Muslim World League holds US conference on cross-cultural communication

The Muslim World League is holding a conference on “Civilizational Communication between the United States of America and the Islamic World” on Saturday in New York City.

Representatives of Islamic institutions from all over the world and their American counterparts along scientific, intellectual from all over the world are set to take part.

The conference, which will last for two days, will focus on a number of themes naming: “The Cultural Contribution between the United States of America and the Islamic World: The Reality and the Aspirations”, “Islam’s Contribution to the Promotion of World Peace”, “Muslims in the United States of America: Integration and Citizenship”, “The intellectual trends in employing religious freedoms”, “Communication between the United States of America and the Islamic world”, “Common civilizational and humanistic traits” and “ Mutual exchange between the United States and the Islamic world” including many other topics.

A distinguished group of academics and researchers from all around the world will participate in the conference. There will also be mutual dialogue sessions between a number of Muslim and American students.

The Secretary General of the Muslim World League Dr. Mohammed bin Abdul Karim Al-Issa explained that the league aims at highlighting the Islamic civilization and its pioneering historical experience in opening up to other civilizations, which emphasizes the concepts of cultural exchange, and consolidate the idea of human brotherhood based on righteousness, justice, charity and companionship, as well as reviewing evidence from Islamic history about coexistence with the people of the world.

Especially, since the United States of America has a distinguished record of trustful, honest and lucrative relationships with the Muslim World. He added that religious and intellectual extremism is an abnormal and isolated case that the Islamic world fought so it does not spread and cause harm to others.

Efforts to combat terrorism

The conference will emphasize as well that extremism is present in a small percentage within the Islamic world. According to the latest estimates, one in two hundred thousand people are identified as extremists. This low percentage is due to both intellectual and military campaigns and efforts.

The Secretary General of the Muslim World League said that in order for extremism to regain its strength and attract new elements, it will bet on provocations of counter-extremism and "Islamophobia", indicating that extremism is a general and comprehensive concept that is not limited to Islam.

He emphasized that the contemporary and ancient history is a living proof of the tolerance of Islam.

At the conference on Saturday, Dr. Yousef bin Ahmad Al-Othaimeen, the secretary-general of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), said that the OIC firmly believes in the importance of dialogue and communication in promoting mutual respect and understanding and continues to attach great importance to engaging with international stakeholders such as the US in order to establish a meaningful and practical partnership that will serve as a framework for action.

“We have common objectives to the goal of establishing a culture of peaceful coexistence and the promotion of human dignity,” Othaimeen said.

He added the benefits of communication that it promotes cohesion and cohesion among people and instigates the effects of hatred and discrimination both in terms of faith, culture and religion.

The Secretary General underlined that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was strongly present in the global peace initiatives, supported them at all levels and initiated a serious and effective effort to combat extremism and terrorism intellectually and militarily which made Saudi Arabia a global platform in this sense.

American President Donald Trump and a number of American politicians, intellectuals and media outlets attended the opening of the Global Center for Combating Extremist Ideology in Riyadh.

The Islamic Summit was an exceptional historic summit which brought together the two countries under the slogan “Together, we prevail” which took place last May.

The secretary General praised the speech of the American President, who focused with detailed explanation on the distinction between moderate Muslims and extremist terrorists.

source: AFP