Muslim Leaders to Meet in Makkah

JEDDAH, 25 October 2005 — World leaders will meet to tackle the tough issues facing the Muslim world in a two-day summit beginning in Makkah on Dec.7 .

The Extraordinary Islamic Summit, being held under the mantle of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, offers Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah his first opportunity after ascending the throne to address the leaders of the 57 Muslim countries. The summit follows a September meeting in Makkah where many of the world’s leading Muslim scholars and intellectuals helped formulate a new vision for the OIC and to set the agenda for the prestigious summit.

Among their recommendations for discussion were Islamic solidarity and joint Islamic action, creation of a poverty fund, institutionalization of Islamic good governance, conflict prevention and confidence-building, terrorism, dialogue and civilization, Islamophobia, political and human rights of Muslim minorities in non-OIC countries. The scholars and intellectuals had also called for the restructuring of the OIC.

The reinvigorated organization hopes to give the Muslim world a chance to speak in a powerful, unified voice and have the best minds come up with the best resolutions to difficult challenges, from Iraq and Palestine to economic and educational issues.

King Abdullah extended an invitation during last year’s Haj to convene a summit, the purpose being to review the current state of the Ummah and to explore new horizons for the evolution of a vision that would enable the Muslim world to face up to the challenges of the present day and of tomorrow.

With the clout of its members behind it, the OIC can play a leading role not only in defusing volatile issues, such as terrorism and Iraq, but in ensuring that Muslim positions on global issues get a fair hearing, as well.

“We at OIC are trying hard to represent moderation, to represent the real values of Islam, which is peaceful coexistence, and which has been so throughout the history of Islam,” OIC Secretary-General Professor Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu told PBS in a recent interview. “It’s enshrined in the holy books of Islam that you accept the other; you respect the other, particularly the other Abrahamic religions, Judaism and Christianity. This is part of the Islamic doctrine, as it has been all throughout, and this has been the practice of Muslims for centuries under different nations.”

Professor Ihsanoglu said the OIC will seek resolutions to problems that don’t create more ills than the ones they sought to cure.

“There was tyranny, but no terrorists,” Professor Ihsanoglu said of Iraq under the dictatorship of Saddam Hussein. “Now, Iraq has become the focus of terrorists, and this movement was not there during the previous regime. In a way, this unhealthy development will breed more terrorists if we don’t proceed in a rational way to address these matters.”

Based in Jeddah, the OIC is the world’s largest Islamic organization. Founded in1969 , it now represents 57 Muslim nations. Its mandate is to increase political, economic and social cooperation among Muslim nations. It also fights religious extremism and promotes understanding between the West and the Islamic world.

OIC spokesperson Atta Al-Mannan Bakheet told the Saudi Press Agency yesterday that the summit will be preceded by a preparatory meeting of OIC foreign ministers on Dec.6 .