6th Forum on dialogue among civilizations between Japan, Islamic world discusses means to boost cooperation

Saudi king calls for series of meetings to hold dialogue among civilizations between all religions

Prince Saud: Talks aim to reach better understanding of cultural reality

Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud received at his palace in Riyadh the participants in civilizations dialogue between Japan and Islamic world which started in Riyadh under the title "Culture and the Respect of Religions".

Addressing the gathering, Japan's Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Osamo Oto thanked the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud for receiving the Japanese delegation and the warm welcome and generous hospitality accorded to them by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

He recalled that the idea of this conference was initiated by the former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Japan Yuhi Kono in 2001.

He said the number of Muslims in Japan is currently over 200,000 and the number of mosques is 40.

He confirmed that the forum would lead to enhancing of mutual understanding between Japan and Islamic world, hoping that it would continue over the years ahead.

In a speech on behalf of the Islamic side in the forum, Sheikh Dr. Mustafa Sersh, Bosnia's Chief Scholar and Mufti, thanked the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud for his service for Islam and Muslims.

He underscored the importance of dialogue between the Islamic civilization and Japanese civilization, noting that the Japanese have provided every facility for Muslims in Japan to preserve and spread their beliefs in Japan.

He cited the visit to Vatican by the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud recently as yet another unprecedented gesture for Muslim leaders to follow suit.

He described the King's visit to the Vatican as historical with positive results felt in the daily life by Muslims in Europe.

Then the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud addressed the gathering.

Following is the full text of the speech of the monarch:

"In the name of Almighty Allah, the most gracious, most merciful and May God bless Prophet Mohammed (peace be upon him), his family and followers.

You are all welcome in Saudi Arabia and I wish you a good stay in the Kingdom.

I am not going to teach you about Islam as all of you well know your religion but only I want to thank you for the efforts you are exerting towards your religion as well as towards all other religions and the entire humanity.

Please listen carefully to these few words and provide me with your consultation. I would like to tell you of this step, hoping every success for it. I have some idea which obsessed me since two years ago as a result of the crisis all humanity is suffering in the current time. Such a crisis has marred and caused imbalance of reason, ethics and humanity. For this reason, I thought and approached our religious scholars in Saudi Arabia to get their okay. Thanks to Allah Almighty, they have agreed. The idea is to request all religions to sit together with their brothers faithfully and sincerely as we all believe in the same God.

I have seen such meetings like this meeting. Let me be frank with you that I thought about something: to honestly seek the appease of our God. Accordingly, I planned to visit the Vatican. Then I paid the visit where the Pope has warmly welcomed me, a meeting of a human to a human which I would never forget. Actually I presented the idea to him: that is to seek the consent of Allah according to what he ordered in the religions: the Torah, Bible and Quran. I pray for Allah to let us meet on one word. Meanwhile, I noticed that family system was weakened and dismantled. Also infidelity have spread, an unacceptable behavior to all religions: the Quran, Torah and Bible. We have to ask God to help us meet as there is lack of ethics, loyalty, and sincerity for our religions and humanity. As regards, family system, let me again cite an example; we see that in some societies, an 18-year boy or girl becomes completely independent and doesn't care about his parents, ethics or his God.

For this, I am planning to hold conferences and not only a single conference to consult with my brothers the Muslims all over the world to have their view points. We will start, God willing, to hold meetings with our brothers in all religions which I mentioned: the Torah and Bible to agree on something that would maintain humanity against those who tamper religions, ethics and family systems.

This is what I would like to tell you, hoping that when you are back home, you could summarize it to others. God Willing, I will start this matter soon. If we meet and agree, I will then address the United Nations. I believe that even those who believe in Ibrahimism (will be of interest to us). However, the believers of the three main religions: the Torah, Bible and Quran will be of priority. But the rest will come as they are all good to their humanities, ethics, nations and families.

The situation of dismantled family system is horrible and should be confronted by all religions.

Thank you for listening".

