Muslim leaders in Mecca say Islam is facing crisis
Leaders of Islam met Wednesday to discuss extremists within their religion. At the Organization of the Islamic Conference, Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah said Muslims were divided and weak.By SOUHAIL KARAM
Reuters
MECCA, Saudi Arabia, Dec. 7 -- Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah appealed to Muslim leaders on Wednesday to unite and tackle extremists who he said have hijacked their religion.
Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah, right, shakes hands with Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmed Badawi during a photo session after the opening of Organization of Islamic Conference meeting today in Mecca. (REUTERS/Zainal Abd Halim)At a meeting of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) - the world's biggest Muslim body - in the holy city of Mecca, Abdullah said the world's 1 billion Muslims were weak and divided, a description echoed by other leaders.
"It bleeds the heart of a believer to see how this glorious civilization has fallen from the height of glory to the ravine of frailty and how its thoughts were hijacked by devilish and criminal gangs that spread havoc on earth," Abdullah said.
Saudi Arabia, home to 15 of the 19 al Qaeda hijackers who killed 3,000 people in the United States on September 11, 2001, is battling a wave of militant violence at home.
U.S. critics have blamed the kingdom's strict Wahhabi school of Islam for fostering extremism but Saudi officials say they are tackling the militants through a tough security crackdown and a campaign to win over militant sympathizers.
Abdullah called for greater educational efforts to promote tolerance. "I look forward ... to the spread of a moderation that embodies the tolerance of Islam," he said.
The king was speaking at the start of a two-day summit in Mecca of the 57-member OIC, convened to address what he said were grave dangers facing the Muslim nation.
DISUNITY AND DISCORD
"We don't have the luxury of blaming others for our own problems," OIC Secretary-General Ekmelettin Ihsanoglu said in a speech which also portrayed the Muslim world confronting one of "the most critical eras of its history".
"Helplessness dispossession, marginalisation, all of these lead to the growth and spread of extremist ideas," he said.
Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi also issued a solemn warning, saying Muslims across the world were in a state of "disunity and discord" worse than an any time in 14 centuries of Islamic history.
"Thousands of our brothers and sisters in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Iran and Sudan and similar places, are living in fear under threats of war and violence," he said. "Many more are living under threats of poverty and backwardness."
Insurgents in Iraq have killed thousands of people in attacks on U.S. troops, the government they helped install and against Iraqi civilians.
Iran and Syria face U.S. pressure over Tehran's nuclear plans and the assassination of a former Lebanese prime minister, while several impoverished Asian and African states were also attending the talks in Mecca.
Algerian presidential representative, Abdulaziz Belkhadem, said reform of the OIC's charter had not been updated in 36 years, adding: "The current era is full of challenges and Muslim nations must rise to these challenges".
The Mecca gathering aims to encourage political and social reform in Muslim countries by endorsing a 10-year plan for better education, faster economic development, more trade, religious moderation, and more rights for Muslim women.
It will also try to breathe new life into the OIC, which has been largely ineffectual since it was set up 36 years ago with the stated aim of recovering East Jerusalem from Israeli occupation after the 1967 Middle East War.
Story Produced by: Lindsey N. Kirkland
