Tehran Hosts Confab on Countering Extremism

An international conference on ways of countering takfiri and extremist ideologies in the Muslim world is underway in Tehran. Titled “The World Conference on Lovers of Ahl al-Bayt (PBUH) and the Takfiri Issue”, the two-day event opened in Tehran on Wednesday, Tasnim News Agency reported. Takfiris are hardliners who regard Muslims that do not follow their interpretation of Islam as heretics. Organized by the World Assembly of Islamic Awakening, it is being attended by senior Iranian and foreign figures and officials, including Ali Akbar Velayati, the secretary-general of the assembly, Chairman of Iran’s Guardians Council Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, Chairman of Iran’s Expediency Council Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi, Lebanese Hezbollah resistance movement’s second-in-command, Sheikh Naim Qassem, and Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qasemi. The conference focuses on principles shared by the followers of Ahl al-Bayt, the family of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), and weighs plans for countering takfiri and extremist ideologies through Muslim unity. In June, the World Assembly of Islamic Awakening had invited intellectuals and scholars from across the world to submit their contributions to the secretariat of the assembly for presentation in the conference.