Intl. Islamic Unity Confab Kicks off in Tehran

The 29th International Islamic Unity Conference opened in the Iranian capital of Tehran on Sunday morning with high-ranking officials of Muslim countries and Shiite and Sunni scholars in attendance.

The main subjects to be discussed in the three-day international event will revolve around the current crises facing the Muslim nations.

The conference came as Muslims are celebrating the Unity Week, which is an annual occasion as a sign of solidarity among different Islamic schools of thought. The birth anniversary of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) falls in the week, which started on Thursday.

Attendees at the Islamic Unity Conference, which will last until Tuesday, include educated Muslim figures, ministers of Islamic countries, clerics, scholars and representatives of scientific and cultural circles from Iran and across the world.

The main purpose of the gathering is to discuss ways to promote unity and solidarity in the Islamic world and bring closer views of Muslim clerics and scholars’ on diverse religious issues.

The event will also focus on problems that have beset the Islamic world, particularly the threat posed by the Takfiri thoughts and sectarianism.

Participants are also planned to discuss the issue of Palestine, propose solutions to settle its problems and adopt a common stance on the issue.

Addressing the 29th International Islamic Unity Conference, Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani stated enemies and big powers are doing their best to portray Islam as a religion of violence, urging Muslims to take necessary steps to thwart all efforts aimed at depicting Islam as the religion of violence.

The Iranian president added that faced with such plots, “Muslims have no option but to join hands [in unity] and … choose the right path.”

Rouhani stated that a great deal of the ongoing violence, acts of terror and massacre are taking place in the Muslim world, North Africa, the Middle East and West Asia, adding that there must be an end to the “intellectual and discourse-based violence.”

The president criticized certain Muslim countries for purchasing great quantities of US arms, and either delivering the weapons to militant groups or using them against other Muslim nations.

Daesh Takfiri terrorists, Rouhani argued, recruit members that are overcome by cultural or economic poverty, adding, “So, let’s eradicate cultural and financial poverty in our societies.”