Muscat (IINA) – Director General of the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO) Dr Abdulaziz Othman Altwaijri stated that the critical stage through which the Muslim world is passing today, with its problems and crises, requires consolidation of Islamic solidarity by entrenching its foundations and expanding its scope, to turn it into a broad-based platform to face the many dangers besetting the Arabs and Muslims, safeguard the cultural and religious integrity of the member states, as well as preventing all forms of interference in their own affairs and ensuring respect for their confessional diversity.
He made the remarks in his address at the opening session of the 9th Islamic Conference of Culture Ministers on Monday in the Omani capital of Muscat. Dr Altwaijri called for countering the neo-colonial policies aimed not only at weakening and subduing the Muslim Ummah, but also at occupying certain countries of the Islamic world and ultimately tearing it apart. "The ultimate aim of such schemes is to redraw the map of the region so as for Israel to stand out as the strongest power there, and continue to occupy Palestine, subjecting its people and its Islamic sanctities to the most cruel forms of aggression and abuse, with the support of the world’s major powers." These later, he pointed out, eventually turned out to be plotting together to fragment the Muslim world along sectarian and ethnic lines, and stir differences and conflicts to undermine the Islamic world and disrupt its development process.
Dr Altwaijri also stressed that there is no way to confront this subversive scheme unless we close our ranks and transcend our differences and disputes, in order to ultimately constitute a unified front within the framework of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), based on solidarity and integration among member states.
He said that terrorism is a deviant ideology, a corrupt tenet and an ill-conceived understanding of religious scriptures, adding that it is no surprise that it manifests itself through criminal acts against Muslims and humanity as a whole.
Dr Altwaijri emphasized that middle-stance is the exact opposite of extremist ideology, and that a development-oriented culture is a true alternative to backwardness, in all its intellectual, social and economic manifestations.
Dr Altwaijri pointed out that this is exactly why the conference has chosen to stress the importance of this concept and adopt it as a core principle for joint Islamic action. Under this interpretation, he explained, culture and development are inextricably intertwined and interrelated and constitute a powerful instrument to achieve inclusive development for human civilization, and a sine qua non to promote the role of culture as a lever of sustainable, comprehensive development to which we are fully committed, and dedicate all possible resources.
He stated that middle-stance is, to Muslims, a culture of deep commitment both to the magnanimous values of Islam and to the rich diversity of the Muslim world. A middle-stance culture that is conducive to the individual’s intellectual, personal and emotional development is necessarily incompatible with extremist and fanatical perceptions of cultural elements and with zealous, self-centered cultural action.
“Cultural mediation, which is the theme of a ministerial roundtable to be held as part of this Conference, is an advanced mechanism to ensure a wider participation in cultural affairs, and a roadmap for an integrated cross-cutting action oriented towards comprehensive development. It is, in this novel sense, an agent of “participatory cultural democracy” that enhances the human rights system, and provides broad avenues for the stakeholders of the different spheres of culture to contribute to the comprehensive cultural development of societies, individuals, nations, and civilizations," he said.
Altwaijri emphasized the fact that the effective development of Muslim societies is contingent upon a deep-rooted middle-stance culture, secured cultural rights of individuals and groups, and consolidated dialogue between the followers of cultures, civilizations and religions. "This is why we paid special attention throughout the preparation stage of this Conference to combining all three paradigms: namely, the paradigm of middle-stance culture, the paradigm of sustainable development, and the paradigm of integrated, balanced development of Muslim societies. He explained that "this is exactly the conclusion of the Declaration to be issued by this Conference, which we consider as a roadmap for joint Islamic cultural action in the future under the Cultural Strategy for the Islamic World, and in consistency with other relevant declarations, strategies and documents."
AB/IINA
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