Culture & Education | Saturday 31 January, 2015 12:20 pm |

Saudi Arabia’s support to Muslim causes in general and youth in particular the world over has received high praise from prominent leaders of the 12th international conference of the Riyadh-based World Assembly of Muslim Youth (WAMY), which opened here on Thursday (Jan. 29).

In his address at the opening of the three-day event, WAMY Secretary-General Salih Al-Wohaiby said that since its establishment four decades ago, WAMY’s humanitarian, developmental and propagation activities, programs, and conferences all over the globe have always been the focus of attention and support of the Kingdom’s leaders.

Abdul Rahman Al-Dahab, former president of Sudan and chairman of board of trustees of Islamic Call Organization in Sudan, strongly commended the role of the Kingdom in helping world Muslims, noting in particular the support extended by the late King Faisal to WAMY as one of the Muslim charity work vehicles in the world.

Sheikh Abdullah Al-Manie, adviser at the Saudi Royal court and head of Shariah Council of WAMY, lauded the role of the Kingdom in supporting Muslims and helping youth all over the world through organizations like WAMY.

The leaders expressed deep sorrow over the demise of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah who was a prominent supporter of Islamic causes all over the world as well as a pioneer global advocate for interfaith dialogue.

The leaders highly praised the Moroccan government and people for hosting this important event. “This is not unusual for Morocco, which is one of the champions of Islam, besides being one of the closest cultural bridges between the Islamic world and the West in the modern world,” Al-Wohaiby said.
Al-Wohaiby mentioned that this conference of WAMY focused on youth as was the case in all its past 11 conferences. “This is because WAMY is an organization for youth and the Muslim world has a 50 percent youth population.”

“The conference comes amid the political turmoil in the region coupled with massive media freedom that the people enjoy via satellite TV channels and social networks that has caused enormous change in the behavioral patterns of Muslim youth,” he said.
“The change, along with poverty, political instability and social injustices in many Muslim countries, has caused many problems for the Muslim youth, with some of them taking extreme viewpoints, abandoning moderate Islam and resorting to violent acts.

Consequently, this shift has led to counter actions in some Western countries that led to insulting the Prophet (peace be upon him) and harassing Muslim communities there, he added.
“We don’t claim that we have clear-cut solutions to these problems but from this conference we hope to find some solutions, which will be through scientific research papers presented by over 120 scholars,” he added.

Saudi Ambassador to Morocco Abdularahman Al-Judaiee told reporters on the sidelines of the event that organizing such a conference by a Saudi-based international Muslim organization gives a boost to the Kingdom’s call for interfaith dialogue globally.

He mentioned that the Kingdom has become an outstanding leader in the world in this kind of dialogue.
The WAMY conference is being attended by over 700 participants from 95 countries. Forty research papers out of 100 received have been chosen for presentation. They relate to the future of world Muslim youth in the changing era of globalization that is witnessing a continuous change in all aspects of life.