Organisation of Islamic Cooperation
The Collective Voice of The Muslim World
Date: 17/01/2012
With deepest sorrow and pain the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) announces the passing away of the illustrious scholar, His Eminence Sheikh Dr. Mohamed Habib Belkhoja, former Secretary General of the International Islamic Fiqh Academy, this Tuesday 17th January 2012, at an age of over ninety years. May Allah Almighty grant his soul bountiful blessings and eternal abode in paradise. The departure of the great scholar, Sheikh Belkhoja, represents a major loss for the Islamic Ummah. He was a leading authority, who had dedicated his entire life to the service of his country and his Ummah, in all the positions he held, and whose efforts and immense contributions as a prominent thinker, had so much enriched the Ummah and enlightened its path through his inexhaustible and inspirational, scholarly input. After his notable contributions as the Grand Mufti of the Republic of Tunisia, and also as rector of the famed Zeitouna University, and upon the establishment of the Islamic Fiqh Academy, he was selected to head it as its first Secretary General. And the twenty-five years which he spent at the helm of the Academy were filled with great contributions, a generous track along which Sheikh Belkhoja oversaw, as a driving force, the inception, genesis and rise of the Academy, as well as the drafting of so many resolutions and Fiqh researches all centred around unifying the Muslim ranks. With this sorrowful event, the Islamic Ummah has lost one of its leading scholars, but will for ever remember, with high regard and profound gratitude, his glorious Islamic contributions. On this painful occasion, the OIC Secretary General, Prof. Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, hereby extends his most sincere condolences to the family of the departed and to the Tunisian leadership and people, and prays to Allah, Mighty and Sublime be He, to grant infinite mercy and blessings to the deceased and graceful comfort and fortitude to his beloved ones.
