CARTER VISITS SAUDI ARABIA

Former US President Jimmy Carter visited Jeddah to share his vision of the future of cross cultural and interfaith relations and peace in the Middle East with an invited audience. Sami Angawi, who hosted the event, greeted the 39th US president who has devoted his life to building understanding between peoples and offering practical medical help to millions of the poor across the world through the Carter Centre. “Everybody’s talking about peace, but we cannot have peace without justice,” he said in his opening remarks to guests. “But justice cannot be done without mercy and mercy cannot be given without knowledge,” he said. He posed the rhetorical question as to what could be done practically to achieve this and referred to Qur’ānic injunctions emphasising balance and unity through diversity. He added that diversity exists within unity and unity accommodates diversity and this was what brought us together as mankind.