300 Islamic Scholars to Attend Manama Meet on Prophet

[Zafir]

RIYADH, 13 March 2006 — In the wake of recent attacks by the enemies of Islam, five leading Islamic organizations have organized an international conference in defense of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). The conference will be in Manama, Bahrain, from March 22 to 23.

 

The press briefing at which the announcement was made was attended by Soliman Hamad Al-Buthi, supervisor of the International Committee for the Support of the Final Prophet (ICFSP); Dr. Saleh Sulaiman Al-Wohaibi, secretary-general of the World Assembly of Muslim Youth (WAMY); Salman Al-Oudah who moderates Islam Today, an Islamic website; and Khaled Al-Ojaimi of WAMY.

 

The conference, expected to draw more than 300 Islamic scholars from Muslim and non-Muslim countries, is being sponsored by ICFSP; Al-Asalah; a Manama-based nongovernmental organization (NGO); the Doha-based Union of Muslim Scholars; and Islam Today, an Internet portal dedicated to the cause of the faith.

 

“The conference is being organized in response to the cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad. The conference’s aim is to form a unified front to coordinate our efforts and voice our aspirations jointly on issues pertaining to Islam,†Dr. Wohaibi said, adding that this will be a beginning for a unified Muslims’ voice where they will be told how to cooperate in times of such situations.

 

Speaking about the boycott of Danish products, Dr. Al-Wohaibi said that this was a good lesson for those who belittle the Prophet Muhammad. The WAMY secretary-general rejected all forms of violent reactions against the enemies of Islam. He said: “We should be reasonable, peaceful and responsible in our approach against such moves.â€

 

The two-day meeting is expected to form a general body to implement the decisions and resolutions moved at the end of its sessions. It will be geared toward creating an understanding between the Muslims and non-Muslims, he said, hoping to create an effective dialogue between the two parties aimed at increasing understanding.

 

Dr. Al-Wohaibi stressed that a mere apology from the Danish government for the cartoons of the Prophet would not satisfy the Muslim world. “The forthcoming conference will request an assurance from the European Union to improve the situations of Muslim minorities in Europe, Denmark in particular. And we want Europe to respect the rights of Muslims and understand the values of their faith.â€

 

Salman Al-Oudah said the forthcoming meet would form a unified body to voice Muslim concerns. He pointed out that civilized people have to respect each others’ cultural values and this meeting would help the Muslims to bridge the gap with the non-Muslim world.

 

Ali Jomaa of the International Committee for the Support of the Final Prophet said that there are 200,000 Muslims out of the 5.5 Danish population who were concerned about the blasphemous cartoons first published in the Danish daily Jyllands-Posten. He said that his organization had met a federation of members from 27 Danish Muslim organizations and had advised them on peaceful protests that could be lodged against the newspaper.

 

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[Naden]

“The forthcoming conference will request an assurance from the European Union to improve the situations of Muslim minorities in Europe, Denmark in particular. And we want Europe to respect the rights of Muslims and understand the values of their faith.â€

 

This is well and good. I wonder if they would bother themselves to request from their own assurances that:

 

1) A muslim reaching Arab shores from a poor/war-zone will not be left to drown.

 

2) African Muslims from unstable areas and those who have lived in Gulf nations for years would be given asylum or at least temporary working/studying papers to support their families.

 

This is would protect the muslim faith as well.

[Castro]

^ You wish naden. Not gonna happen. Those bloody Africans deserve to drown.

[Naden]

^ I figured since we're improving the conditions of people, what's good for the goose is good for the gander.

[Castro]

^ Yeah but African Muslims (Somalia, Sudan, Nigeria, etc..) are just marginal Muslims. See when Muslims from Chad or Mauritania get caught on a sharp razor fence getting into Spain, they're Africans. When they drown off the coast of Yemen, Italy or Cyprus, they're African. So, really, African Muslims are on their own and this whole Islamic brotherhood thing is a racket. In comparison African Jews where airlifted out of Ethiopia to Israel. Compare and contrast, air-lift out of starvation and refusing a ship full of refugees to dock on the coast.

[Zafir]

The Negro Muslims have the Christian countries and humanitarian organizations to protect them. Muslims Arabs have oil and cartoons to worry about.

