Charles urges tolerance during Saudi visit

Riyadh: Britain's Prince Charles visited the academic heart of Saudi Arabia yesterday and urged a tolerant and flexible approach to religion, but although many students welcomed his visit, most rejected his views.

In a speech before Saudi scholars and officials at Al Imam Mohammad Bin Saud Islamic University, Charles argued against a rigid interpretation of religious texts and said other "children of Abraham" Jews and Christians had much to learn from Islamic teachings.

"What is so distinctive of the great ages of faith surely was that they understood, as well as sacred texts ... the meaning of God's word for all time and its meaning for this time," Charles said in his speech. He was the first non-Muslim foreign dignitary to visit the university.

"I feel, and you must forgive I'm no scholar ... it was Islam's greatness to understand this in its full depth and challenge. This is what you ... can give not only to Islam but by example to all the other children of Abraham."

Asked to comment on the prince's call for a flexible interpretation of Islamic texts, student Maher Al Sehili said: "Charles and the West don't understand the true Islam. We are the ones that suffer prejudice, look at Iraq and Palestine."

The university has been key to Riyadh's mobilisation of clerics in its campaign against hardline militants.