Central council of World Assembly of Islamic Awakening meets in Tehran

TEHRAN, Nov. 20 (MNA) – The first meeting of the World Assembly of Islamic Awakening opened in Tehran on Saturday and closes today. Ibrahim al-Jaafari, the former Iraqi prime minister, Qazi Hussain Ahmad, the former president of the political party Jamaat-e-Islami, and Ramadan Abdullah Shallah, the head of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and Mustafa Kamalak, the current leader of the Turkish Felicity Party, along with over 30 international scholars are attending the meeting. World Forum for Proximity of Islamic Schools of Thought Secretary General Ayatollah Mohammad Ali Taskhiri delivered a speech at the conference, in which he said that the wave of the Islamic awakening movement rolling across the Middle East and North Africa region is a prelude to the rule of Quran. Taskhiri added that the West has made efforts to promote Islamophobia, Shiaophobia, and Iranophobia in the region. However, the Islamic Revolution of Iran has inspired many people around the world, Ayatollah Taskhiri stated. Ali Akbar Velayati, the Supreme Leader’s top advisor and the secretary general of the World Assembly of Islamic Awakening, delivered the opening speech of the meeting. He first congratulated the Libyan people for defeating the Muammar Gaddafi regime and also felicitated the Tunisian Islamic party Ennahda for winning parliamentary election which was held in the country on October 23. Velayati, who is also the director of Permanent Secretariat of World Assembly of Islamic Awakening, went on to say that Muslim scholars have a great responsibility to help promote Islam in the world. Qazi Hussain Ahmad also delivered a speech at the meeting and said that the Islamic awakening is in need of a leader, otherwise it will be abused by the hegemonistic powers. He also proposed that a strategic council be established in order to guide the Islamic ummah in a proper direction.