[Naden]

^^ Exactly!

 

The two-day meeting is expected to form a general body to implement the decisions and resolutions moved at the end of its sessions. It will be geared toward creating an understanding between the Muslims and non-Muslims

 

What I would really like to see is a creation of an understanding between Muslims and basic human rights of amnesty, tolerance and extension of helping hands to others. This applies to us Muslim Africans as well despite our desolate state.

[Castro]

^ Yeah really, it's easy to criticize the Arabs when we chop our own legs at the knees, so to speak. Still, I think these "appeals" to Denmark and the west for understanding are hollow and meaningless. Who cares what the west thinks of Muslims when they themselves treat each other like shit?

[ElPunto]

Originally posted by naden:

“The forthcoming conference will request an assurance from the European Union to improve the situations of Muslim minorities in Europe, Denmark in particular. And we want Europe to respect the rights of Muslims and understand the values of their faith.â€

 

This is well and good. I wonder if they would bother themselves to request from their own assurances that:

 

1) A muslim reaching Arab shores from a poor/war-zone will not be left to drown.

 

2) African Muslims from unstable areas and those who have lived in Gulf nations for years would be given asylum or at least temporary working/studying papers to support their families.

 

This is would protect the muslim faith as well.

Are you kidding?? Haven't the Italians let a number of African refugees drown in the Med as they were reaching Italy? Didn't the Austrailians turn back a ship full of starving refugees etc? How can we expect such high standards from Arabs?

 

Same with point number 2 - few countries give blanket asylum to illegals. In fact, the standard practice in the west is to deport them.

 

I am not here to defend rich Arab treatment of immigrants, Muslim or otherwise. I think where there is legitimate criticism is how they treat those ppl within the country rather than those trying to get to the country. Few rich countries welcome poor, downtrodden refugees unless they have gone through the 'process'.

[Castro]

Originally posted by ThePoint:

How can we expect such high standards from Arabs?

Because (supposedly) they are our brothers and sisters in Islam who also (accidentally) happen to be filthy rich.

[Maf Kees]

You could conclude that there is something fundamentally wrong with the Arabs. But maybe we need to consider the fact that the Arab world is a child trapped in a man's body. They have the resources of a developed nation, but are still stuck with the same underdeveloped mentality. We all know that this is due to the rapid economic growth after the discovery of Black Gold in that area.

 

But the world always changes, so creating an agreement between us Muslims about addressing these kind of issues - innocent Muslims drowning in the Gulf of Aden - might be realized sooner or later. Muslims tend to forget that they are Muslim sometimes. It happens.

[ElPunto]

Originally posted by Castro:

quote:Originally posted by ThePoint:

How can we expect such high standards from Arabs?

Because (supposedly) they are our brothers and sisters in Islam who also (accidentally) happen to be filthy rich.

Ok - fair enough. But they are also humans and when some of the most 'enlightened' nations of the world treat immigrants/refugees in a similar way - I am inclined to not press Arabs to super-human feats.

[Gabbal]

Originally posted by Castro:

^ So, really, African Muslims are on their own and this whole Islamic brotherhood thing is a racket. In comparison African Jews where airlifted out of Ethiopia to Israel.

Yeah, and those "African Jews" are 5th class citizens in the streets of Israel.

[Naden]

ThePoint,

 

Nothing in my post or the topic is especially funny. If you reread it, I said Africans reaching Arab shores. I look at the tens of thousands of muslims living in Italy and Australia who are granted citizenship rights and hold these Arab countries to that standard..

 

few countries give blanket asylum to illegals. In fact, the standard practice in the west is to deport them.

 

No one is advocating blanket asylum. In any case, there would have to be a system in place to decide who is an illegal, a refugee claimant, an immigrant and so on. Western countries do deport, often after a lengthy legal process and people area allowed to work in the interim.

 

I do agree that countries largely inhabited by immigrants are more likely to open their doors to refugees but many western European countries are a clear exception.

[codetalker]

Originally posted by Danyer:

You could conclude that there is something fundamentally wrong with the Arabs.

Yeah, there is. They'll do anything for a blonde. :rolleyes: