts are full of tolerance and love that the Creator has ordered us to maintain,” the King said. “We will argue peacefully. In case we disagree, we refer to what Allah has said: “You have your own religion and I have mine.” Responding to the King's initiative, some 500 Muslim scholars and eminent intellectuals arrived here to take part in the conference which discusses four main points. “The conference will shed light on the concept of dialogue with followers of various religions, cultures and civilizations,” said Dr Abdullah Al-Turki, Secretary-General of the Muslim World League (MWL). He said the MWL has formed a preparatory committee to hold meetings and prepare working papers. Addressing the gathering, Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Aziz Aal Al-Sheikh said privilege of influential communication should be used in positive ways. It is not true that Islam is the religion of terrorism and violence neither is it correct that Islam violates human rights, he said. In fact, Islam is the religion of mercy and it respects human rights, the Grand Mufti added. He said Muslims have pinned their hopes on King Abdullah who has been always working for the unity of the Islamic Ummah, as he knows very well the difficulties that face Muslims. Ali Akbar Hashimi Rafsanjani, former Iranian president, in his speech, said: “A few meters away from Al-Safa hill, Prophet Mohammed (peace be upon him) used to address the disbelievers of Quraish. Saudi Arabia is now doing the same.” “We are suffering from many problems and it is the duty of our scholars to suggest solutions. Countries of the Muslim world represent nearly a quarter of the world, so we should create an alliance and take unanimous decisions as 20% of the whole world's resources are under the control of the Islamic states,” he said. __
