The Tabah Foundation and the Danish Youth Council recently organized a conference in Abu Dhabi,titled “Lita’arafou”, to discuss issues that surfaced during the cartoon controversy. H.A. Hellyer reports on the event.

By H. A. Hellyer

From the 14th to the 17th ofApril 2006, a conference on Danish-Muslim relations was held in Abu Dhabi. As an academic and someone who had already written on the issue of the cartoons controversy, I was invited to attend.

Gatherings of this nature have tended to be ones that inflamed Muslim and non-Muslim public opinion on the issue without providing for positive outcomes. But this seemed different. Entitled “Lita’arafou”, the goals of the conference were linked to a Qur’anic verse (49:13):
“O humanity, We (God) created youfrom a male and a female And made you races and tribes, That you may know one another(lita’arafou).”

So it came to pass that the Tabah Foun-dation in Abu Dhabi had invited a group of interact with one another based upon mutual respect despite our different perspectives and worldviews.” It was not a place to argue; it was a place to exchange,