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Abu Dhabi to host Muslim minority congress in May

Abu Dhabi - 2-day conference is themed Future of Muslim Minorities: Opportunities and Challenges

The first-ever Muslim minority conference will be held in the Capital on May 8-9, organisers said on Wednesday.
Themed 'Future of Muslim Minorities: Opportunities and Challenges', the International Muslim Minorities Conference (IMMC) will discuss the challenges facing the Muslim minorities across the world and the need to support them, especially by spreading the culture of tolerance, peace and coexistence, which are fundamental values of Islam.
Organised under the patronage of Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, Minister of Tolerance, the conference is in line with the UAE's mission to spread the culture of peace and tolerance among religions and cultures and to defend the rights of these religious and cultural minorities wherever they are.
Dr Ali Rashid Al Nuaimi, chairman of the supreme committee of the IMMC, said during a Press conference that Muslim minorities across the world need to be supp-orted, to eventually succeed in all spheres of life.
"There are many Muslim minorities in different parts of the world and the majorities are immigrants in these nations," said Al Nuami.
"Whereas some of these Muslims have succeeded in coping with the new environment and managed to integrate into the society, many are facing challenges like becoming isolated and not being accepted by the communities where they live.
"With the prevalence of Islamophobia in many parts of the world, which undermines confidence among Muslim minorities, encourages hate speech, and inc-reases accusations that suggest that 'Islam is against peace', there is a need to counter these allegations by highlighting Islam's vis-ion of global peace,"
He noted that the conference, which will be attended by over 400 participants from different parts of the world, is about humanity, tolerance, peace and the fight against violence and extremism the world over.
"We want to spread the message to the world that Islam is a religion of peace and preaches tolerance and love for one another," he said.
"We need to open horizons for Muslim minorities, so they can get hope and succeed wherever they are because they are peaceful people."
Dr Mohamed Bashary, member of the higher committee of the conference and secretary-general of the European Islamic Conference, said: "This is a unique event and the first of its kind in history to bring together Muslim minorities, who are not members of the Org-anisation of Islamic Countries (OIC), to highlight the need for peace and tolerance and the importance of coexistence with people of other religions and cultures."
"It's very important for people to accept one another and to have one's 'difference' recognised and supported in the public and the private spheres," he added.
The two-day conference will discuss several issues, including the situation of Muslim minorities in a global context: opportunities and challenges; the growing phenomenon of religious extremism; Islamophobia and its role in undermining social integration strategies and its impact on peace in the community.
The conference will also examine the role of Muslim minorities in promoting cultural pluralism in the societies in which they live.
ismail@khaleejtimes.com