Hujjat-ul-Islam Hamid Shahriari, speaking at the first webinar of the 37th Islamic Unity Conference warned that pursuit of Islamophobia and Qur’an burning in the west will lead to nothing but expansion of hate speech within the western society, reported Taqrib News Agency (TNA).
According to the cleric the participants in this volum of the conference will particularly address the issue of Islamophobia and desecration of religious sanctities.
He called on the political and cultural figures in the west to prevent desecration of sanctities since that would irk the society which will also plague the western countries.
Secretary General of World Forum for Proximity of Islamic Schools of Thought called for a set of laws and legislations in the international bodies that can prevent desecration of religious sanctities and provocation of more than two billion Muslims.
Hujjat-ul-Islam Shahriari said,” We reject the justification by officials that brands such sacrilegious acts as freedom” and said, “Insult is a shameful behavior that goes against human dignity.”
He touched on the ways to expand the discourse of unified ummah (nation) as it has been the focal point of Islamic Unity Conferences.
He expressed hope that initiatives like Union of Islamic Countries will materialize, the borders between Islamic countries abolished, shared currency introduced and a single parliament will reach consensus to pass common laws for all Islamic countries.
Hujjat-ul-Islam Shahriari noted that the initiative of unified ummah has been proposed based on five phases the last of which being establishment of such a union as detailed in a booklet available on the website of World Forum for Proximity of Islamic Schools of Thought.
Top cleric highlighted security, in national, regional and Islamic level, as a key common value to be reached in cooperation of the Islamic countries explaining that the major Islamic center has made remarkable achievements by regionalizing the Islamic unity conference and organizing several events across Iran.
According to the Secretary General of World Forum for Proximity of Islamic Schools of Thought an achievement of the regional Islamic Unity Conferences was to host more than 800 participants whose attendance was not possible in previous gatherings as the conference in West Azerbaijan admitted more than 700 local guests, 350 participants from neighboring provinces and 50 attendees from neighboring countries.
Hujjat-ul-Islam Shahriari named the Islamic and neighborly conferences as another axis for regionalizing the Islamic unity conference when the neighboring countries were involved in hosting similar events as the first of such gatherings has been held in Iraq and similar meetings are being organized to be held in Pakistan, Lebanon, Indonesia and Russia.
The senior cleric noted that the regional neighborly conferences aim to review the gaps and origins of division in a bid to provide the grounds for organizing face-to-face talks with a wide range of scholars from other provinces as well as neighboring and Islamic countries.
He said,” The regional Islamic Unity Conferences established a discourse that would lead to practical unity capable of preventing possible misconception and division.”
Hujjat-ul-Islam Hamid Shahriari underlined the efforts by the present administration to boost relations with the neighboring countries and use the global and regional security discourses as the means to form a new kind of Islamic cooperation.
“If there is any threat in the region, it is posed by the outside players greedy for the natural assets of the region” said the cleric and added,” political redrawing of relations between the Islamic Republic of Iran and kingdom of Saudi Arabia can set a guideline for all Islamic countries in order to develop opportunities out of challenges and bring prosperity for all people in the region.”
Dr. Shahriari noted that the interests pursued by businessmen cause further cooperation among countries and we can form our economic cooperations with allies and follow the path of welfare for all Islamic societies.
He added that theme-based conferences are being studied as the next step of the conferences because of the high capabilities of the university professors and academies in the world of Islam.
According to the cleric the Minaret Conferences have been designed to criticize the media and social network capacities and familiarize with the media charters in order to choose the best media productions that promote unity and human dignity.
Hujjat-ul-Islam Shahriari warned of the security issues challenging the present world as a result of the advancing technology in the world particularly those based on the artificial intelligence and called for developing global organizations to be in charge of controlling and monitoring development of such technologies.
Secretary General of World Forum for Proximity of Islamic Schools of Thought made the comments in the first online meeting of the intellectuals and religious figures attending the 37th Islamic Unity Conference.
The 37th Islamic Unity Conference is underway in the capital Tehran as a number of Shia and Sunni scholars attend the webinars and the meeting to be held by World Forum for Proximity of Islamic Schools of Thought. This year the elites and religious figures attending the event discuss the theme “Islamic Cooperation to Achieve Common Values”. The conference is held on 28th September to 3rd concurrent with the Islamic Unity Week which marks the birth anniversary of Prophet Mohammad (PBUH).
