Baghdad - Muslim clerics from 15 countries are gathering
in south Iraq Sunday for a conference that aims to renounce violence
and promote religious tolerance, an Iraqi cleric said.
Participants include clerics from Sunni Arab countries, such as
Egypt, and from Iran, the world's biggest Shiite country, as well as
from countries with a mixed Sunni-Shiite population, such as Lebanon,
Kuwait and Syria.
Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, Iraq's highest Shiite religious
authority, has sent a delegation to the conference, which is taking
place in Basra.
Inter-Muslim relations have been marred by Sunni-Shiite tensions
which Sunni Arab countries blame on Iran's meddling in the internal
affairs of Arab states, such as Iraq and Lebanon.
Al-Sistani's representative, Sheikh Mohamed Falak, told Deutsche
Presse-Agentur dpa that the conference represented an opportunity to
spread a culture of coexistence and dialogue between all Muslims and
non-Muslims and provide exposure to all Islamic (theological) schools
around the world.'
'Participants will seek to replace the language of violence and
in-fighting (among Muslims) with a language of dialogue and unity and
to strengthen Islamic values,' he said.
The holding of the conference in Basra is symbolic since the city
is predominantly Shiite and may want to send a message for
Sunni-Shiite reconciliation.
Basra, 550 kilometres south of Baghdad, is also flaunting its
restored law and order. Iraq's second largest city, it had been
under the control of Shiite militias and criminal gangs until a
government crackdown in March ended the state of lawlessness and
criminality.
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