On 4 June, a three-day international Islamic conference wil be held on religious dialogue in Mekka. 500 Islamic scholars are expected to attend. The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah, who has called for interfaith dialogues to promote world peace and communal harmony, is expected to open the conference. See Arab News.
According to the organizer of the conference, Dr. Al-Turki, secretary-general of the Muslim World League, Islamic scholars across the globe have welcomed King Abdullah's call for dialogue, saying it is the best way to silence those who launch smear campaigns against Islam and Muslims, and stop attacks on Islam.
I guess (not more than that) that by involving his own scholars in international dialogue with other religions (read: Christianity), King Abdullah wants to stimulate Saudi's religious scholars to moderation in their own views about Islam and other religions. The royal house of Saudi Arabia needs to get rid of extremists like the Mutaawa, it is open to having a Roman Catholic Church build in its land, it wants the country to be more open to the world, but for doing so it needs to defeat extremist views in Saudi Arabia. So the King needs to do much internal work for creating a more peaceful sort of Islam. Am I rambling now?
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