DOCUMENT No. 19

Speech of Abdelouahed Belkeziz Secretary General of the OIC to the International Symposium on “Enlightened Moderation”Islamabad
(1 – 2 June 2004)
 

Your Excellency General Pervez Musharraf,
President of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan;
Eminencies;
Distinguished scholars;
Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is an honour for me to begin by expressing gratitude and appreciation to His Excellency President General Pervez Musharraf for gracing this international symposium with his personal presence and for his elaborate speech which provides guidance for our work. I am particularly grateful to him since the central idea on which this symposium is based was derived from the thoughts of His Excellency on enlightened moderation. Those thoughts were proposed to and unanimously approved by the Tenth Islamic Summit Conference held in Malaysia last October. I am also pleased to thank His Excellency and the Government and people of Pakistan for the warm welcome and generous hospitality extended to the participants of this very important symposium.

This international symposium is a timely response to the pressing needs of the present situation in the Muslim world, both internally and internationally. There is a growing myriad of difficulties some of which have started to eat into the internal fabric of Muslim societies. They have created rancour and differences amongst Muslims and have pushed some of them towards rigidity, extremism, fanaticism and indeed to the point of undermining our religion with the claim of siding with it. Yet others have been pushed towards committing terrorist activities and erroneously utilizing Islam as a justification for their acts. This situation necessitates a process of enlightenment to explain the true essence and foundations of Islam.

There is no doubt that the Islamic house, too, which is a collection of Islamic States, is in dire need of fence-mending and open minds to resolve, first of all, the bilateral differences among ourselves. Secondly, we should put the affairs of the house in order to confront the challenges that beset both Islam and Muslims. Once that is accomplished we can then proceed to address our situation in the international arena, where conspiracies are continuing to be plotted against us by forces intent on undermining our values and civilization and damaging our countries, our resources and our interests. In addition, these forces intend to incapacitate and weaken us and render us helpless, frustrated and subjugated, so that we would become incapable of defending our just causes, as is the case today.

As a panacea to address this situation and upon the timely initiative from Pakistan, the Organization of the Islamic Conference unanimously adopted a resolution during its Tenth Islamic Summit, held in Putrajaya, Malaysia, last October. This initiative, which can be summarized in two points, was entrusted to a Commission of Eminent Muslim Persons who, in consultation with OIC Member States, are to crystallize it. The two points are as follows: 

     1.    Prepare a comprehensive plan to disseminate internally and externally the ideas of Enlightened Moderation in Islam.

    2.    Formulate a strategy and a plan of action that would assist the Islamic Ummah to face the challenges of the 21^st Century, to reform “the system of the Islamic Conference”, which means exceeding the present stage of restructuring the “OIC General Secretariat”. This would involve reforming the entire system of Joint Islamic Action, undertaking far-reaching changes in the charter, purposes and objectives, working methods and the financing of the Organization.

                In my view, the first point implies elaborating policies aimed at directing the current Islamic discourse towards moderation and uniting Islamic views around tolerance and the shunning of extremism in the Islamic world.

Many factors can be subsumed under the internal aspect of this perspective. These factors are summarized as follows: 

a)        Agreement among countries of the Muslim world on policies aimed at putting the internal affairs of Muslims in order, by supporting moderate and modern Islamic tendencies seeking self-actualization in consonance with the principles and basic fundaments of Islamic Shari‘a .

b)       Agreement among countries of the Islamic world to oppose religious extremism, fanaticism and bigotry and ideas of excommunication that form the intellectual foundation of violence and terrorism. They must agree to unite and define juristic religious authority in order to single out the person who has the right to make legal pronouncements from an Islamic legal perspective, in consonance with the religious conditions for making legal interpretation (ijtihad) and legal pronouncement (fatwa), in accordance with information that are recurrent (mutawatir) in Islamic legal parlance. We must also disseminate in our societies the culture of “tolerance”, in the true spirit of Islam. This culture of tolerance would not mean capitulation or meekness but rather tolerance from the standpoint of truth. This requires us to begin inculcating the principles of tolerant moderation in the minds of our upcoming generations right from their elementary schools. For the grown up Muslims, we should intensify dialogue, counselling and admonition. We should make them understand the essence of Islam and the principles of Shari’a, which are based on compassion, tolerance and peace.

