Washington, USA - In the first speech by a Muslim head-of-state before the largely evangelical Christian audience at a National Prayer Breakfast gathering, King Abdullah of Jordan called upon Christians, Jews and Muslims on Thursday to discard the idea of a clash of civilizations, emphasizing instead that terrorists have begun an attack on civilization.
The address, at the luncheon part of the event, was part of King Abdullah's heightened efforts over the last two years to reaffirm to Muslims and non-Muslims alike a moderate, mainstream vision of Islam. In his brief speech, he drew on the similarities between Islam, Judaism and Christianity and quoted liberally from the Koran, and the Old and New Testaments.
"In our generation, the greatest challenge comes from violent extremists who seek to divide and conquer," he said to an audience of about 3,000 clergy members and lay people from across the country. "Extremism is a political movement, under religious cover. Its adherents want nothing more than to pit us against each other, denying all that we have in common."
King Abdullah's interfaith campaign continues the work of his father, King Hussein, who died in 1999. In the last year, he has met with Pope Benedict XVI, and with mainline Christians and rabbis in the United States.
By accepting the invitation to speak to the prayer breakfast gathering, he succeeded in reaching out to conservative Christians, among the most powerful constituencies in the country.
"When you address America, you need to work with the moral center of the country," said Joseph Lumbard, the king's American-born adviser on interfaith affairs.
So far, Muslim leaders and clerics have had far more limited contact with American evangelicals than with other Christians. Some Muslims have been alienated by statements from some evangelical clergy members that Islam is a Satanic and violent religion.
"The stereotype we have of Muslims is as bad, I would suggest, as some Muslims have of us, and it is all wrapped up in politics, culture and now a war," said the Rev. Richard Cizik, vice president for governmental affairs at the National Association of Evangelicals, who attended the speech and a meeting King Abdullah held afterward with a handful of evangelical leaders.
Mr. Cizik said, "I told him, 'By your example and your spirit and the way you conduct yourself as a supreme diplomat, we have a lot to learn from you.' "
The king had a tough act to follow: in the morning, Bono, of the rock band U2, was enthusiastically received by members of the prayer breakfast audience as he urged them to do more to help Africa.
"Mr. President, Congress, people of faith, people of America," he said. "I want to suggest to you today that you see the flow of effective foreign assistance as tithing, which, to be truly meaningful, will need an additional one percent of the federal budget tithed to the poor."