King's interview with Itar Tass news agency (Extract)
Bearing in mind that the Kingdom is known as a religious center for all Muslims around the world, including some 20 million Russian muslims, and is host to more than two million pilgrims every year who come to perfom Hajj in the Holy City of Makkah and visit the Holy City of Madinah, the Monarch was asked about the significance of his initiative by his royal court every year to host large numbers of pilgrims.
The King confirmed that Hajj is a unique humanitarian experience that combines the existence of the human being as an individual on one hand and as part of society on the other. Such ideal meanings are targeted by the Kingdom while serving pilgrims, particularly pilgrims from Russia and other places of the world, he said.
In view of today's much talk about dialogue among civilizations and religious and cultural tolerance, the King was asked about the measures that should be taken to deter the world from further divisions.
He said we ought to recognize that all humanitarian civilizations have gushed out from the same stream and that they have exchanged benefits over history that yielded today's development. Such a concept should be generalized among people of today to guarantee the respect of each other and prevent all fake calls for division and difference among them, he added.