The reception was attended by the Saudi Ambassador to Japan Faisal bin Hasan Tirad, Japan's Ambassador to the Kingdom Hejero Nakmora and a number of officials.

On behalf of Prince Saud al-Faisal, the Foreign Minister, Dr Nizar bin Obeid Madani, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, opened the Sixth Forum on "Dialogue Among Civilizations between Japan and the Islamic World".

The motto of the Three-day Forum is "Culture and Respect for Religions". It is organized by the Institute of Diplomatic Studies and The Department of Islamic Affairs of Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Speaking on the occasion, Director General of the Institute of Diplomatic Studies Dr. Saad al-Ammar expressed admiration over organizing the Forum in Riyadh.

Underling the significance of the Forum, he said the consecutive successes attained by the Forums of dialogue between Japan and the Islamic world were a result of strong will and sincere efforts.

He noted that in the light of the developments and changes being witnessed by the contemporary world, the Forum, attended by a number of distinguished personalities from the Islamic world and a group of Japanese friends, will discuss the suitable solutions as well as means of adopting the best of these solutions.

Dr al-Ammar said the culture and respect for religions have values which include diversity and co-existence, noting that these values had positively contributed to the development of the Islamic civilization which benefited from the achievements attained by others.

He thanked Prince Saud al-Faisal for the support he had extended to the Forum.

On his part, Dr. Jamil Merdad, the chairman of the department of the Islamic affairs, said the Forum is convened for the sixth time in line with the initiative of Japanese former foreign minister Yohi Kono in 2001 in which he called for cementing Japanese relations with the Muslim world and starting a dialogue among civilizations between Japan and the Muslim world.

He noted that the Forums were earlier held in Manama, Tokyo, Tehran, Tunis, Tokyo and now in Riyadh.

When the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz welcomed hosting the sixth Forum in Riyadh that was stemmed from the Islamic creed which advocates conducting dialogue with others.

He quoted the King as saying 'despite differences in colors and races, it would be important to take into consideration that the entire world is linked with certain values including belief in Almighty Allah.

The King noted that the heavenly religions have common principles and advocate great values which constitute the concept of humanity and differentiate the mankind from other creatures.

The King had also said earlier while addressing the pilgrims 'we should remember what links the religions, beliefs and cultures, and we should adhere to the concepts of morals and family'.

Dr Merdad pointed out that the vision of the King has been embodied in his initiatives and visits, notably his meeting with the Pope of the Vatican in Rome on November 6, 2007, as well as his invitation to convening an extraordinary Islamic summit which was held in Makkah to lay a new vision for the Muslim nation in confronting the challenges of the 21st century.

He drew attention to the fact that the role of the King became very clear at the declaration of Makkah and its ten-year program approved by the leaders of the Muslim countries.

The declaration of Makkah has reiterated that the Islamic civilization is an indivisible part of the human civilization, and it is based on the values of dialogue, moderation, justice, righteousness and toleration, which contradict with fanaticism, close-mindedness, despotism and exclusion.

He said the declaration called for deepening these values in the Islamic rhetoric inside and outside the Muslim societies.

The ten-year program has stressed the significance of dialogue among civilizations which is based on mutual respect and understanding, he said adding that the program has made clear that dialogue among civilizations is an essential matter for the global peace, security, tolerance and coexistence.

Dr Merdad urged the member states to encourage dialogue among religions, and called for projecting the common values among them.

He called for teaching the Islamic culture, education and civilization as well as the ethics of dialogue and cooperation for the development of balanced syllabuses that enhance the values of tolerance, human rights, openness and understanding with other religions and civilizations as well as avoiding all forms of extremism in addition to enhancing adherence to the Islamic identity.

Meanwhile, Osamu Onu, deputy foreign minister and parliamentary secretary at the Japanese foreign ministry, said amid globalization and changes of the social and economic structures, the people have lost their tolerance towards others who have different values, noting that some people are behaving in a manner that runs counter to mutual confidence.

He pointed out that the main idea behind the forum is 'culture and respect for religions, and added that no dialogue could take place without respect of ethnic culture.

