Turki delivered a speech in which he said "I am very glad to extend profound gratitude to the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud both for patronizing this conference, and for his strong and uninterrupted eagerness to foster the art of meaningful dialogue. The monarch's attitude in this respect emanates from both his astute view of the problems facing mankind, and his full conviction that, there are enormous opportunities that mankind can avail itself of, to remedy the lot of the human being any time anywhere, regardless of religious and cultural backgrounds." "I am also glad to welcome this congregation of the various religious, intellectual, political and media figures, and to wish our conference every success. The mere act of convening this conference can be regarded as both a triumph for the voice of moderation and peace in the world, and a positive step on the path of cooperation in the service of the human family. Whatever the religious, intellectual and cultural differences of the peoples, the noble values of justice, charity and virtue are deeply rooted in their natural disposition, and confirmed by the divine Messages. They shall forever remain as the established communal source and a universal framework, capable of producing enlightened ideas, and constructive as well as wise proposals for addressing the common problems facing the human society. In fact, dialogue is one of the best mediums of conveying those noble values, and broadening the range of mutual understanding. It addresses both the inborn disposition and the intellect and wins hearts and minds. Actually, this conference is being held within the framework of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz Al –Saud, King of Saudi Arabia's appeal for dialogue between the various religious, cultural groups and leaders of human thought. If anything, the Custodian's appeal is an expression of the deep-seated desire of the Saudi Arabian leadership for an excellent co-existence of the world's nations, peoples and civilizations as demonstrated in the kingdom's internal and external policies. It also serves as a proof of the fact that the backgrounds of both the kingdom's culture and civilization are marked by openness, flexibility and the desire for mankind's wellbeing. In this context, the recently concluded International Islamic Conference for Dialogue, which was held in the Holy City of Makkah in Saudi Arabia, may be seen as a comprehensive Islamic step in response to the monarch's generous appeal. A large number of Islamic personalities who attended this international conference agreed on the fundamentals and mechanisms of a successful dialogue. Moreover, the Makkah conference focused its deliberations on the essential aspects of dialogue, projected its authenticity and laid down the terms and conditions conducive to its success. All these were then incorporated in the ‘Makkah Declaration', which was issued by the conference, crystallizing the Islamic vision of dialogue. As an international non governmental organization with an observer status at both the UN and OIC, the Muslim World League has always shown keen interest in both the issues of dialogue and the ways and means of backing it up. In fact, the 'League' has placed these issues within its cultural as well as media priorities, in order to counter the concept of the inevitability of the clash of civilizations. Indeed, one of the most significant goals of dialogue is to discuss the ways and means of counteracting the promotion of anarchy, moral degeneration and family disintegration. This is because all these have gone to the extent of plotting against natural disposition and ignoring the constitutional differences of the genders. Moreover, face to face encounters between world religious, intellectual and philosophical figures can present invaluable opportunity to spread the atmosphere of understanding, correct wrong information and minimize the causes of tension and radical judgments, attitudes or visions. In view of the fact that they belong to one and the same origin, Islam views the members of the human race as equal. Ethnic, colour or language differences do not warrant any discrepancy between them, in as much as dignity and human values are concerned. Our Prophet, peace and blessings be on him said: “O' mankind! Your Lord is but One, your father is but one. Let there be no preference of the Arab over the non Arab or of the non Arab over the Arab, nor of the red skinned over the black skinned or the black skinned over the red skinned except by piety”. --more
