MARKING the annual celebration of the birth of Prophet Mohamed, President Hosni Mubarak reiterated the traditional Islamic appeal for tolerance and co-existence. Addressing the usual gathering of leading Muslim scholars, including the Grand Sheikh of Al-Azhar and high-ranking state officials, the president on Tuesday, a day after the Prophet's birth, argued that the Muslim nation was facing daunting challenges that seem for the most part to target the image and values of Islamic civilisation. These challenges, the president said, could only be met with a unified Muslim stance based on firm faith and pure sense of tolerance. "We need to remain firmly committed to our Islamic values that we should never undermine. At the same time we need to explore the many open vistas of modernity and technology to make use of their advances to better serve our societies," Mubarak said. At the same time, the president argued, "The call for dialogue of civilisations is meant to counter the contradicting theories that we firmly oppose." The annual celebration of the prophet's birth, the president asserted, is not only an occasion for religious festivity but a moment of contemplation over the need for the entire Muslim nation to carefully examine its present and plan for its future. The president seized the opportunity to address the Danish cartoon issue that shocked the entire Muslim nation. He stressed that it should be addressed firmly in the framework of the partners in the dialogue of civilisations. The president added, "Those who attempt to associate Islam with terrorism and extremism are making a big mistake because ever since it was revealed over 14 centuries ago, the holy Qur'an has been preaching the values of tolerance and co-existence. "Those who attempt to associate Islam with backwardness are equally wrong because the Islamic civilisation is recognised for its great contribution to collective human heritage."
