Awaiting… a Happy World
Jameel Theyabi Al-Hayat - 08/07/08//
Today's world talks about nothing but the clash of religions and civilizations, wars, terror, and was unable to find the "lost pearl" of peaceful coexistence among the innocent "treasures" of humanity.
Today's world is screaming out after it became fed up with conspiracies, clashes, and conflicts which brought nothing but extremism and counter-extremism.
Almost one week from now, the world will be expecting with cautious optimism the result of the global interfaith dialogue called for by the Muslim World League in Madrid under the sponsorship of King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz, the Custodian of the Two Holy Shrines.
Such a dialogue and other similar ones constitute with no doubt a gleam of hope as they herald a new phase of free intellectual dialogue for human interaction and peaceful coexistence. A new page would be opened and would give spaces that support global security and stability, away from the language of weapons, explosions, extremism, and terrorism.
Calls for interfaith dialogue were made by various international organizations, but never went beyond dreams and wishes until the situation got worse, especially after the publication of Samuel Huntington's Clash of Civilizations and the ideas that followed. Such concepts herald conflicts on the basis of religious, ethnic, and confessional affiliations, as the case was in the Balkans and Caucasia, followed by the September 11 attacks. The world was overcome with a wave of terrorism, extremism, wars, and conflicts.
Although the dialogue of civilizations was proposed as a counter-alternative to the clash of civilizations, with the hope of deterring global conflicts and clashes, the call of the Saudi King for an interfaith dialogue is currently considered to be the most daring and objective. Practical steps were taken, and invitations were sent to religious and intellectual leaders in view of creating a joint dialogue environment based on common grounds among religions and a free global life for humanity.
During the Mecca Conference, the participants from all Muslim sects supported the Saudi King's interfaith dialogue initiative, while the final recommendations called for establishing a global body for dialogue, as well as the international Abdullah center for inter-cultural interaction in order to disseminate the culture of dialogue. This is considered to be an intellectual and methodical cover for a new dawn based on dialogue as a solution to all conflicts and clashes and a way to reach interaction, security, and stability - especially that the last Mecca statement underlined the importance of the openness of Muslims in their dialogues "to all the trends that affect modern life" so that they move away from religious leaderships to encompass political, research, academic, and media trends.
With no doubt, the Saudi King's invitation has thrown a huge stone at a rough sea of conflicts and agreements. However, the global interfaith dialogue, launched from the cradle of Islam, confirms once more that the peaceful Muslim world can manage a human dialogue with the different civilizations, not only verbally but also through the establishment of specialized organizations and centers.
Today's world can offer ideas and suggestions to promote peaceful coexistence among the different cultures and civilizations, away from extremists who abducted religion and showed it in an indecent manner. These must be faced with argument, dialogue and practices, so that the world would have the right to move from dreams to a more stable and secure life, under the slogan "a happy world where there is a place for everyone."
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