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Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance Mohammad-
Hossein Saffar-Harandi said on Tuesday that Islam flourishes
contrary to conspiracies of enemies.
He made the remarks in an address to the closing session
of 21st International Conference on Islamic Unity which
started work since Sunday.
The conference was participated by 850 scholars and
intellectuals from 45 countries including Oman, Sudan, Egypt,
Indonesia, Pakistan, Lebanon, Kuwait, Germany, the US,
Tunisia, Syria, Saudi Arabia, France, Morocco, India, Algeria,
Hong Kong, Qatar, Britain, Denmark, Iraq, Turkey, Gambia,
Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, and the United Arab Emirates.
It aimed at preparing grounds for Muslims' unity and solidarity
as well as promoting coexistence in the Islamic world and finding
a way to solve current obstacles facing the world of Islam.
"The present world is suffering by satanic acts of those who
wage wars against Islam and religions under the pretext of
piety or protecting freedom," Saffar-Harandi said.
He referred to making anti-Islamic films or insulting Great
Prophet of Islam (Peace Be Upon Him) as clear examples
of those acts by enemies.
Referring to the blasphemous film, Fitna, made by a Dutch
parliamentarian against Prophet Mohammad (PBUH), the
minister said, "The movie made by that wicked Dutch man
was indeed an indicative of desperation."
Saffar-Harandi urged Islamic scholars to make due efforts
to boost Islamic unity to present the true image of Islam to
the world.
Muslims around the world condemned the film made by
the far-right MP Geert Wilder. The film sets verses from
the holy Quran against a background of violent images
from terror attacks. It also features one of the Danish
cartoons whose publication sparked violent protests in
several countries two years ago.
Iran called the film heinous, blasphemous and anti-Islamic
and appealed to European governments to block its further
distribution. Pakistan, Indonesia and Bangladesh were among
those to protest the release of the anti-Islam film.
The Organization of the Islamic Conference also added its
voice to the growing criticism of the anti-Islam film.
The OIC said in a statement that the film defamed and
denigrated 'the Holy Quran, causing insult to the sentiments
of more than 1.3 billion Muslims in the world'.
In its statement, the OIC urged the international community
to condemn the screening of the film and asked the Dutch
government to prosecute the filmmaker under Dutch law.
The European Union also said the 15-minute film posted
on a London-based Website inflames hatred.
United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon also
condemned the film, calling it 'offensively anti-Islamic.'
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