ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Saudi Arabia’s new King Salman bin Abdulaziz said that terrorism is threatening the entire Muslim nation and dividing countries.
“The Muslim nation is threatened by the spread of Islamized terrorism that brings anger, plunder and all kinds of aggression and has crossed the borders of our Muslim world,” the monarch said in a statement at the opening of an anti-terrorism conference in Mecca on Sunday.
“This terrorism carries the flag of Islam but Islam has nothing to do with it,” he said in the message, read by advisor Prince Khalid.
The Saudi king said that “misguided terrorists” are giving a bad name to 1.5 billion Muslims.
“Their ugly crimes have led to hostile campaigns against our nation and its best men and created an idea in the minds of non-Muslims that terrorism is an Islamic quality,” the king’s speech read.
The Islam and Counter Terrorism conference was organized by the World Muslim League and was attended by Islamic scholars, government ministers, muftis, researchers and counterterrorism experts from many countries.
The head of the Muslim World League Abdullah bin Abdul Mohsen al-Turki said the goal of the meeting was to define terrorism and draw practical plans to combat it by all countries.
Salman, who ascended the throne last month after the death of King Abdullah, said through his advisor that his country “spares no effort to fight terrorism as idea and practice.”
“Our brave security men keep chasing the terrorists and breaking up their cells and they have paid with their lives for this and our air force is part of the international coalition against terrorism,” the monarch said.
King Salman said that Saudi scholars have also rejected “terrorist messages that are given a religious cover and used to deceive people.”
King Salman called for Arab, Islamic and international cooperation and dialogue between the different faiths to face the threat of terrorism.
“Such efforts in Islamic countries have already borne fruit but terrorism is still carrying out its crimes here and there, especially in Arabic and Muslim countries,” he said.
Conference participants will discuss the root causes of terrorism and will formulate a comprehensive plan to combat it, said al-Turki.
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