Onu said the number of Muslims in Japan exceeded 200,000 in 2002, while the number of mosques amounted to about 40.

In the light of the increasing number of Muslims, the Japanese society will be in need of reacting in a balanced manner with some problems that earlier surfaced in the western societies, like the problems of extending (Halal) food at schools, performance of prayers and the veil.

He expressed happiness over the Forum's works which will contribute to enhancing mutual understanding and relations among youth of different cultures.

Dr. Merdah hoped that the Forum would contribute to further cementing ties between Japan and the Islamic world.

Prince Saud al-Faisal, in a speech, read on his behalf by Dr Nizar Madani, stressed the significance of the efforts being exerted by the two sides for the continuation of the dialogue and understanding and finding common elements between the two civilizations as well as establishing model relations between the two parties based on confidence, understanding and mutual respect.

He noted that the joint characteristics between the Muslim nations and Japan are based on the respect of others and their beliefs, and adherence to the principle of peace.

He reiterated that the historical ties between the Muslim societies and Japan have yielded a common understanding and blossomed the distinguished relations.

Prince Saud stressed the importance of tireless work to enhance relations between the Muslim nations and Japan on bases of dialogue, understanding and tolerance.

He reiterated the attention given by the Kingdom to supporting the Forum of the Islamic-Japanese dialogue.

Prince Saud said the title of 'culture and respect for religions' has been chosen as the title of the forum, because culture plays a crucial role in the formation of the identity of the individual and his personality as well as his view towards others in addition to the role of the religion as a deep spiritual element for all nations.

Prince Saud said the significance of the Forum is stemmed from the fact that it reiterates the importance of dialogue, adding that 'the aim after dialogue is not making a certain view overcome the other view or to reach an agreement among the parties for adopting one idea, but the main purpose is to reach a better understanding of the culture of the other party, so as to make this understanding a base for dealing with him and respecting him and moreover to make the understanding replace prejudice and standing against him in addition to the importance of developing the culture of mutual respect among the religious beliefs, notably under the current phenomena being witnessed by the world and which have led to the spread of culture of extremism, violence and provocation.

'We are living in an era of globalization which makes it necessary to easily conduct dialogue among us, so it is an important matter to exert further efforts to get acquainted with others in a better way, and to exchange the available information and views to reach a better understanding among the human communities so as to enhance the principle of establishing international relations on the bases of confidence and mutual respect." Prince Saud said the media, new communications means, as well as educational, intellectual and research institutions are capable of spreading information and visions which contribute to enhancing the culture of dialogue, tolerance, respect and co-existence among the nations.

Prince Saud said the Kingdom has been working since long years to enhancing the principle of dialogue among civilizations and cultures. He noted that the Kingdom had contributed to establishing a dialogue between the Muslims and the Vatican about three decades ago and worked to find mechanism for deepening understanding among the nations as well as enhancing cooperation and peace based on mutual religious and cultural respect among the human societies.

Prince Saud said it has been proved that dialogue among cultures leads to a better understanding among all, and that will have a positive impact on the solution of problems and crises.

He noted that the policy of dialogue, which confronts the policy of exclusion and criticism, is an essential matter for a world where security, peace and mutual respect prevail.

Prince Saud noted that the origin of the human civilizations is one and each civilization is a complementary to the other civilization as it has been proved by the history of the mankind.

He wished every success to the Forum.

The two-day deliberations of the Sixth Forum of Dialogue Among Civilizations between Japan and the Islamic World, which was opened under the title "Culture and Respect for Religions," began.

The first day's activities included two sessions. The first session titled "Religions in a Globalized World" discussed the impact of globalization on religions, globalization and religious diversity, aspects of globalization and the respect of religions.

The second session was held under the title "Education and Respect of Religions" and discussed education and promotion of respect of religions, school curricula and global integration and the role of cultural institutions in promoting respect of religions.

Then, a workshop on youth minds and future partnership was held. A group of youths from the Islamic world and Japan participated in it.