NU Chief to Visit Iran to Help Curb Conflicts in Middle East

Jakarta, NU Online
The general chairman of Indonesia’s largest Moslem organization Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), KH Hasyim Muzadi, left for Iran on Wednesday to meet a number of influential figures in that country in an effort to help curb conflicts in a number of countries in the Middle East, including Iraq.

"I am going to Iran to meet influential figures there," he said at the NU office before leaving for the airport.

He said his visit was also connected with the planned international conference of Islamic leaders to be held by the Indonesian government for seeking solutions to the conflicts in the region.

He said the figures he would meet in Iran include Iranian presidential advisor Ayatullah Ali Attasykhiri and former Iranian president Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani.

Hasyim Muzadi who is also  president of the World Conference on Religion for Peace, also hoped the conference would be attended by great figures such as Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas and Hamas leader Chalid Messal.

He said the idea to hold the conference came from him and was  agreed by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. He said as a country with the world’s largest Moslem population, Indonesia could not remain idle to see the  conflicts raging in the Middle East.

He said it was impossible to overcome the conflicts merely through government approaches. Other approaches like those made by  clerics also need to be made, he said.

He said clerics had an important and strategic position in Moslem countries and therefore a meeting between leadership figures and clerics was expected to be able to help reduce the conflicts.

The idea of Hasyim who is also  secretary general of the International Conference of Islamic Scholars (ICIS) also received a green light from president of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. In a recent meeting they emphasized the importance of cooperation between the ICIS and the OIC.

"We share roles to play. The OIC will play a role in the path of the state, while the ICIS in the path of clerics. The synergy is expected to reduce the  conflicts," he said.

Hasyim along with foreign minister Hassan Wirajuda and former foreign minister Ali Alatas recently visited a number of countries in the Middle East such as Syria, Lebanon and Iran for the purpose of reducing the conflicts in the region. (ant/mad)