AL-QATIF, Saudi Arabia: One of the country's judiciary figures, during a meeting attended by religious figures, scholars, media activists and writers from Qatif, and Al-Dammam, stressed the need for unity among Shia and Sunni Muslims in Saudi Arabia to fight extremism.

According to Rasid news agency, Isaa Al-Qayth who was speaking at the meeting hosted by Sheikh Hassan As-Saffar, Shia intellectual from Qatif, said the cause of religious disputes throughout the history has been worldly pursuits.

Sheikh As-Saffar said the enemies of Islam have been always trying to incite discord and divisions in the Islamic Ummah. "It is our duty to maintain our unity in this critical period.”

“It is a scholarly belief that unity, as not only a means for reaching our objectives, but as an Islamic value and a feature of a civilized society, is the best solution for the problems the Islamic world is facing,” he went on to say.