Indonesia will host an international meeting of influential
Muslim clerics in early April aimed at resolving conflicts in the
Middle East, particularly the growing divide between Shiites and
Sunnis.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has signed the invitation
letters to participants and representatives from the Indonesian
Islamic organizations, national newspaper The Jakarta Post
reported Monday.
"It would be unethical if Indonesia, the world's most populous
Muslim country, just sat and watched while there are ongoing
conflicts, particularly the sectarian violence in the Middle East,"
he said.
Hasyim Muzadi, chairman of the country's largest Muslim
organization Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), was quoted as saying that the
two-day meeting will take place on April 2-3 at the Presidential
Palace in Bogor, West Java.
He said some 20 clerics from Lebanon, Iraq, Iran, Pakistan,
Jordan, Syria, Saudi Arabia and Malaysia were expected to
attend.
Speaking Friday in Jakarta during a week-long visit, Iran's
Supreme Court chief Ayatollah Sayyed Mahmoud Hasehemi Shahrudi
welcomed the planned meeting.
However, he noted the sectarian violence taking place in Iraq
was caused by the US and its allies.
"Shiite and Sunni sects had lived in peace for hundreds of
years. The harmony, however, ended when troops from the US and its
allies came to invade and conquer Iraq," said Shahrudi.
He also urged Islamic countries to unite and form a new
international organization to overcome conflicts within the Islamic
world.
(Xinhua News Agency March 12, 2007)
