JEDDAH: The proposals of the international interfaith conference, which will be opened by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah in Madrid on July 16, will be submitted to the United Nations for further action, informed sources said.
King Juan Carlos of Spain will address the opening session.
“The proposals will be presented to the UN General Assembly in September,” one source said. “There is a possibility that this will become an annual forum.”
Abdullah Al- Turki, secretary-general of the Muslim World League, the main organizer of the conference, said the three-day event would focus on common values of different communities and explore ways to achieve peaceful coexistence, understanding and cooperation.
“The conference will try to isolate those forces that try to promote hatred and create conflicts,” Al-Turki told the Saudi Press Agency yesterday before leaving for Madrid at the head of an MWL delegation. “By holding this major gathering of religions, ideologies and civilizations, the MWL wants to emphasize the importance of religion for humanity.”
The conference will focus on four pivotal issues — dialogue and its foundations; dialogue and its importance in society; the common humane aspects in dialogue; and the evaluation and promotion of dialogue.
The conference will discuss future prospects of dialogue among Muslims, Christians, Jews and followers of other religions. It will also emphasize the role of governments and international organizations in promoting dialogue and overcoming its obstacles.
Abdullah Omar Naseef, secretary-general of the World Islamic Council for Dawa and Relief, said the MWL has carried out a number of dialogues with leaders of other faiths in the past. “But this is the first time such a large-scale interfaith conference is organized,” he pointed out. “I hope the conference would promote world peace as people are eager to see that,” he said.
Naseef, who will chair one of the sessions, said the conference would stress the significance of religion and moral values in combating crime, drug abuse and corruption, as well as the role of family and religion in social stability. “It will also emphasize the responsibility of human beings in protecting environment,” he said.
The MWL has given a list of 170 participants. They include: Former US President Al Gore; Claudio Epelman, director of the Latin American Jewish Congress; Rowan Williams, the archbishop of Canterbury; Mark Ebert, executive director of the Three Faiths Forum; Yi Cheng, chairman of the Buddhist Association of China; Andrea Riccardi, chairman of the SantíEgidio Community in Italy; Rabbi David Rosen, chairman of the International Jewish Committee on Inter-religious Consultations; Carl A. Sheingold, executive vice president of the Jewish Reconstructionist Federation in the US; Rev. Desmond Tutu of South Africa; Bishop Alexi II, patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church; Rev. Nichiko Niwano, president of the International Buddhist Congregation; Koichi Mori, director, Center for Interdisciplinary Study of Monotheistic Religions in Japan; Karan Singh, president of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations; Swamy Agni Vesh of Arya Smaj; and M.M. Verma, director of Interfaith Foundation India.
