Jordan Times
Wednesday, June 30, 2004
Permanent assembly to promote moderation in Islam to be established
AMMAN (Petra) — Participants in the conference on
“Moderation in Islam” agreed to establish a permanent assembly to promote their
cause entitled the “Global Forum for Moderation in Islam” to be headquartered
temporarily in Amman.
The organisation aims at bringing together intellectuals, clerics, thinkers and
politicians who advocate moderation as a constant in Islam.
At a press conference yesterday, the coordinator of the June 26-28 conference,
Fayez Al Rabeeh, urged individuals and organisations to support and participate
in the forum's activities.
Participants in the conference recommended that moderation and balance be seen
as the ideal method to help understand and practise Islam at both the individual
and collective levels. They called for promoting the spirit of tolerance,
cooperation and respect for religious and intellectual freedom through proper
use of the media in this regard.
In addition, the panelists, who comprised experts from around the world,
including non-Muslims, urged Arab and Islamic countries to go further in
political and democratic reform in a way that serves citizens, nations and
values.
The media, they said in their final communiquÈ, should refrain from publishing
material that “hurts the religious feelings of people” because this is liable
“to fuel violence and extremism.”
The communiquÈ condemned all forms of extremism and terrorism, yet it pointed
out that the hostile policies the US administration and Israel are adopting
against the Arabs and Muslims, boost violence and extremism.
They urged intellectuals, scholars and politicians to draw a clear-cut
distinction between the legitimate resistance of occupation on the one hand and
violence and terrorism on the other. They have to make sure that this difference
between the two concepts should be communicated with civil institutions in the
West through dialogue between the two civilisations, the communiquÈ said.
Participants recommended that the conference papers and reports of the debates
be printed in a book to be published in Arabic, English and French.
Furthermore, they urged political and intellectual pluralism and peaceful
rotation of power. Freedoms, human rights and equality between citizens should
be respected as a key means to ensure moderation among Muslims, they said.
The conference, which was held under Royal patronage, was organised by the
Amman-based Moderation Assembly for Thought and Culture.