Dialogue among religions and cultures has become a clear and inevitable way to serve humanity, King Abdullah, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, said in an address to the Saudi-French Symposium on dialogue among civilizations which opened here Saturday. “Based on the eternal principles of Islam which urge justice, equality and peace and call for building, friendship and fraternity among people, I welcome you in this blessed symposium which deals with an important issue of establishing contacts among peoples and transforming feelings of hatred among them into affection and understanding,” the King said in a speech delivered by Dr. Khalid Al-Anqari, Minister of Higher Education. Saudi and French academics and researchers are participating in the symposium which the King hoped would come out with positive recommendations. “The issue is civilization dialogue among Saudi and French academics and researchers,” the King said, praying that the dialogue would help replace conflicts and wars with understanding and peace. The symposium is an outcome of the Madrid Interfaith Conference last July and the subsequent United Nations forum on dialogue among religions and cultures in New York in November. “The call for holding the conference on dialogue among religions and cultures was a clear message for all peoples that Islam is a religion of affection, fraternity and peace,” the King said, “making it enjoy all support and encouragement because dialogue has become a clear and inevitable way to serve humanity in view of a new world order which groups all countries and peoples in one global village.” “Peace must prevail among them to replace violence, affection must prevail to replace hatred and contempt, and dialogue and understanding must prevail to replace boycott and conflict.” The King urged the symposium participants to emphasize on the rights of those who are proud of their religion and beliefs and to strive to achieve the most constructive results for exchange of knowledge and projecting Islam's true image of tolerance and moderation and the suitability of its rules for solving mankind's problems in the quest for peace and tranquility.
