The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud said that we, in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, were able to deprive the deviant thought from all suspicions that it tried to find as its basis to spread its propaganda, thanks to the cooperation between our scholars, security systems and information and media means, and we formed a united front that has worked at all levels, and in all directions, to find a strong and stable fortification in the society from this alien scourge. This came in a speech delivered on the King's behalf by Prince Mishaal bin Abdullah bin Abdulaziz, Governor of Makkah Region, yesterday at the opening ceremony of 15th Makkah Conference entitled "Islamic culture: tradition and modernity'' organized by the Muslim World League. Following is the text of the speech: Your Excellencies, Allah's peace, mercy and blessings be upon you, I am pleased to convey to you the greetings of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, welcoming participants in this conference held in these great days honored by Allah Almighty in this country, which receives millions of Muslims, coming from every place. We pray to Allah Almighty to crown our efforts with success to serve them, ensure their safety and comfort to perform their Hajj rituals at the best way, and go back to their countries safely. Dear Brothers: The Islamic culture defines the nation, sets its civilization direction and connects its parts with each other. Through this culture, Muslim is linked to hundreds of millions of Muslims in various parts of the world, and participates with them in the religion, the message, and feelings, hopes and aspirations in his conscience towards the present and future of the nation. The Islamic culture unites the nation and links between its peoples and states; therefore it should be given and its primary component, the religion, a major interest in taking care of local and national cultures and their development, and in this way, the national affiliation is based on Islamic affiliation in various Islamic countries. And our Islamic nation is a nation of complete personality which has its bright civilizational experience, and rich heritage record, in addition to its distinction from other nations as the best nation coming for peoples, promoting the virtues, preventing vices, believing in Allah Almighty and carrying Allah's final world message which is a message of light and mercy. The Islamic Ummah should adhere to its private culture and defend it with legal ways as living up to its international and humanitarian commitments doesn't contradict with its cultural privacy. In this regard, it deserves mentioning that the human developments and other things related to them, including the concepts of freedom, democracy and human rights, should unnecessarily push us outside the frame of our Ummah's cultural environment as our relation with our culture requires securing a balance between tradition and modernity. According to the definition of the last one, we have to keep actively tied to our era, deal with its problems and benefit from the scientific and educational developments as well as different systems and styles of life, a matter necessitates holding positive ties with others to secure co-existence and cooperate in a full-fledged joint cultural space. Living up to the requirements of modernity without becoming detrimental to the firm pillars of our culture, including our religion, Arabic language and the other Arab Islamic values, requires a feeling of gratitude to our heritage and using them to benefit our current life. Today, our Arab Islamic nation is witnessing a confused cultural situation necessitating that our Ulema, callers and writers go to study the phenomenon thoroughly, look into its defaults and wisely and prudently derive the solving lessons to streamline our cultural path into a path that flows into a line of moderation and rejection of violence, extremism and terrorism. So, the matter requires a concerted effort, and cooperative programs and plans that spread the correct thinking, combat the deviant thoughts and correct the wrong visions in the Islamic concepts. We, in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, were successful to strip all negative, false and absurd justifications out of the deviant thinking, depriving it of the suspicious notions it was trying to lure youths through them, thanks to cooperation between our Ulema and security, media and cultural authorities. In this way, we set up a unified front that well worked at all levels and in all directions to form a strong and stable immune society against this strange plague. Contrary to some Arab and Islamic countries where negligence of the aspects of their Islamic culture has incurred them great losses and pushed their societies into spiraling problems, the stability enjoyed by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was based on the preservation and adherence to the Islamic culture. We are determined to follow this path on which the Kingdom was based. Moreover, we have already reached the equation that combines tradition and modernity in terms of culture as our adherence to our traditions and basics and building our approach on its teachings, did not prevent us from matching with the new inventions and developments of the current era which never harm our religion or ethics and we have never felt or found any negative impact of this combining approach on our identity and belonging to our heritage and civilization. In conclusion, let me thank the Muslim World League, its President and Secretary General for their distinguished efforts that contribute to the illumination of the people of our nation to fulfill their duties towards their religion, nations and issues and refute the false accusations targeting Islam, its civilization, figures, sanctities, and confront terrorism and extremism, hoping all of you every success. Wa Alsalamu Alaykum Warahmatu Allahi Wa Barakatu
