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(The Saudi Gazette), 13
March 2006 – Muslim leaders and scholars are planning measures to
ensure that Islam and the Prophet, may God praise him, are not put to
ridicule in the name of freedom of expression as was done by a section of
the European media in recent months.
Muslim foreign ministers
will be meeting in Jeddah Wednesday and Islamic scholars have planned a
conference in Manama later this month to discuss ways of overcoming the
crisis over the publication of cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad in the
Western media.
Ministers from Organization
of the Islamic Conference (OIC) members will meet at OIC headquarters to
examine what can be done in the future to overcome Islamophobia, an OIC
source told a news agency Sunday.
The meeting will be hosted
by OIC Secretary General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu and attended by chief
diplomats from member states of an executive committee formed by an Islamic
summit held in Makkah in December.
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The Purpose of Creation
An
introduction to the most puzzling question of human history, and a
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The Tolerance of the Prophet
towards Other Religions Many mistakenly believe that Islam
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world. This article
discusses some of the foundations the Prophet Muhammad himself laid in
dealing with people of other faiths, with a practical examples from his
lifetime.
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It includes Malaysia, Qatar
and Senegal. Other ministers will come from Yemen, Turkey and Azerbaijan,
who form the ministerial troika, and host country Saudi Arabia.
The two-day International
Conference for the Defense of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) in
Manama from March 22 to 23 will consolidate Muslims into one voice against
defamation and anti-Islamic campaigns.
Dr. Salah Al-Wohaiby,
Secretary General of World Assembly of Muslim Youth while addressing a
joint press conference at WAMY headquarter in Riyadh Saturday said the
conference’s basic objective is to consolidate Muslims as one voice by
developing a strategy and instruments to counter the anti-defamation
campaigns.
Muslims across the world
were looking for direction while protesting against the recent publication
of a series of blasphemous cartoons of the Prophet, may God praise him, he
said.
The protests in some of the
parts of the Muslim countries turned violent leading to destruction of
property and loss of life.
This is the deviant way and
the conference will seek to develop a strategy conveying a message not only
to the Muslims but also non-Muslim countries, particularly in the West to
stop anti-Islamic campaigns, he said.
Among the estimated 300
participants of the conference include renowned muftis, Islamic scholars
and Muslim celebrities from across the world.
The delegates, who are all
influential personalities coming from countries in Europe, Americas,
Africa, and Asia will convey a message to the respective people when they
go back home.
Others present in the press
conference included Solaiman Al-Buthe, President of International Committee
for the Support of Final Prophet (ICSFP), Dr. Salman Al-Oudha, Supervisor
of IslamToday.Com and Khalid
Al-Ujaimi, President of Africa Youth Committee.
After the cartoon controversy
erupted some five months ago Sheikh Yousef Al-Qaradawi, a renowned
Qatar-based Islamic scholar and head of Union of Muslim Scholars, Adil Bin
Abdurahman, Member of Bahrain Parliament and vice-president of Asalah
Organization, WAMY, ICSFP and Asalah Organization joined hands to organize
the conference for the first time at an international level.
The main objectives of the
conference are to deliberate on how to deal with the problems such as
defamation and distortion of the image of Prophet, may God praise him, the
historical perspective of Islam in the West, drafting a strategy to support
Prophet Muhammad, may God praise him, and lastly devising tools and
instruments to implement the strategy.
We hope this conference
will be effective in unifying the Muslims across the world into one voice
and develop a strategy and instruments to counter anti-Islamic and
defamation campaigns, Al-Wohaiby said.
The conference is just the
beginning to bring Muslims at one platform.
He said this is the time to
show solidarity and a unified response in condemning the defamation
campaigns by being decent to others, he said.
Ali Jomaa, an ICSFP
official also present on the occasion said following the conference a
follow-up committee will be formed to forge relations with all Muslim
organizations throughout the world and promote the character of the Prophet,
may God praise him.
He said following the
cartoon controversy a 27-member committee with representatives of Muslim
organizations formed in the US and Denmark is already taking up the issue
legally. We also plan to sue the paper, which first printed the blasphemous
cartoons, he said.
Al-Wohaiby said the
conference is not only targeted at the West or non-Muslims alone but also
addresses the Muslims, on how to approach the anti-Islamic campaigns that
includes recent distortions depicted in the form of blasphemous cartoons of
the Prophet, may God praise him.
He said because of the
misunderstanding of Prophet Muhammad, may God praise him, the West has been
involved in distortion of his image.
The West should stop dealing
with the Muslims with utmost arrogance, he said adding that it is easier to
ignite conflict.
He said the conference is
also aimed at promoting understanding through dialogues between the two
civilizations.
However, Al-Wohaiby
categorically said that in the absence of a clear-cut apology from the
Danish government or its criminal support that encourages defamation of
Islam and its Final Prophet, WAMY or other non-governmental organizations
are not ready to calm down the current Muslims passions.
He said the conference will
send a message that Muslims are demanding not only an unconditional apology
but assurances that all European governments show respect to Muslim
minorities by not indulging in anti-Islam campaigns and that their rights
are well protected.
He said Muslims are not
satisfied with the ambiguous apology by the Danish paper largely published
in Arabic newspapers.
Muslims don t want any
apology on a piece of paper, but a program, that translates the apology
into practice, he emphatically said.
The apology largely
published in the Arabic newspapers was invented by Danish Embassy in Riyadh
and it was not an apology at all. The Danish government so far refused to
submit any apology to Muslims, he said.
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