The 9th Doha Conference for Interfaith Dialogue between reality and ideals

(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - The 9th Doha Conference for Interfaith Dialogue opened on October 24, 2011 A.D./ Thul-Qi’da 27, 1432 H. in Doha, Qatar. 450 participants, including politicians, religious scholars and scientists, from 41 countries are taking part in the Conference that is organized by the Doha International Center for Interfaith Dialogue. The Conference will last for three days and it will deal with the impact of social media on inter-religious dialogue…Dr. Ibrahim Nuaimi, Head of the Board of Directors of the Doha International Center for Interfaith Dialogue, said:“Social media are being misused by several groups worldwide to create hatred among the different religious communities; among the leaders, as well as the followers.”Moreover, some participants have stressed on the need of religious scholars for communication skills through the social media, especially in the countries of several religions.We hope that this conference, as well as any other, will take the issue of interfaith dialogue seriously, and not as a means to serve political goals. Furthermore, the late Religious Authority, Sayyed Muhammad Hussein Fadlullah (ra), had always called for not keeping the issue of interfaith dialogue nominal, but one that discusses the dynamic content that aims at assimilating the concepts, regardless of their confessional origin, so as to let religion become a place for meeting, creation and human sublimation. We should make dialogue productive in a way that serves thought, man and life, and not one for taking pictures for the media, in a way that once the photo session ends, we return to our confessional differences. We should also note that the late Sayyed (ra) did not talk about dialogue on the local level only, but also on the international level. This was based on his understanding of the universality of the Quran, which led him to believe that the dialogue of Muslims with the People of the Book, as well as with others, is an integral part of the Islamic thought and experience./129