The proposed body will be comprised of prominent and wise scholars who will work to create peace in the Middle East.

Shaikh Abdullah bin Zayed, Dr Ahmed Al Tayyeb, Shaykh Abdallah bin Bayyah and other scholars attending the concluding session of the Forum for Promoting Peace in Muslim Societies in Abu Dhabi on Monday. — Wam

Participants at the ‘Forum for Promoting Peace in Muslim Societies’ have recommended the creation of an Abu Dhabi-based Islamic council, comprising prominent and wise scholars, and mandated to help extinguish the raging fires in Islamic nations.

The proposed body, will be named ‘Muslim Wise Men Council’ with bylaws scheduled for issuance during the holy month of Ramadan. This came during the closing session of the forum which was held on Monday evening and attended by Foreign Minister Shaikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

The participants also recommended holding the forum in Abu Dhabi on an annual basis. They also called for promoting the forum’s outcomes as a key contribution to the culture of peace in Islamic societies.

The closing session was also attended by Dr Ahmed Al Tayyeb, Grand Imam of Al Azhar; Shaykh Abdallah bin Bayyah, President of The Global Centre for Renewal and Guidance (GCRG) and Chairman of the Scientific Committee of the forum, in addition to over 250 notable Muslim scholars and thinkers from around the world.

At the end of the forum, the participants issued the final communique in which they said that over 30 research papers were presented during the forum. The papers focused on the forum’s four major themes — humanitarian values, correcting concepts on Jihad, fatwa in a world of strife, and Islam and Muslims’s contribution to promoting world peace.

The forum also recommended the creation of annual awards for best studies in the topics of peace and best initiative for promoting peace in Islamic societies. Also recommended was the issuance of an academic periodical that looks into the research in matters of peace within Islamic societies.

The forum called for the formation of a team of young and well-educated Muslims to tour different parts of the world, including the hot-beds of conflicts and tension in Islamic and non-Islamic countries, to spread the message of peace and peaceful co-existence.

The forum stressed the importance of reforming the components of the Islamic societies, as well as the need to strengthen the Islamic nation’s immunity against extremism and violence, regardless of their sources and directions.

The final communique also stated that it was time for Islamic communities, individuals, groups, government organisations and nations to cooperate and to favour interests of the mankind and of their respective countries, over their personal interests and to adopt dialogue and reasoning as the only approach for comprehensive development.

It also emphasised the correlation between the environments of peace, dialogue ad tolerance and the concept of reinstating responsibility of scholars in offering advice and encouraging people to do good deeds and avoid evil deeds, while distancing themselves from any political affiliations.

Source: Khaleej Times