JEDDAH, 1 April 2006 -- A series of meetings will be held at Muslim World League headquarters in Makkah with the participation of prominent Islamic scholars from around the world to discuss ways and means of strengthening Muslim unity.
Abdullah Al-Turki, secretary-general of MWL, said his organization has completed preparations for the three-day meeting set to begin today.
Many Islamic scholars and heads of Islamic centers and organizations worldwide have already arrived in Makkah to take part in the conference.
Al-Turki said four workshops will be held to deal with key topics. The first workshop on religious and cultural unity will debate three working papers. Soufi Hassan Abu Taleb, former chairman of Egyptian Parliament, will present a paper on "Unification of laws as a way to achieve Muslim unity".
Jaafar Sheikh Idrees, former chancellor of American Open University, will present a paper on "Unity to ward off Western attacks on Islam", while Abdul Raheem Ibrahim, director of Khartoum International Institute of Arabic Language, will speak on religious and cultural unity.
The second workshop will focus on economic unity with Nasser Muhammad Al-Dukair of the Islamic Development Bank presenting a paper on liberalizing inter-Islamic trade and setting up of an Islamic Common Market. Muhammad Omar, director of Islamic Center at Al-Azhar University in Cairo, will also speak on the topic.
Social unity will be the main theme of the third workshop, which will include presentations by Khaled Al-Madkoor of Kuwait and Muhammad Kouman, secretary-general of Arab Interior Ministers Council.
Political unity will be the focus of the fourth workshop where Kamil Al-Sharief, secretary-general of World Islamic Council for Dawa and Relief in Egypt, will be a keynote speaker. Jaafar Abdussalam Ali, secretary-general of the League of Islamic Universities in Egypt, will present a paper on beefing up the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC).
The concept of unity propounded by Malik ibn Nabi in the form of an Islamic Commonwealth will be the subject of another paper to be presented by Ammar Al-Talebi from the University of Algiers.
Al-Turki hoped that the workshops would help participants figure out a common Islamic vision to achieve unity. He thanked Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah for his support to the meeting.
As part of the conference, a meeting of Muslim media persons was held in Makkah on Thursday. Opening the meeting, Culture and Information Minister Iyad Madani emphasized the role of media in strengthening Muslim unity. He referred to Western hegemony on the media over the past two centuries and urged Muslim journalists to develop their own media culture based on their faith. He called for creation of an Islamic research organization to support Muslim media.
The general assembly of the association for coordinating Islamic organizations will hold its first meeting in Makkah on Tuesday. The meeting will discuss two main topics: challenges facing Islamic organizations and Islamic charitable work.
"We established this association to coordinate activities of Islamic organizations and centers, especially in matters such as introduction of Islam, protection of Islamic identity of Muslim minorities and formulation a joint stand on contemporary issues," Al-Turki said.
By P.K. Abdul Ghafour
© Arab News 2006
