Since long before he assumed the title of king three years ago, the world has had lofty expectations of the present Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques. This summer, King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz al-Saud, the Saudi Arabian monarch, and the ruler of the largest country on the Arabian Peninsula, surpassed many of these expectations with one of his most acclaimed initiatives, the three-day International Interfaith Conference.
The conference took place in Madrid from July 16 to 18, and its focus was one of the king's burning passions - the promotion of dialogue among religions and cultures in the quest for world peace and stability.
The conference brought together more than 250 delegates, representing a spectrum of varied and diverse religious faiths and belief systems, encompassing Islam, Judaism, Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism and others. Participants included World Jewish Congress Secretary-General Michael Schneider and Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran of the Holy See, official overseer of dialogue between the Vatican and Muslims. King Juan Carlos of Spain addressed the opening session at Madrid's El Pardo Palace.
Participants were able to explore their common values and discuss means of co-operating amid a climate of shared respect.
King Abdullah's starting point and article of faith for the event was his conviction that dialogue has an innate power to remove mistrust and suspicion from the minds of believers of different faiths.
The Madrid conference was an unprecedented event, and one that King Abdullah first mentioned when he met delegates attending an intercultural conference in the Saudi Arabian capital, Riyadh, in March 2007. King Abdullah subsequently presented the idea to Pope BenedictXVI during their meeting in the Vatican in November 2007.