Asia, Malaysia to call Islamic summit at Saudi request

[Asia News]: KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysia, responding to a call by Saudi Arabia, has agreed to organise a summit meeting of Muslim leaders that would seek to heal rifts in the Islamic world, local media reported on Tuesday.

Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, chairman of the 57-member Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC), told Malaysian reporters accompanying him on a visit to Paris that he would despatch his foreign minister to Riyadh to discuss the plan.

Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz on Friday urged Malaysia to organise a summit “so that we can overcome, with our faith in God ... the state of dismemberment and fragmentation” among Muslims.

The leaders’ conference should be preceded by meetings among ”the (Islamic) nation’s thinkers and scholars ... to outline visions of the nation’s future and thus assist the gathering of the leaders, which I hope will be held here, in this pure land,” he said.

The leaders would “search for common ground and strengthen the bonds” among Muslims, the Saudi prince said.

Asked whether the summit was being called following US President George W. Bush’s refusal to rule out the possibility of an attack on Iran, Abdullah said: “Let us talk about our concerns first. Otherwise, we will be confused. If we are weak, others will threaten us.”

Abdullah said the summit would touch on political issues and Islamic ideology among other matters, the official Bernama news agency reported.