Following the launch of the league's conference at the United Nations: "Building Bridges of Understanding and Peace between East and West" The Secretary-General of the United Nations receives Sheikh Al-Issa and affirms his full support for the efforts of the League New York: His Excellency the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Mr. Antonio Guterres, received at the UN Headquarters in New York, His Eminence the Secretary-General of the Muslim World League, Chairman of the Organization of Muslim Scholars, His Eminence Sheikh Dr. Mohammad bin Abdul Karim Al-Issa.
This was in the wake of announcing the initiative: "Building Bridges of Understanding and Peace between East and West", launched by His Eminence at the UN Headquarters, with the participation of the United Nations Presidency and its General Secretariat, as well as the High Representative of the Alliance of Civilizations, and in the presence of senior international, religious, political and intellectual leaderships. The meeting witnessed a discussion of issues of common interest between the League and the United Nations, and the enhancement of prospects for bilateral cooperation in this regard, in particular the discussion of the outputs and programs of the "Building Bridges of Understanding and Peace between East and West" initiative and the mechanisms for activating them.
This comes especially after the great momentum gained by the launch of the initiative. It witnessed the interaction of international and UN leaders as well as religious, intellectual and academic leaderships, who declared in their speeches at the United Nations platform the urgent importance of this initiative, and their full backup and support for expanding its scope as part of the international institutional activity pivotal to the peace and harmony of our world and its societies.
They also asserted the importance of activating the initiative's ideas on the ground, including the call for launching a global day for the Alliance of Civilizations between East and West, stressing the importance of respecting the specifics of the religious and cultural identity of each civilization. Dr. Al-Issa praised the wisdom of the United Nations in dealing with religious issues around the world, and harnessing the provisions of its charter to bring about peace, sensing the importance of the great religious contribution.
His Eminence stated that about 80 percent of people around the world respect religions and believe in the importance of their contribution to peace and harmony, especially the enhancing of coexistence among all people. Dr. Al-Issa commended the Charter of the United Nations, and expressed his appreciation to the UN Secretary-General for supporting the League's latest conference: "Building Bridges of Understanding and Peace between East and West," at the United Nations headquarters in New York.
Dr. Al-Issa warned against the danger of the discourse on civilizational conflict between East and West, and the division of the world into warring camps, calling on the countries worldwide to work for the success of their UN Charter. His Eminence's speech dealt with the dangers of materialistic exploitation of religion, shedding light on the League's efforts as regards climate files, immigrant and displaced issues, and other pressing issues in our world. Dr. Al-Issa stated: " The Secretary-General of the United Nations affirmed his full support for the work of the League, especially in promoting the values of moderation around the world. In fact, the international organization is working to combat Islamophobia and hatred of the other." On his part, the UN Secretary-General confirmed that there is an unreal image against Islam, and that social media sites increased hatred due to the posting of many lies at the expense of correct information.
Guterres said that religious leaders have a major role in supporting peace and harmony, stressing that religions are not the cause of wars in the world, but rather they bring people together. He pointed out that many civilizations remained while others have gone, but the clear vision that must be worked on is to bring people together to work with each other and resist efforts that do not want that.
