Saudi grand mufti endorses “interfaith dialogue”–as a way of converting infidels to Islam
June 9, 2008 Islam, Saudi Arabia No CommentsRiazat Butt, Mecca talks stress religious tolerance, The Guardian, June 5, 2008
More than 500 delegates from around the world gathered in the Islamic holy city of Mecca yesterday with the aim of fostering better relations between Muslims and followers of other faiths. King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia opened the three-day conference in Al-Safah Palace, a stones throw from the Grand Mosque, by stressing the need for better understanding and cooperation between monotheistic religions.
The king urged his audience to promote the true message of Islam and said the Islamic world faced great difficulties in the form of extremists whose “aggressions and excessiveness” targeted the tolerance of the religion.
The event, the biannual meeting of the Muslim World League, a non-governmental organisation engaged in the propagation of Islam, has been described as an interfaith conference, although its location makes it strictly off-limits to non-Muslims. It is understood that Abdullah seeks greater unity among different Islamic schools of thought, so that summits with other religions can take place more easily. The king held talks in November with Pope Benedict XVI and in March announced plans to host a meeting between the three Abrahamic faiths, Judaism, Christianity and Islam - an initiative welcomed by the president of the World Jewish Congress, Ronald Lauder.