c)        We should draw inspiration from enlightened moderation that is derived from modern political and social values, which are consistent with the permanent features of Islam. This implies a lot of issues including:

i.         Adherence to good governance, rule of law, political participation and pluralism (based on Shura principles); as well as to principles of accountability, transparency and other principles that spread justice and fidelity such as the fight against political, administrative, financial or moral corruption, bribery and other society-corrupting maladies. In sum, these are the very objectives sought by the advanced democratic societies of our time. We must also encourage Islamic non-governmental institutions to lay the foundations of these principles and morals. Such institutions include human rights defence institutions, human rights violations monitoring institutions, as well as Red Crescent institutions.

ii.        Recognition of public rights: Jurisprudence (fiqh) books enumerate dozens of rights that must be respected, such as the right of Allah, right to life, right of parents, right of children, right of consanguinity, right of followers to education, right to wealth, right to justice, right to charity, etc. These and other rights elaborate the Shari‘a’s point of view on individual and collective rights, which are the basis for prioritizing  rights and obligations in contemporary times. They constitute the foundation of the sovereignty of right and law. Political rights as well as general freedoms that conform to public good also are offshoots of that foundation.

 d)   Commitment to the principle of mutual support in order to strengthen the bonds of Islamic brotherhood. This can be done by galvanizing the mechanisms of Islamic solidarity, such as alms, Zakat collection and endowments (awqaf) and the building of institutions of social nature in various fields such as eradicating illiteracy, health services and fight against poverty. Other means include elimination of begging, social defects and moral bankruptcy. Islamic funds can be set up for this purpose where all Muslims would make small annual contributions, which would enable them to have ample funds to achieve their objectives and save the Muslim world from the stigma of backwardness, ignorance and illiteracy. Scholarships could also be allocated to Muslim students in universities who have distinguished themselves in the fields of science and technology. Advanced research centres in various fields of learning and open universities can also be established all across the Muslim world.

                As regards to dealing with others outside the scope of the Islamic world, there is a need to draw up policies and undertake initiatives that aim to

i.         Project a balanced and radiant image of the true values and principles of Islam, which is based on peace and compassion, by utilizing modern communication mechanisms including influential media & communication networks, symposia, etc.

ii.        Conduct necessary studies to demonstrate that Islamic principles and values are not in conflict with but are in fact compatible with and reinforce the loftiest human values contained in the current modern international discourse.

iii.      Project Islamic principles of respecting cultural, religious and civilizational pluralism as well as the practice of strictly adhering to these principles over the ages. It should also be highlighted that Muslim thinkers were the pioneers of dialogue among civilizations in the world.

iv.      Project Islam’s rejection of racism and extremism, to extol the idea of tolerance and the culture of peace and to explain the stringent conditions for waging Jihad in Islam.

v.        Create awareness that Islam is the first divine religion and political system to approve the principle of absolute equality among men, proceeding from the principle of brotherhood of humanity (O mankind we have created you from a single soul/ there is no virtue for an Arab over a non-Arab except by piety.]

vi.      Reliance on international justice and international legitimacy and to refrain from recourse to the use of force in the resolution of crises.

vii.     Entrench the principles of international solidarity in order to bridge the gap between the rich and the poor; and between the learned and the ignorant.

viii.   Venerate common humanity and respect the rights of all. 

The second part of the resolution subsumes the issue of preparing a strategy and plan of action to enable the Islamic Ummah to face the challenges of the 21st Century, as well as reform of the “system” of the Islamic conference. This issue can be addressed from the perspective of the current international situation and the challenges that appear to be confronting Islamic countries.

Undoubtedly, the beginning of the 21^st Century foreshadows that Islam and the Muslim world would face unprecedented difficult challenges in international politics. There are already indications of the likelihood that some countries after Iraq and Afghanistan would be faced with coercive campaigns that may target their religion and beliefs. In addition, their political entities, systems of governance, interests and natural resources may also be targeted.

This difficult situation neither inspires any self-confidence nor calls for waiting and complacency in the hope that conditions would improve or change. This is particularly so following the disturbing new practices witnessed in international relations ever since the events of September 11.

Therefore, any strategy to “enable the Islamic Ummah to face the challenges of the twenty-first century” must spring from these facts which are confronted by all to see and take both lessons from as well as wisdom from past events.

When we consider models adopted by others, especially in the West, for confronting the challenges of the 21^st Century – despite their military and economic might, we would discover that those models are based on the idea of “Large Groupings”. In contemporary logic, there is no longer space, politically or economically, for any country to act alone.  Countries that are forward-looking and wish to have a place in the future or to protect themselves and their interests, or who wish to have a say in taking decisions that define the course of the world, or wish to contribute to developing global ideas, would have to opt to form groups among themselves.

