This historic agreement has come to the public as one of those recommendations discussed during the event of “Promoting Unity and Global Coexistence forum,” in Washington, D.C. last week. The attendees of the event reached out to 185 people from 18 countries and more than 24 U.S. states.
The attendees endorsed the historic Charter of Makkah at the pledging to expand cooperation and instill the document’s principles of moderate Islam into their congregations and communities.
After reviewing the discussions that took place in the forum’s workshops, the attendees suggested establishing a body for Muslim communities in North and South America with all its sects and schools of thought as an independent body in which everyone would participate equally, from which an international forum would branch out of the Charter, and this body and forum would have non-Muslim friends from religious leaders of other faith communities, governmental and parliamentary bodies in the Americas.
Dr. Mohammad bin Abdulkarim Al-Issa, Secretary General of the Muslim World League, led the gathering of over two hundred prominent imams, scholars, and Muslim community leaders drawn from all branches of the Islamic faith in collaboration with the International Interfaith Peace Corps.
Dr. Al-Issa, in a keynote address, emphasized that the comprehensive framework of the Charter of Makkah serves as a powerful force for communities around the world to realize inter-faith harmony, tolerance, and peace.
“The Charter of Makkah warns against conflict and a clash of civilizations, hate speech and racism, and calls for inclusive citizenship,” said Dr. Al-Issa.
The Charter of Makkah draws its strength from the incredible diversity of Islamic leaders that reached a consensus on how to best address the most pressing challenges and opportunities of our time, including the promotion of youth education, sustainable development, women’s empowerment, and counteracting malign forces of prejudice, extremism, and violence globally.
The Islamic leaders held panel discussions focused on analyzing how the document’s principles can be applied in different contexts throughout the Americas. Imam Mohamed Magid, IIPC Chairman and Executive Imam at the ADAMS Center, stressed that the implementation of the Charter is already leading to deeper community bonds and driving local development efforts forward.
U.S. Representative Andre Carson of Indiana spoke to the importance of safeguarding the rights of Muslims everywhere, and emphasized the congressional focus on protecting vulnerable Afghan families.
Rahmah Abdulaleem, Executive Director of KARAMAH Humera Khan, highlighted that the Charter of Makkah recognizes the importance of women’s leadership in Islamic institutions and all areas of society, while Imam Talib Shareef, President of Masjid Muhammad, spoke to the core drive of all those present to uplift humanity and realize a world in God’s image. Amb. Arslan Suleman stressed the importance of advocacy from faith leaders in creating and cementing peace.
The Muslim leaders created an action plan and new communications infrastructure that will see Islamic leaders throughout the Americas share information and best practices as their communities work to realize the vision of the Charter of Makkah.
Communique by Muslim Societies of North, Central, and South America on the Implementation of the Charter of Makkah
“We, the leaders of Muslim societies of North, Central and South America, meeting here in Washington DC on this day, joined by some of our prominent and important non-Muslim friends and leaders from other religions, community, civil society, government and the congress, resolve to take certain concrete steps towards implementing the Charter of Makkah whose articles and principles call for collaborative actions to address today’s historic challenges hunger, poverty, homelessness, disease, illiteracy, marginalization, insecurity, liberty, and economic opportunities for all. This conference, which is a call to the Charter of Mecca has received great global welcome and appreciation. The conference emphasized the promotion of Muslim unity, the affirmation of the bonds of sisterhood and brotherhood, love among all humanity, as well as the understanding that diversity and pluralism are among the blessings of Allah, May He be Exalted. Religious identity never contradicts national identity—a principle embedded in Islamic teaching.
1. We the attendees of this conference have decided in this first meeting of Muslim societies in North, Central and South America with the objective of finding the best ways to benefit more widely from the principles of the Charter of Makkah and whose workshops focused on a number of important topics, including capacity building for religious leaders, youth engagement, women empowerment, and religious diplomacy; taking into account that the Conference on the Charter of Makkah Al-Mukarramah was attended by all Islamic sects and schools of thought as a seed of goodness to strengthen their brotherly and sisterly ties.
2. After reviewing the discussions that took place in the forum’s workshops, the attendees suggested establishing a body for Muslim communities in North and South America with all its sects and schools of thought as an independent body in which everyone would participate equally, from which an international forum would branch out of the Charter, and this body and forum would have non-Muslim friends from religious leaders of other faith communities, governmental and parliamentary bodies in the Americas, in order to:
a. collaborate on common goals and issues, especially promoting the values of brotherhood and coexistence.
b. build bridges of understanding and alliance between followers of religions and cultures in the Americas to achieve common national and human interests.
c. emphasize the strengthening of the concept of the national sovereignty and warning of the danger of the concepts of classification and exclusion – a value advocated by the Makkah Al-Mukarramah Charter, for which it received great global acclaim.
3. The conference organizers will create a committee of seven to nine members, taking into account all necessary diversity, to work on preparing the statute and governance of the aforementioned body and forum, and to operationalize the recommendations of the workshops of the international forum. The members of the committee will also organize annual meetings, similar to our gathering today, with the participation of the forum's friends of other faiths.
4. We are also pleased with the launch of the multi-language website of the charter of Makkah. This interactive website welcomes contributions and inputs from all of you to the implementation strategy of the Charter of Makkah.
May Allah bless this effort, have all our aspirations materialize, and bring benefit across the continents. May Allah reward the scholars who wrote the charter of Makkah, and the participants who have affirmed it. May Allah make this conference the beginning of many initiatives that will positively impact our communities and our nations.
Our thanks to all the participants and May Allah’s Blessing be upon you all!”
*Issued by the Conference Organizers on behalf of all Conference Attendees
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