His Majesty King Abdullah on Thursday condemned “needless desecration and injury of Islamic sensibilities” and cartoons “misrepresenting and vilifying” the Prophet Mohammad.

In a speech at the National Prayer Luncheon in Washington, DC, King Abdullah told more than 3,000 US and international thinkers, religious leaders and politicians that he also condemns “extremists, of any religion, who teach intolerance and violence, mutilate scripture to advance their cause.”

“We behold with horror and disgust the recent targeting of Christian churches in Iraq, breaking with a 1,400-year tradition of Christian-Muslim friendship and mutual acceptance amongst the Arabs of the Levant,” he said.

“To overcome this common foe [extremism], we must explore the values that unite us, rather than exaggerating the misunderstandings that divide us,” the King said.

King Abdullah noted that Islam, like Christianity and Judaism, is a monotheistic religion. “Muslims believe that there is only one God; that is the basis of everything in Islam.”

“In every generation, people of faith are tested. In our generation, the greatest challenge comes from violent extremists who seek to divide and conquer.”

He added that extremism is a “political movement, under religious cover.”

“Its adherents want nothing more than to pit us against each other, denying all that we have in common,” the King said.

King Abdullah spoke about the religious initiative Jordan launched more than a year ago “to reaffirm traditional moderate Islam, to expose and isolate extremism and to emphasise the common teachings of Judaism, Christianity and Islam.”

“The principles of our Reaffirmation of True Islam were adopted by the Organisation of the Islamic Conference in Mecca last December as part of their ten-year plan for the future of the Islamic world. This strikes at the very roots of extremism by denying its Islamic legitimacy and consolidates the traditional middle ground of Islam, to which the vast majority of Muslims belong. It constitutes a full frontal assault on extremist distortions of Islam by exposing the falsity of their ideologies to the light of truth,” he said.

Terror acts “demonstrate that extremist terror is not indicative of a clash between civilisations. Rather it is an attack upon civilisation.”

The falsity of extremists' ideology, he said, is made clear to all by the extremist bombings in the Islamic world, such as Jordan, Egypt, Morocco and Saudi Arabia, among others.

“Almost every day Muslims are killed by extremists in Iraq. Their targets are not Christians, not Jews, not Americans or Europeans, but indigenous innocent Muslims.”

The violence unleashed by terrorist groups and the few who follow them stems from hatred, King Abdullah said, emphasising that these groups “do not preach the Islam of the Koran or the Prophet Mohammad. Theirs is a repugnant political ideology which violates the principles and statutes of traditional Islamic law.”

The King warned: “If we allow such intolerance and ill will to polarise us, do we not betray all those who have died at their hands? And we do worse. We turn away from truth,” expressed throughout common religious heritage.

The speech was attended by HRH Prince Ghazi, the King's special envoy; Senator Akel Biltaji and Karim Kawar, Jordan's ambassador to the US.

US President George W. Bush, who thanked the King and other guests for their participation, said at the opening of the event that the American people respect all religions and creeds that promote a humanitarian orientation, and are willing to help the needy and those in distress around the world.

Later, King Abdullah met with representatives of the three monotheistic religions and called on governments and concerned organisations to work for winning back ordinary Muslims by presenting the true traditional Islam to them as a tolerant and anti-violence religion.

Meanwhile, he warned against emptying Jerusalem from its indigenous Christian residents, stressing that the Holy City must remain open for the followers of the three faiths.

The Jordan Times