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FOR THE TRUTH
ANOTHER SIGNIFICANT ARAB LEADER.
ON
THE WORLD SCENE THERE IS ONE INTERESTING, INFLUENTIAL PERSON - His
Royal Highness Prince El Hassan Bin Talal.
(See
web-site www.elhassan.org)
His
Royal Highness, often known as Prince Hassan, was born in Amman,
Jordan on 20th March, 1947. (This means he is a man of mature years
of age, unlike some leaders in the M.E. who are much older.) He is
the younger brother of His Majesty, the late King Hussein of Jordan,
(father of the present King Abdullah II,) who made his son the
successor to the Hashemite Kingdom instead of his brother, Hassan.
However Prince El Hassan acts as a close advisor to his nephew, King
Abdullah. Their branch of the Hashemite family is said to be directly
descended from the Prophet Muhammad and is the forty-second
generation. They are of the Sunni branch of Islam.
Prince El
Hassan had his early schooling in Amman, largely with tutors. He was
then educated in England graduating from Christ Church, Oxford
University with a BA (Honours in Oriental Studies), followed by an MA
degree. He has also been awarded 12 honorary degrees and doctorates,
from Universities as varied as Turkey, Durham, Chicago, (Institute of
Jewish studies), Northern Ireland, Moscow, Birmingham, Hertfordshire,
Germany, (Faculty of Catholic Theology), Oklahoma, York and
Portsmouth, England. In 1996 awarded a Medal of the Organisation of
Arab Red Crescent and Red Cross Societies, plus many other awards. In
2003, he received the Rabbi Marc H. Tanenbaum Award for the
'Advancement of Inter-religious Understanding.' He is a respected
speaker at international conferences.
Prince El Hassan founded
and is actively involved in 11 national Jordanian Committees.
He is very interested in sports and young people, and founded the
Arab Youth Forum, and other groups. Prince El Hassan chairs and is
a member of 14 International Committees and Organisations. These
include being President of the Club of Rome*,
and a Board member of the International Crisis Group, (ICG).
In
the field of Religion His
Royal Highness' contacts and meetings have evolved into a systematic
interfaith dialogue, primarily consisting of 3 ongoing consultations
with the Orthodox Christian, Muslim & Jewish streams. He is
[also] the Moderator of the 'World Conference
on Religion and Peace'. (W.C.R.P.) * [See notes
below.]
Prince El Hassan has been decorated by over 20
nations, and has written 7 books. He speaks Arabic, English and
French, and knows some Spanish, German and Turkish. He studied
Biblical Hebrew as part of his degree course. He married Princess
Sarvath, (from India) and has 3 married daughters and a son, and 5
grandchildren.
*The CLUB OF
ROME. (Web-site www.clubofrome.org)
[Direct
quote from this site.] "The Club of Rome is a global think tank
and centre of innovation and initiative. As a non-profit, non-
government organisation, (NGO) it brings together scientists,
economists, businessmen, international high civil servants, heads of
state and former heads of state from all five continents who are
convinced that the future of humankind is not determined once and for
all and that each human being can contribute to the improvement of
our societies." [This organisation has advised the U.N.O.
several times.]
* W.C.R.P. - 'WORLD
CONFERENCE ON RELIGION AND PEACE'. [Referred to
above.]
This was addressed by Prince El Hassan who gave a 7-page
address. These are notes from it. "WCRP was 1st convened
in Japan in 1970. It was the culmination of 9 years of preparation...
when a handful of senior religious leaders from the world's major
religious traditions...explored missions to concretely promote the
idea of sponsoring a 'religious summit' to address the need for
actions on behalf of peace."
"A congress of over
1000 religious leaders from every continent in the company of their
civil counterparts convened themselves in the first such
multi-religious summit. Communities that gave support...included the
Baha'i, Mahayana & Teravada Buddhism; Orthodox, Protestant &
R.C. Christianity; Confucianism; several streams of Hinduism;
Communities of Indigenous Faiths, [e.g.Maori]; Shiite & Sunni
traditions of Islam; Jannism; Reform Judaism; New Religions;
Shintoism; Sikhism and Zoroastrianism."
FOUR fold mandate:
[summarised in our words]
1. Set
up National & International groups;
2.
Engagement on every level;
3.
Engagement of Political & International organisations and
structures;
4. Multi-religious
dialogue and actions for peace.
[Check the name of this powerful
Organisation again!!!]
These then,
are some of the leading personalities in the Arab world.
Just
how God is using and will use them as part of His over-all plan, we
do not know. Perhaps they are far more influential, than we know, and
in the case of King Abdullah II of Jordan, it is not impossible he
will hold an even more important position in the future. We could see
him having a leading position over a large area of Iraq, where he
would be very acceptable to the Sunni Iraqis. Perhaps he could even
become one of the “ten kings” of Revelation 17: 12? He
does desire to see peace for his own and other people, so we trust
God to use him – in this way, making him even a blessing to
Israel.
However,
the largely unseen, but precious people in God’s sight
in
the Middle East (as elsewhere) are His own Followers,
by their
faith in Isa/ Jesus their Saviour & Lord.
Many have come
out of a background of Islam, & know what it is to suffer,
as
do the descendants of Christians – some of whom could trace
back
the roots of their Churches to 2000 years ago, as in Egypt,
Syria and
parts once called ‘Assyria’.
They would
value our urgent prayers at this time of upheaval.