At the Global Islamic Conference that brought together scholars in Mecca, Prince Khaled Al-Faisal read a speech on behalf of King Salman in which the monarch urged the defeat of extremism and noted, “terrorists do not at all represent Islam.”
“Many people have the misconception that terrorism is the main feature of Islam and Muslims,” the King said, adding that many people fear Islam and Muslims and that “they are skeptical of us and our religion,” the Saudi Gazette reported.
As regional policymakers work to develop a more comprehensive strategy to fight the rise of Daesh, the self-styled Islamic State terrorist organization primarily in Iraq and Syria, Islamic leaders are following suit. In Egypt, which recently carried out strikes against the group following the beheading of Egyptians in neighboring Libya, the Grand Imam of the top Islamic institution there has called for a radical reform of religious teaching to tackle the spread of Islamic extremism, according to a report in BBC news.
Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb said at the Global Islamic Conference that extremism was linked to “bad interpretations” of Islam and that “the only hope for the Muslim nation to recover unity is to tackle in our schools and universities this tendency to accuse Muslims of being unbelievers.”
The conference was held just days after a similar initiative at the White House last week, which saw U.S. President Barack Obama call for a fight against all religious extremism, noting that such acts were not limited to the Islamic faith. Deputy Foreign Minister Prince Abdul Aziz bin Abdullah led the Kingdom’s delegation at the talks, according to Arab News.
