Abu Dhabi: The 5th edition of the Forum for Promoting Peace in Muslim Societies, to be held in Abu Dhabi on December 5, will establish that Islam is a religion of peace and justice, said Dr Mohammad Mattar Al Kaabi, secretary general of the forum, an Abu Dhabi-based international organisation.
The forum will bring together more than 800 of the world’s most influential Islamic scholars and thinkers from 120 countries, including ministers of religious affairs, muftis, representatives of the Muslim communities and delegates from the United Nations and rights organisations across the world.
scholars and intellectuals will discuss the methodology of setting up an alliance of virtues to achieve a worldwide discourse of mutual friendship and cooperation based upon common values and virtues, Dr Al Kaabi said.
“The idea came following the resounding success of the peace caravan, where an intimate and diverse group of US Muslim, Christian and Jewish clerics convened in Abu Dhabi last year to understand and appreciate theological differences while focusing on the synergism of religious commonalities essential to building healthy ad peaceful communities,” Dr Al Kaabi said.
“These endeavours culminated in an international conference in Washington D.C. in February this year under the theme ‘An Alliance of Virtues for the Common Good’. The event drew participation from hundreds of Christian pastors, Jewish rabbis and Muslim imams, alongside academics and researchers concerned with the culture of peace, as well as representatives of major international organisations and the US civil society. This landmark event was the first time the Abrahamic family of religions convened in all its diversity, to agree on new foundations for a religious dialogue, one that transcends disputation and proselytisation to achieve a discourse of mutual acquaintance and cooperation based upon common values.”
The forum will discuss the nature of the alliance of virtues, its core objectives, the responsibilities of its stakeholders, strategies, and challenges that confront it.
The forum will tackle five main topics: a contemporary outlook of early Islam’s Alliance of Virtues, treaties and covenants in Islam, contemporary crises of religions and mankind, religion and the ethics of universal solidarity, and a new alliance of virtues — an opportunity for global peace.
