First and foremost, we should thank Almighty Allah for enabling you to gather around His Sacred House during these blessed Ramadan nights. We hope that Allah will help you better serve your nations.
Leaders of the Muslim World:
We do not need to remind you that you are meeting at a turning point in the history of your nations. It is a moment in which sedition, with all its evils and tragedies, is protruding and all elements of success have been ensured for it. We do not want to hold you responsible for the emergence of sedition. Many of us, the citizens, are equally to blame for intentionally or unintentionally rekindling its fires. The result, however, is the same. Is it too late for such a talk? Has the train of sedition already started its journey or is there still an area for hope? To be honest with you we do not know but pray to Allah that there is still time for the wise and the benevolent to do what pleases Allah and what can preserve lives, souls and blood.
I will not take a long time in explaining the causes of sedition or its manifestations. I will not also indulge in futile talk about who was responsible for it. Such talk may only increase its flames. However, we want to tell you that the Ummah will judge you by the results of your meeting and can know where it is going. Instead of talking too much about sedition, its causes and consequences, we want to tell you that the reasons for optimism have not yet completely ended. Look at the world around you. It has forgotten its sectarian and racial differences and started a fabulous race towards wider horizons in which the scientific and civilization achievements synchronize with the spirit of tolerance and coexistence. Why do we go too far in this talk while there are actually among you brothers leading delegations of countries such as Turkey and Malaysia which are now role models for the values of dialogue, tolerance and sincere work. We are not dreaming when we say hope is not completely lost.
We are not a peculiar nation as some people claim. Our problem is that some amongst us were not able to successfully confront the extremists and the propagators of sedition so we became too close to a state in which we might lose everything and which may make us regress decades of years.
I hope that I am not going to the extreme when I say the development gap between us and the other nations of the world is greatly widening but not to our favor.
It may suffice to remember that every 15 seconds a child dies of thirst, lack of nutrition and lack of proper medical and sanitary services. Unfortunately most of these children are Muslims!! What will then be the case if we allow or participate in the spread of sedition? We will have more of the thirst, the hunger and backwardness. Who will then be responsible? It is definitely all of us (peoples and leaders). We will be responsible in front of God and history. There are no exceptions.
Leaders of the Muslim world:
We pray to Allah to inspire you with a way out of your predicament and guide your steps towards the welfare of your nation. Please allow me to present these simple proposals to you:
Firstly: All the leaders participating in the summit should sign a strong pledge to void sedition, foil the cropping up of differences and end extremism and fanaticism. They should also agree to silence all the voices and the forums which propagate sedition supplying with the required tools and resources.
Secondly: A group of wise personalities who are known for piety and rationale and who are acceptable to everyone should emanate from the summit to suggest ways and means of dealing with crises before they snowball and become difficult to resolve.
Thirdly: We are looking forward towards a unanimous decision that will end the state of boycott among some countries. The decision should make it a must of every country to attend the Islamic summit. There should be regular summits and not just extraordinary ones. Absence from the summits will make it more difficult for countries to promote understanding.
Leaders of the Muslim world:
Much was said about the source and origins of our problems which were attributed to the plots and machinations of others. This is not only an underestimation of the rationale of the wise men and the leaders of the Ummah but will make us believe that sedition is an unavoidable destiny which is a totally wrong notion. We are capable by the grace of Allah and your wisdom to overcome this serious juncture.
I have no doubt that history will record that Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz has absolved his conscience. He has exerted tremendous efforts and made a good choice of the time and place for this meeting. Allah may reward you for accepting the invitation to participate in the summit so as to take the Ummah to the shores of safety and security.
It is the right of every Muslim to ask if you are part of the problem or that the solution will be in your hands.
I strongly pray to Allah to make your gathering a complete success and to enable you to achieve the hopes and aspirations of your nations.
Abdul Rahman bin Hamad Al-Saeed
