JEDDAH: Describing Saudi Arabia as the center of Islam, religious scholars and intellectuals said media attacks against the Kingdom offend more than 1.8 billion Muslims across the world. The scholars expressed their solidarity with Saudi Arabia on Sunday — the final day of a conference titled “International Conference on Islamic unity — the perils of labeling and exclusion” organized by the Muslim World League (MWL) in Makkah. They said the Kingdom and its leadership command great respect due to their services to Islam and Muslims. The conference, organized under the patronage of King Salman, was attended by more than 1,000 religious scholars and intellectuals from 128 countries. The participants of the conference called for a comprehensive plan to address sectarianism and extremism. They also stressed the need for creating effective channels of communication between followers of different Islamic schools of thought to remove misunderstandings and increase cooperation. They unanimously rejected sectarian views and extremist ideas and urged scholars and preachers to play their role in uniting Muslims. The scholars recommended the establishment of an all-inclusive committee to draft a comprehensive Islamic charter that lay down rules to resolve disputes between Muslim and to help forge unity among different schools of thought. They entrusted the MWL with the implementation of the decision through a comprehensive document titled “Makkah document.” The conference stressed the idea of nation state is an extension of the concept of the Ummah, which converges and integrates with other Muslim countries under the umbrella of the MWL. Its international political framework comes under the umbrella of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and its international economic framework under the umbrella of the Islamic Development Bank. In addition to other Islamic institutions, especially the Islamic Military Counter Terrorism Coalition. The closing statement urged the MWL to establish an international forum to promote common values among followers of different religions and cultures and, another forum to promote the values of tolerance and coexistence. It also stressed the importance of improving relations between Muslim sects. It highlighted the importance of rejecting futile debates between different sects or schools of thought and called on the media and other social institutions to help strengthen the values of moderation and unity. The participating scholars described themselves only as “Muslims” without referring to their respective sects or schools of thought. They decried religious edicts (fatwas) that incite hatred. They also stressed the need for finding a single scientific reference for each country and respecting the religious leaders of the minorities. The MWL secretary-general, Sheikh Dr. Mohammed bin Abdulkarim Al-Issa, said his organization is making efforts to forge unity among Muslims and to promote love and reconciliation. At the inauguration of the conference, Makkah Gov. Prince Khaled Al-Faisal delivered a speech on behalf of King Salman underlining the need to remove misconceptions about Islam and Muslims through dialogue. He also urged Muslims to set aside their petty differences and to work together to achieve a great and prosperous future.