Terrorism and Islam not to

concord in terms of Dialogue

Among Civilizations
Ashraf Ashri

It is maybe the first time for me to take part in

such a considerable conference on the "dialogue
between different civilizations," with such

tremendous and celebrated gathering in terms of
the luminaries names and numbers. This cause

has been and is still specifically to pique the
curiosity of numerous statesmen, intelligentsia
and journalists in our Arab World, and by all means
that of academics in a more holistic sense. This is
triggered in view of the problematic estrangement
and drastic disturbance, by which the relation

between the east and the west is markedly
characterized, and due to the conflict of interests
and objectives, as well as the domination on the
part of specific despotic countries.
Let alone the dilemma of Islamophobia, being
mooted at present within the western community
and in the United States. This enigmatic issue has

been lodged against Islam and Muslims due to the
11
terrorist acts, which had culminated in the wake of
the 9/11 events, and which have exacerbated with 2001
the augmentation of terrorist groups' and takfirist
guerrillas' activities, especially the emergence of
the third generation of the Islamic State of Iraq
And Sham (ISIS) and al-Nusra Front guerillas. Such
guerillas have, in terms of the hardline thinking,

orientation, dawah, instruments, route and modus
operandi of operations, surpassed the generation
of al-Qaeda organization, being the founder of a .
new atrocious wave of terror regionally and
worldwide.
This conference is organized by the Latin
Academy, concerned often throughout the bygone
years with conducting the dialogue of civilization

and effecting intercultural concordance and the
convergence of the values of the world countries,

particularly in the third world, Latin American
countries and western and European communities.
The Latin Academy has decided this time to be
hosted in a GCC country: Sultanate of Oman. A
dialogue, having lasted for three successive days 9
throughout 9 laborious and extended sessions, has
been first conducted by the Academy in a GCC
country and in Muscat in particular in the presence
.
of this all constellation of intellectuals and
academics from multifarious world countries.
The topic of these vividly heated discussions was
on the cultural and religious values governing all
the various world countries and continents in light

of the culture pluralism, which consists in one of
.
the frameworks and mechanisms of the dialogue
of civilizations.
The Latin Academy had held 27 conferences in 27
numerous world countries on the dialogue among
civilizations and acts of the concordance and

interaction among the multifarious cultures
entertained by all world peoples and countries.

Two of these conferences were held in Egypt (i.e.,
in Cairo and Alexandria). Nevertheless, the Muscat
conference in this year is being held in
synchronization with the increased aggravation
and exacerbation of risky terror, which is rendered
to be a fearful obsession for many world countries

not only the Middle East countries. The
participants at the Muscat conference strived to
find out the mechanism of international
cooperation, the common factors of the
opportunities and chances to ensure the success
of the joint values of cultural cooperation and the
convergence among civilization in order to curb
the terrorist ghoul, and to disseminate the values
.
of tolerance, peace and coexistence apart from
the culture of decapitation, wherein al-Qaeda, the
ISIS and al-Nusra have excelled.
Despite the multiplicity of celebrated intellectuals
and well-noted orientalists from Europe, Latin
America and Asia, the Arab attendees, especially

from the GCC, the bulk of whom was from Oman
and Lebanon, and some from the Maghreb

countries, were quite a sizable gathering. H. E. Mr.
Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser, the UN High
Representative for the Alliance of Civilizations,
also attended. The Muscat conference took us as
usual by surprise when Jorge Sampaio, being the
former President of Portugal and one of the

pioneering intellectuals of the dialogue of
civilization thinking at present, enriched the
discussions held at the Conferences halls for long
spans of time with his arguments and .
interventions.

Sampaio was one of those who vehemently called

for the promptness required to effect cooperation
and convergence among the world countries

peoples and their thinking, and to arrange the
multicultural values for the sake of unifying the

political, cultural and religious discourse. The man
defiantly advocated for respecting the values and
culture of Islam and Arab World as being one of
the foremost tributaries of the worlds cultures, .
and further slammed the charges being casted on
Islam and the stigmas of terror being imputed
thereto.
By means of a highbrow and prolonged worksheet,
H.E. Sheikh Abdullah bin Mohammed Al Salmi, the
Minister of Awqaf and Religious Affairs in the

Sultanate of Oman, whose Ministry and state were
entrusted to held this Conference in collaboration

with the Latin Academy, managed to rivet the
attention of the gathering. The Minister refuted
and unearthed numerous misstatements, being
alleged by the western leadership, media and
culture against Islam, through openly showing up
all the terrorist groups in the region. The Minister

alluded the atrocious and ferocious war waged by
the west and some others against Islam. It is
exigent to find out common values amongst the
threesome monotheist religions in the world in
order to halt the bloody animosity. It is exigent to
encourage the establishment of more friendly and .
amicable rapports and synergisms between
Muslims and Christians.
Furthermore, the Minister presented a historical
account of the down-to-earth accomplishments of
the founding Muslim predecessors, who influenced

the western civilizations, and transmitted the Arab
and Islamic cultures to the west. The Ministers

call, which was satisfactorily welcomed, for the
Vatican to exigently abandon its historic
confrontation to the dialogue and partnership with
the Muslim world. It is also exigent to oppose the
fundamentalist hawks and to object skepticism
harbored by many people against the common

factors of values and ethics. The following
significant and necessary enquiry has been also
posed by the Minister at the Conference sessions: .
Have the open-door and synergy policies as well
as the initiatives of partnership failed and been of .
no avail?
His answer was Of course, it haven't: the
Minister Al Salmi confessed that the conceptions
and policies of tolerance, understanding and

admission did not fail. Yet, they are exigently
prerequisite in order to render the dialogue among

civilizations a success and to deepen the common
values. Indeed, the Muscat Conference was rife
with the profound ideas and discussions, rich
dialogue, numerous worksheets and various
arguments, which is tantamount to be a new
revolution for rendering the success of

opportunities of convergence and concordance
among the world continents cultures, values and .
realms of life so that the dialogue of civilization
can be replenished.
The most crucial point, which deserves attention,
is yet in the method of application and
enforceability, which is to be vested to the United
.
Nations through its multifarious entities and to the
academics, intelligentsia and orientalists, who

have stood the test at the Muscat Conference.
They have to encourage their governments and
peoples in order to trigger alterations in a bid to
anew regain the dialogue among civilizations, .
render it a success, and have it consecrated.