The third meeting of the Supreme Consultative Council for Bringing Muslim Madhahib Closer Together affiliated to the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO), began yesterday at ISESCO's headquarters here. Speaking at the opening session of the meeting, Dr Abdulaziz Othman Altwaijri, Director General of ISESCO stated that never before has the need been so urgent for rapprochement of Islamic schools of thought as it is at this critical point of history of the Muslim Ummah. Today's Muslim world, he explained, is confronted with increasingly complex challenges, internal and external, which mainly originate from debilitating disunity and aggravating sectarian strife. These, either out of ignorance or by design, turn differences in Islamic schools of thought into serious clashes that might at times escalate into full-blown wars, he warned. All this, he went on, is playing into the hands of external inimical forces seeking to tear Muslims apart, and by so doing take their focus away from building unity and development. Dr Altwaijri said, “The main purpose of the message of rapprochement in which we all believe, and on which we at ISESCO act, is to bring to equitable terms the disciples of the various Islamic jurisprudence schools, by strengthening bonds of Muslim brotherhood, which rises above all kinds of difference.” He went on, “It should be emphasized that faith in the holistic religious Kulliy?t (generalities) is a main uniting factor among Muslims.” The Muslim people, he explained, are united in their belief in Allah, His angels, His books, His messengers, the Day of Judgment, and fate, whether good or bad, as well as in their holding tight to the Holy Quran, the unchanged message which Allah sent to humanity through Prophet Mohammad, to the five pillars of Islam and to the sealed message of Prophet Mohammad, carried to us by his righteous companions. This is what really makes Muslims as brothers in the true sense of the word, he emphasized. --More
