Saudi King Opens Muslim World League Conference

The London Guardian reported yesterday that earlier this week Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah opened a 3-day meeting of the Muslim World League in Mecca. Abdullah hopes the Conference will create greater unity among various Muslim schools of thought as a prelude to discussions with Jewish and Christian leaders. However grand mufti Abdul Aziz Al al-Sheikh, Saudi Arabia's highest religious legal official, emphasized that the goal of interfaith dialogue was to covert others to Islam. Former Iranian president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani also spoke at the Conference opening, referring only briefly to Sunni- Shia relationships, preferring instead to criticize western governments for their invasion of Iraq.