Contents

Message of

His Royal Highness Prince Al-Hassan Bin Talal

Former Crown Prince of Jordan,

President of Arab Thought Forum

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, Most Merciful

Peace and Prayer on His loyal Prophet, his family, his companions and his followers

Excellency President Zine El-Abidine bin Ali, may Allah preserve you

Excellencies,

Honorable participants,

Assalamu alaikum warahmatu Allah wabarakatuh,

On your behalf, I am delighted to salute His Excellency the President for his kind patronage of this symposium held in Tunisia, a cherished country of our great Arab world, hoping this symposium every success, Allah willing. I wish also to congratulate you, Excellency the President, for the exhaustive awakening witnessed by Tunisia and the outstanding achievements it has made in its developmental path at all levels. May Allah preserve you and preserve our beloved Tunisia. I should like also to commend the constant efforts deployed by the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization -ISESCO- towards the promotion of the Islamic world in various aspects.

This symposium’s theme deals with dialogue and alliance among cultures and civilizations. Culture is a distinctive trait of the individuals and the nation alike. It defines behaviour, whether in a negative or in a positive way. The culture of any people is at the same time a part of the universal culture: each of them interacts with the other. Among civilizations there are relations of conflict, communication, reciprocal borrowing and convergence. Yet these relations are not a direct, present factor in the political and economic practices.

With the outbreak of the war on terror worldwide, research on civilizations tend more often not only to enquire about the way to preserve identity, but about the existential challenges in conscience and reality, as well. The debates sparked off in the 90’s of the last century particularly on the thesis of Huntington revealed the lack of independent views and project. The debate swiftly shifted to a conflict with globalization. The world project of the west, along with the views it implies, remains the kernel of interest of both advocates and opponents alike, without any plausible alternatives and options. Does the alternative, then, reside in the idea of “alliance of civilizations and cultures”?

I wonder also: do we have in our Arabic and Islamic thought any visions for the world, whether in the theoretical sense or in the strategic and political sense? For us to answer with a yes, we still need to have a knowledge that encompasses awareness of the world and the way to express it. Otherwise, the lack in knowledge will lure us into the trap of Huntington or other theorizers of his like; as we may opt for the defence of the Islamic civilization as a communicative one, and the condemnation of the western civilization as being the contrary of ours.

However, when we talk about alliance among civilizations, we do not actually need to consider our Islamic civilization as a bygone one, as some do; nor do we need to seek ways to highlight the contraction between the Church and present-time, the Church and Science, as modern Europeans tend to do. Rather, we need to concentrate on the Islamic universal values which set matters right in the process of civilizational renewal after the rupture that occurred after the decadence.

The subject of alliance among civilizations and religions was, and still is, on top of my interest. I have called for the development of a civilizational pattern to live together in a life that rests on dialogue and not on conflict, openness and not narrow-mindedness and fanaticism. In so doing, we will be able to shape a model that rests on “the glorification of commonalities and the respect for differences “, to borrow the words of Imam Shatibi; a model that relies on equality and competitiveness.

My call for common cultural values did achieve partial results with the establishment of a parliament of cultures in Turkey- where the orient and the occident are treated on the same footage- with the aim of fostering understanding among the different cultures in the world and intensifying dialogue between intellectuals. The first intended project to emerge from the parliament is the establishment of school of Mediterranean humanities to bridge the cultural and intellectual divide between western and Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean countries and neighbours, through the development of a new method dubbed “Terra Media”. The school will constitute the nucleus of a network made up of researchers and intellectuals who will benefit from grants, and who will sponsor and supervise research projects, organize world conferences and seminars, support publications, including the Mediterranean Humanities Magazine. The school will be open to foreign students who are desirous to conduct researches, and to explore modern and ancient cultures and civilizations of this region, as well as its languages. The targeted categories also include immigrant students.

In this respect, I should note the tragic phenomenon that incurred a heavy loss in the interests of our Ummah in the fields of the development, scientific research and industry: This phenomenon is that of the brain drain among Muslim and Arab youth who constitute reliable and indispensable forces likely to bring about a genuine renaissance in our societies. This leads me to enquire whether it is possible to preserve the bonds between the immigrant and his home town, in such a way as to maintain his spiritual belonging to his country. How can our countries manage to bring back their highly qualified youth, holders of advanced diplomas in important disciplines, so as to make them prefer coming back to their own native countries and contribute to their construction and development.

This issue is part of the stakes that still face us, such as poverty, unemployment and all forms of illiteracy (conventional, digital and legal), extremism and terrorism. In the same spirit, I would like to call for addressing that issue within a trans-national, trans-regional and trans-continental framework, and for strenuous efforts to entrench democracy and to set up democratic institutions, to ultimately foster the culture of peace and development. I have recently launched a call to formulate a Charter of Honour and to a larger civilizational code regulating our religious relations and ours with others’. This also urges us to engage in a trans-national action, irrespective of our political and doctrinal trends.

Mention should be made also of the Second World Congress for Middle Eastern Studies (WOCMES-2), which will take place in Amman, Jordan on 11-16 June 2006, and will be organized and hosted by the Royal Institute for Inter-Faith Studies.

This will be the first time that experts on the Middle East drawn from all over the world and all branches of the humanities and social sciences (including economics, political science, media studies and others) will assemble together in the region to share and exchange their research, experience and ideas on issues of major concern to the world.

Honourable participants,

Let me now point to some of the major items of the ongoing debates over the alliance of civilizations and cultures:

First: the principle of equality among the different civilizations should be promoted and implement on the ground. For opportunities is not the monopoly of a given civilization. Any civilization should have the opportunity to express its universal project.

Second: A balance of interests should be struck to avert the hegemony that might be exercised by one party to the detriment of another party, and to pave the way for a peer-to-peer dialogue that will make each party to find out the truth about other parties.

Three: there is need for an action within “the alliance of civilizations” to outline clear visions that contribute to the dissemination of the culture of co-existence, in deference with diversity and based on the principle of justice.

Four: The contribution of “the alliance of civilizations” to the administration of peace, security and stability in the world. This alliance should also stress on the importance of confidence-building among nations. Add to this the need to take cognizance of the globalization dimensions, the preservation of the national identity, the respect for cultural multiplicity and the role of cultural exchange and dialogue of civilizations in the shaping of one world where tolerance and integration reign.

Five: There is need to recognize the fact that the extremist Takfiri trend, which regards other doctrines’ followers as apostates, is not an exclusive curse of one particular civilization or the followers of a particular religion. Efforts should therefore be joined worldwide to combat this phenomenon, through the draining of its intellectual and economic sources, the dissemination of human values advocating equality and rejecting fanaticism, racial discrimination, hatred and animosity.

Six: There is need to remain objective and impartial when it comes to reviewing the historical truths and to lay emphasis on the values of love, peace and respect, with the aim of rising a generation fond of co-existence with others and the respect for their values. Such a project entails an all-inclusive action towards contributing to the formulation of our history’s chapters on the basis of dialogue, cooperation and complementarity rather than conflict and clash.

Ladies and gentlemen,

If we are to shape visions for the world and to engage in the alliance of civilizations, we need to acquire intimate knowledge, clairvoyant follow-up, inclination towards responsible critic, desire for expression and renovation and reflection over the destiny and future of the Ummah. Hence the huge responsibility of the intellectual elites and their willingness to shape the future.

May Allah grant us success in the fulfilment of Our Ummah’s best interests.

Wassalamu alaikum warahmatu Allah wabarakatuh

Publications of the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization

-ISESCO- 1428H/2007 A.D