Islam Online take time out from their hate-filled schedule to report about an inter-faith conference aimed at promoting greater understanding and dialogue between Muslims and Jews. Except old habits die hard.
Imams and rabbis opened Wednesday, January 5, in Brussels a third day of an inter-faith conference aimed at promoting greater understanding and dialogue between Muslims and Jews.The Muslim scholars and Jewish clerics are building on two days of marathon discussions, which opened Monday, January 3, on means of combating “Islamophobia” and “anti-Semitism.”Entitled “Imams and Rabbis for Peace,” the conference brings together some 150 Muslim and Jewish leaders and is held under the auspices of Belgian King Albert II and Moroccan Monarch Mohammad VI, Britain’s daily The Telegraph reported.The event is organized by the Paris-based peace foundation Hommes de Parole (Men of Their Word).Hommes de Parole sponsored a similar conference between representatives of the Islamic and Jewish faiths in 2003 in Switzerland.“Co-Existence”Addressing the conference’s opening session on Monday, Dr. Abduljalil Sajid, a senior figure of the respectable Muslim Council of Britain (MCB), said the British Muslim delegation called for “naming and shaming” extremists of both sides.“Ninety-nine per cent of Muslims, along with 99.9 per cent of Jews favored peaceful co-existence,” he said.The chief rabbi of France, Joseph Sitruck, hailed the conference as “an important moment because it carries hope and freedom for a disillusioned world.”Hommes de Parole President Alain Michel said the conference is a golden opportunity for both sides to put their heads together and explore common grounds between the two monotheistic religions.Chief among prominent Muslim scholars and activists attending the conference are Dalil Boubakeur, the chairman of the French Council for the Muslim Faith (CFCM); Zaki Badawi, head of the Islamic institute in London; sheikh Talal Al-Sadeer, the Palestinian representative for religious affairs and the mufti of the Syrian city of Aleppo, Ahmad Hassouna.Leading rabbis of France, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria and Denmark as well as the chief rabbi of occupied Haifa and prominent members of the High Rabbinical court of occupied Jerusalem are also present at the meeting.
