New 'Muslim Wise Men Council' proposed

Abu Dhabi, March 11 (IANS/WAM) Participants at the Forum for Promoting Peace in Muslim Societies here have recommended creation of an Abu Dhabi-based Islamic council, comprising prominent and wise Islamic scholars, and mandated to help extinguish the raging fires in Islamic nations.

The proposed body will be named 'Muslim Wise Men Council' with by-laws scheduled to be issued during the holy month of Ramadan.

This came during the closing session of the two-day forum here Monday evening and attended by the United Arab Emirates' (UAE) Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

The participants also recommended holding the forum in Abu Dhabi on an annual basis. They also called for promoting the forum's outcomes as a key contribution to the culture of peace in Islamic societies.

The closing session was also attended by Ahmed Al Tayyib, grand Sheikh of Al Azhar, Shaykh Abdallah bin Bayyah, president of The Global Centre for renewal and guidance (GCRG) and chairman of the scientific committee of the forum, in addition to over 250 notable Muslim scholars and thinkers from around the world.

At the end of the forum, the participants issued a final communique in which they said that over 30 research papers were presented during the forum. The papers focused on the forum's four major themes: humanitarian values, correcting concepts on jihad, fatwa in a world of strife and Islam and Muslims' contribution to promoting world peace.

The forum also recommended creation of annual awards for best studies in the topics of peace and best initiative for promoting peace in Islamic societies. Also recommended was issuance of an academic periodical that looks into the research in matters of peace within Islamic societies.

The forum called for formation of a team of young well-educated Muslims to tour different parts of the world, including the hotbeds of conflict and tension in Islamic and non-Islamic countries, to spread the message of peace and peaceful co-existence.

The forum stressed the importance of reforming the components of Islamic societies, as well as the need to strengthen the Islamic nations' immunity against extremism and violence, regardless of their sources and directions.

The final communique also stated that it was time for Islamic communities, individuals, groups, government organisations and nations to cooperate and to favour interests of the mankind and of their respective countries, over their personal interests and to adopt dialogue and reasoning as the only approach for comprehensive development.

--IANS/WAM

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