Tehran Conference Shows Islamic Fraternity
Speaking to IQNA, Sheikh Muhammad Salim al-Lababidi, secretary general of Palestinian Dar al-Ifta in Lebanon, said the presence of Shia and Sunni scholars and thinkers from different countries at the conference shows that the Muslim Ummah is not what hostile media portray.
Everyone who sees this conference will realize that this is what the Muslim Ummah is about, which is fraternity, solidarity and cooperation, he said.
Asked why such events do not usually lead to practical unity despite religious bonds and commonalities among Muslims worldwide, the cleric said lack of support from some Muslim countries’ governments is to blame.
He further condemned attempts at fomenting discord in the Islamic Ummah and also moves by extremists and terrorist groups who shed blood of innocent people in the name of Islam with the aim of tarnishing the image of the religion.
“These are plots hatched by the global arrogance to deal a blow to Islam,” al-Lababidi said, stressing that events like the Tehran conference could help to foil such plots.
The 32nd International Islamic Unity Conference got underway in Tehran on Saturday.
Some 350 religious and political luminaries from 100 countries are attending the conference.
The motto of this year’s conference is “Quds, the Axis of Muslim Unity”.
It is annually organized by the WFPIST on the occasion of the birth anniversary of Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon Him) and the Islamic Unity Week in an effort to lay the ground for stronger unity and solidarity among Muslims and provide appropriate solutions for their problems.
The 17th day of the month of Rabi al-Awwal in the lunar Hijri calendar is believed by Shia Muslims to mark the birth anniversary of Prophet Mohammad (PBUH), while Sunni Muslims regard the 12th day of the month as the birthday of the last prophet.
The interval between the two dates is celebrated every year as the Islamic Unity Week.
Late founder of the Islamic Revolution Imam Khomeini (RA) declared the occasion as the Islamic Unity Week back in the 1980s.
http://iqna.ir/fa/news/3766915
