MAKKAH INTERFAITH DIALOGUE CONFERENCE

Dialogue is the best way to move forward, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah said as Muslim scholars led by Saudi Grand Mufti Abdul Aziz Al-Asheikh endorsed his call for opening a dialogue with people of other faiths at the start of a historic three-day summit at the Royal Al-Safa Palace. Former Iranian President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani welcomed the king’s proposal of engaging people of other faiths but cautioned that Muslims have to close their ranks and not allow their “enemies” to exploit differences among the Islamic schools of thought. Abdul Aziz Al-Asheikh, the Saudi grand mufti, endorsed the king’s project and said the whole Ummah was looking up to the benevolent king to take the lead and bringing different communities of the world together. In attendance at the inaugural ceremony were many leading scholars of the Muslim world, including Sheikh Yusuf Al-Qaradawi from Qatar, Lebanon’s Mufti Sheikh Muhammad Rasheed Qabbani, Organisation of the Islamic Conference Secretary-General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, Pakistan Jamaat-e-Islami chief Qazi Hussain Ahmad, Darul Uloom Deoband’s Marghoobur Rahman, and chief of Jamaat-e-Islami Hind Syed Jalaluddin Omari.