Abu Dhabi, the UAE capital will host on March 9th and 10th a ground-breaking "Forum for Promoting Peace in Muslim Societies" with the participation of more than 250 of the world's most influential Islamic scholars and academics. Discussions will centre around critical humanitarian issues caused by sectarianism and ideological differences in Muslim societies, resulting in an unprecedented spread of violence causing dismal international repercussions. During the two days of the forum, scholars and academics will discuss these issues and will issue a formal declaration to clarify the true and relevant teachings of the religion of Islam. This declaration will call on the Muslim community and greater human community to stifle the current ?fire' raging in the Muslim world, and to help isolate the oppressive and iniquitous ideologies that have produced these conditions. The forum will take place under the auspice of UAE Foreign Minister H.H. Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, and will be chaired by Shaykh Abdullah bin Bayyah. The forum is considered as the first of many steps in gathering a group of elite Islamic scholars, thinkers and academics by allowing them the opportunity to clarify the true teachings of Islam and distorted image of the Islamic religion. There will be more than 30 leading scholars and thinkers from the Muslim world addressing a variety of key issues and over 250 notable Muslims from around the world in attendance. It is expected that the discussions taking place over two days, will be aimed at providing a unified framework that will ensure a new approach and methodology to deal with the current ?fire' raging in Muslim societies Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed said: "The forum to promote peace in Muslim societies is a sincere call for serious debate and finding solutions to tackle the persistent problems facing the Muslim world, that has reached a very serious point driven by extremist thinking that does not consider the sanctity of human life , which can only be achieved by moderate thinking through the cooperation of Muslim scholars and intellectuals. This forum will be a starting point for a concerted efforts in preventing aggravations and the spread of dark ideas". He also asserted:" This forum will be the first amongst many steps to be carried out by the UAE to promote peace in Muslim regions and the world in general". Shaykh Abdallah bin Bayyah, President of The Global Centre for renewal and guidance (GCRG), one of the Muslim world's pre-eminent scholars and Chairman of the Scientific Committee of the Forum, valued the UAE's response to the Islamic scholars' call to bring an end to the existing turmoil and to promote peace. Shaykh Bin Bayyah said: "The turmoil that we are witnessing around the world has led to many challenges with an increase in extremist thoughts, hijacked under the banner of Islam, so it is necessary to clarify these pure meanings of Islam that are completely contradictory to the doubt and confusion that is being planted in the Muslim world leading to a rise in hatred and violence." The Shaykh also mentioned recently on a leading Saudi channel that "Muslim communities need to find the inner peace and broader understanding that are so important for the interest of the communities they respectively live in". The scholars and intellectuals are expected to discuss four major themes: 1- Humanitarian values: The right to life, human dignity, freedom, equality, justice, respect and observance of cultural differences and a bridging between differences amongst human beings regardless of race, color, sex or religion. 2- Correcting Concepts on Jihad: Adherence to the law of the land, loyalty and disavowal. 3- Fatwa in a world of strife: their conditions and constraints, the degrees and ramifications of poorly issued fatwas, as well as the responsibilities and qualification's of Muftis issuing fatwa. 4- The Humanistic Ethical Value: Concentrating on how can Islam and Muslims can contribute to promoting world peace, as well as sharing their humanitarian values and principles as a means of peace between nations and peoples.