JEDDAH/RIYADH — The Makkah-based Muslim World League intends to hold an international forum for dialogue in a yet-unannounced European country. “We are seriously thinking of organizing such a forum to discuss pressing issues that affect relations between Muslims and others,” MWL Secretary-General Abdullah Al-Turki said yesterday.

He emphasized the League’s efforts to promote dialogue between Islam and other cultures. “The MWL has been playing a big role in promoting dialogue with other cultures by holding seminars and conferences,” he added. An MWL delegation previously visited the United States, Britain, France, Belgium, Germany, Austria and other European countries and met with political leaders, intellectuals and academics in order to remove their misconceptions about Islam and Muslims.

“Most of the people we met were ignorant about Islam and believed what the media said about Islam and Muslims. They have been thinking that Muslims are an extremist group who does not want to live peacefully with others. We have to make a lot of efforts to remove these misconceptions,” said Al-Turki, former minister of Islamic Affairs.

Speaking about Pope Benedict’s statement on Islam and the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), he said such falsifications are not new to Islam. “We can see these things throughout Islamic history. The Holy Qur’an narrates the attitude of nonbelievers toward Muslims. But we never expected such a statement from the pope at a time when the Vatican was calling for dialogue between cultures,” he said.

He said the pope had not apologized for his statement. “He said he was sorry for the uproar it caused in the Islamic world. He did not say what he said was wrong. Muslims expect from the pope to say that what he quoted the emperor as saying was wrong and does comply with the essence of Islam and its message. Islam did not spread by sword or by force. We also wanted to tell them that all divine messages brought by Prophets Abraham, Moses, Jesus and Muhammad came for the betterment of humanity and for the reformation of people,” he explained.

Al-Turki said Muslim missions and cultural attaches in non-Muslim countries should play a major role in promoting dialogue and removing the misconceptions about Islam and Muslims. “There is flagrant negligence in this area,” he pointed out.

Meanwhile, the World Assembly of Muslim Youth has appealed to Muslim scholars, the intelligentsia and the media to take the initiative for organizing an international conference on the growing phenomenon of hatred against Islam.

In a statement released in Riyadh, WAMY Secretary-General Saleh Al-Wohaibi said the need for such a conference has become urgent in view of the onslaught on Islam and the Prophet triggered by the Danish cartoons published last September, President George W. Bush’s controversial references to “Islamo-fascism”, and now the pope joining the fray.

Referring to the proposed international conference, the secretary-general said they should also discuss the stand of the Western countries regarding Islamic Dawah (propagation) and charitable organizations, because the Muslim community as a whole “is targeted by their unjust policies.”

Wohaibi said it was regrettable that while Muslims respect all the apostles without any distinction, Benedict launched an unprovoked attack on the Prophet, betraying his ignorance of Islam and its principles. “We appeal to the Muslims to express their reactions in a manner consistent with the teachings of Islam and keep away from any type of violence,” he said.

He said the enemies of Islam were trying to take advantage of the situation by creating hatred between Muslims and the Catholic Church. “It is neither good for the Muslims nor for the Church and its followers,” he observed.

The WAMY chief also announced that the incidence of crime and other social evils among the Muslim youth will be the theme of a three-day international conference being organized by the organization in Cairo on Nov. 21-23.

As many as 700 delegates from all over the world will participate in the conference, “Building the future of the youth”, which will be held under the patronage of Sheikh Tantawi, the grand mufti of Al-Azhar University, and Saleh Al-Shaikh, Saudi Arabia’s minister Islamic affairs.