OIC Chief Meets Ayatollah Sistani

DUBAI: The Muslim world is facing three major challenges, the Secretary General of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has said.

“Inter-sectarian fighting and the consolidation of sectarian identities, extremism from those who hijack Islam and re-interpret it as they wish, and fanatical narratives or Islamophobia – are formidable challenges that we are confronting,” Eyad Ameen Madani, said on Wednesday following a rare meeting with grand Ayatollah Syed Ali Sistani in the Iraqi holy city of Najaf. “Such challenges require Muslims to stand together to deal with them,” he said at a press conference.

Madani said that the OIC was pushing for closer unity among Muslims and that its members have unanimously agreed to set up an inter-sect dialogue centre.

It is important to have such a centre because Muslims need to be united in order to be able to confront challenges,” he said. “This centre will be established in Madinah, and it will be a platform for dialogue and talks among Islamic sects,” he said.

Madani added that he informed Ayatollah Sistani about the centre during their talks that focused on the importance of mutual understanding, coexistence and unity.

The OIC, based in the Red Sea city of Jeddah, comprises 57 member states. Founded in 1969, it says that it is “the collective voice of the Muslim world” and works to “safeguard and protect the interests of the Muslim world in the spirit of promoting international peace and harmony.

Muslims also face radical speeches and approaches loaded with hatred and insults against Islam that they should address by refuting them, Madani said.

“The savage attacks in Paris in which journalists were killed have been condemned throughout the Muslim world, both at the official levels and by scholars. Several Muslims from France and Muslim countries took part in the anti-terror march that brought together around 1.5 million people,” he said.

“However, one response was that the magazine reprinted the offensive cartoons, and this is an act of impudence, folly and ignorance. The world has rallied around the right of expression, but their right to express themselves cannot include insulting or abusing the beliefs of others,” he said in his remarks carried by Iraqi daily Al Bayan on Thursday.

The OIC has regularly highlighted to the international organisations that freedom of expression must not be a licence to hate or abuse other religions, he said.

“No-one accepts that their sects, religions or ideas be the subject of scorn from others. We do remind these countries, including France that they too have matters in their laws that can lead to prison in case they are targeted. They explained their attitude by claiming that targeting them would be insulting humanity,” he said.

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