The world’s greatest power is a group of “United” States attempting to expand their economic scope by attracting their neighbours and other remote states into numerous systems, such as the North Atlantic Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). In Europe, the European Union, which now comprises 25 members and could have further additions in the coming years, will become the most powerful economic block in the world. In Asia, there is the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which keeps on expanding. Likewise Africa has dissolved the Organization of African Unity and replaced it with the “African Union”, which is still in its early stages. Similarly, there are other unification steps being pursued in various parts of the world.

For any group of countries to belong to a bloc, they must have common links as well as mutual political, cultural, racial or religious  interests. There is no doubt that culture and religion play a major role in converging interests, policies and in creating common hopes and similar objectives. Many of these factors are available among countries of the Muslim world; with the strong Islamic bond making the peoples of these countries belonging to a single Ummah.  This is an Ummah that has proved efficient in history in terms of its growth, splendor and power, an Ummah or “a firm handhold” that unites its people into an undeniable spiritual bond. However, this bond remains limited to emotional and cultural considerations, instead of rising to the level of strong interlocking interests such as economic, which is the strongest factor in building unity. This is because it relates to matter of life and development. Economic interests are the foundation of the large unions and groupings that we see taking shape in the world at the turn of this century.

Undoubtedly, Islamic countries whose peoples are linked together by a single culture and common history are today motivated by many tendencies to join the Islamic group that would guarantee their economic interests and grant them privileges and rights which their present individual status does not offer. Fortunately, the Joint Islamic Action has taken off slowly towards the direction of economic unity through the achievements recorded in COMCEC regarding the commencement of negotiations on trade preferences among Member States within the framework of the “Trade Preference Agreement”, which has already entered into force. This is a significant positive achievement, for it has taken the Ummah on the first leg leading to the establishment of an Islamic economic zone. Once we are able to achieve the necessary annual growth in intra-trade among Member States and succeed in convincing Muslim investors to give priority to projects in Islamic countries, where huge opportunities exist, especially in the private sector, favorable economic conditions would be created. Those conditions would in turn create many employment opportunities and absorb a large Islamic work force, thereby improving the economic conditions of the Muslim world, with the expectation for further economic integration.

We are also beginning to search for ways of creating an Islamic common market. If this is done, it would create a unified Islamic economic nucleus. When this idea becomes a reality, it could be said that the Ummah has taken a serious turn towards creating an “Islamic Union” that would enable it to face the challenges of the  21^st Century with both practical and contemporary logic.

The current situation at the General Secretariat is regrettable and frustrating. The General Secretariat is faced with a shortage of resources and of qualified manpower to render genuine services at the level and with the excellence worthy of the Islamic world and capable of serving its interests. While awaiting a redraft of the “system” of Joint Islamic action, it is very important that we support the nucleus available in the form of the General Secretariat materially and in terms of human resources. Such support would enable the General Secretariat to better discharge the duties required of it, especially because the challenges ahead are numerous and daunting and cannot be either postponed or disregarded.

On this basis, gradual reordering of the priorities of the Organization of the Islamic Conference may be considered. The priorities would have to be in line with the new responsibilities to be shouldered by the Organization and with the objectives to be set for its future work in various fields, in such a manner that the Organization or the new unifying structures would become an institutional gateway for building this “Islamic Union”.

Obviously the current moves towards creating large groups throughout the world serve as a powerful incentive for any attempt to strengthen the Organization of the Islamic Conference.

In this regard, it might be appropriate and practical to focus on paying attention to the initial unification steps taken by the Organization of African Unity (OAU), which changed the OAU from a mere administrative and executive organization towards a “unifying organ”. This organ is trying to establish effective unifying structures under the name of “African Union”. The African Union is supported by a partnership agreement for economic development named “NEPAD”, (New Partnership for African Development), which has received international applause.

The reason for the interest in this model is that it is easy to implement and does not require the crossing of many difficult constitutional hurdles. It is also suitable as a beginning for the creation of an “Islamic Entity” for unified action or an “Islamic Group”, loosely linked at the moment, but capable of future growth with increasing needs for such. This unified entity can strengthen the position of Islamic States in confronting the challenges and threats that have started to seriously target their entities, values and civilization. 

<http://www.oic-oci.org/press/english/june%202004/moderation.htm>