President receives Hadramout scholars

MUKALLA, Feb 20, (Saba)- President Ali Abdullah Saleh met with high-profile religious scholars on Friday who exchanged with him good wishes on the New Hijrah Year. President Saleh addressed the visiting scholars saying that the Islamic world has become vulnerable a fierce smear campaign but blamed extremists for giving the enemies of Islam the pretext to treat Moslems this way. “It is the responsibility of Moslems to teach the young generation moderate views and encourage them to renounce extremism,” Saleh told the gathering scholars. He instructed the scholars of today to recall the role of ancient religious scholars of Hadramout who spread Islam worldwide. The President stressed the imperative of involving the young people of today in contributing to the development of the nation. “Islam is the religion of love, toleration, power and courage,” he said. “We have to re-guide our young generation who led astray and turned to be harmful for the nation.” President Saleh said the extremists who bombed the USS Cole and the French oil tanker dealt a heavy blow to the national economy and “like-minded people have to be re-advised by scholars.” Scholars attending the meeting delivered welcome speeches hailing President Saleh’s policies in all fields. AA/TN