Riyadh forum focuses on unity of faith 
The Muslim World League’s Forum on Common Values among Religious Followers held in Riyadh in May had a simple message: Religions should not be a stumbling block to people of faith, but should collaborate with each other to achieve something long-lasting and useful.
The final communique said that the forum’s “collective objectives were to reach a universal consensus within the context of a common civilizational vision to enhance cooperation and trust between global spiritual leaders, leverage their commonalities by placing them at the forefront of common principles of human values, promote the values of moderation and harmony, effectively support efforts to advance tolerance and peace, and set rational intellectual-frameworks to immunize against the dangers of extremist ideology and behavior regardless of its source.”
Life becomes blessed when human beings understand each other better, relinquishing old stereotypes of bias, hate and prejudice.
On an individual level, the conference emphasized that the more generous the human soul, the more it can offer and give.
The Riyadh forum demonstrated that religions can nurture the human need for decent personal relationships.
Religious leaders were urged to guide their followers wisely and thoughtfully, offering enlightenment on how to behave as human relations grow more complex by the day.
Life becomes blessed when human beings understand each other better, relinquishing old stereotypes of bias, hate and prejudice.
Faisal Al-Shammeri
Mutual respect is the essence of such relations. People can observe a delicacy of feeling in the ordinary relations of life. When hate arises, it degrades human relations.
Human animosity based on religion cannot cease easily. Yet, suppose the motive of hate is the attachment to religion. In that case, there will not be either personal or mutual advantage for the persons involved in that type of relationship or that method of contact.
In the first place, the doctrine of God rewarding us for our good works is not so far from being consistent with the truth of our different religious values. Worship of God is also proportional to the merits and promises of good human contacts. The exhibition of the worship of a deity is also expressed in the righteousness of treating others responsibly and respectfully.
The conference threw light on the character of nations. Several countries engage in effort to render sabotage, destruction and calamities to human existence.
On the other hand, Saudi Arabia is the opposite of this bloc of nations. Accordingly, that noble instinct of the human heart, the love of righteousness, truth and goodness, can be found in the work of the government of Saudi Arabia and the behavior of the Saudi people.
The Kingdom is working hard to solve the moral problems of mankind, transforming international politics toward a line of respect for civilizations and the sovereignty of nations.
Saudi Arabia is encouraging other countries to enhance human understanding, and is more ready than many other nations to listen to their concerns and see how they can settle their differences.
Overall, the conference encouraged nations to apply good principles to the conduct of their diplomacy. Saudi Arabia’s actions are in sharp contrast to Iran, which sows religious hatred and has perpetuated sectarian division.
The conference also had a tone of philosophical inquiry. Perhaps, human life can best be discerned if we observe that religions do not bargain among themselves. Rather, they have the free exercise of expressing their faith in the will of God and their ability to implement good deeds.
• Faisal Al-Shammeri is a political analyst. Twitter: @Mr_Alshammeri
