AMMAN, 12 August 2007 - Jordan has formed a committee of 100 Muslim scholars to address through dialogue "critical issues" affecting Muslims around the world, a statement said yesterday.
The committee, called "Salam (peace) 100," aims to "enable peaceful debate and discussion, using the power of ideas as a means of calming conflict and finding a resolution to problems of the gravest importance." The statement said controversies such as the 2005 Danish cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), have "exposed the lack of intellectual leadership" in the Muslim world.
This "must be addressed with the utmost urgency to prevent further rifts in human understanding. The committee proposes to conquer immediate and future fears and misapprehensions, which are so easily exploited by extremists of every kind."
The committee is headed by the uncle of King Abdallah II, Hassan bin Talal. It groups Muslim figures from around the world, including the director general of the Islamic Organization of Education, Science and Culture, Abdulaziz Othman Altwaijri, and former Yemeni Prime Ministers Abdul Karim Al-Eryani and Haider Abu Bakr Al-Attas. It pledged to promote "a rational and equitable understanding of hearts and minds." "We actively seek to address core disputes of international concern, to assuage anger, and to prevent unacceptable provocations," the statement said.
Orignal Source