Organisation of Islamic Cooperation
The Collective Voice of The Muslim World
Date: 14/11/2012
Prof. Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, Secretary General of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) addressed the following message to the Islamic Ummah, on the occasion of the advent of the new Hijri Year, 1434H: “Our Ummah is celebrating the advent of the new Hijri Calendar year marking the 1434th anniversary of the noble Prophet’s Hijra (Emigration) to Madina, and I have the pleasure to address on this occasion to all Muslims, my heartfelt congratulations and to pray to Allah, mighty and sublime be He, to fill this new year with bounty, peace and prosperity for all humankind. Our Nobel Prophet’s emigration was the first concrete step for the edification of the entity and civilisational prospects of our faith, and the Covenant of Madinal which the Prophet (P.B.U.H) concluded with the citizens of Al Madina Al Munawarah, was like a constitution, established for peaceful coexistence and cooperation among people such as to benefit the interests of everyone irrespective of their religions or cultural affiliation. Muslims furthermore have, all along their history, set up concrete examples of harmonious coexistence with others, in a spirit of fraternity, mutuality and tolerance, in the East, in the West, in Andalusia and wherever the sun of this great civilization cast its radiant beams. It is our belief that if people’s memory were to seek inspiration from those values and humanitarian notions, then many of the undertakings of excitement to hatred would disappear, along with the acts of segregation or discrimination among fellow humans on the basis of cultural, religious or ethnic difference. With the beginning of this new Hijri year which, God willing, will witness the convening of the Twelfth Islamic Summit Conference in the Arab Republic of Egypt, we will have already covered more then half of the road towards the achievement of the goals established in the Ten-Year Programme of Action which forms a roadmap for the OIC to elevate our Ummah to higher levels of dignity and glory. It has become quite obvious to all that the developments witnessed in certain parts of the Islamic world bear a particular significance and magnitude that will have a historic impact on the lives of the peoples in those regions. These events underscore the urgent need to realize the aspirations of the peoples of our Ummah towards the rule of law, good governance, democracy, respect of human rights, and a wider political involvement, which are indeed the principles enshrined in the OIC Charter and which are further affirmed in the Ten-Year Programme of Action as adopted by the Makkah Third Extraordinary Summit in 2005, which called upon the Muslim States to make progress and adapt to the conditions of the new millennium. We, at the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, are striving with every diligence to defend the causes of our Ummah, foremost of which the issue of Palestine and AlQuds, for which, as the world at large has come to realize, an effective solution is only obstructed by Israel’s obstinacy and its abusive policy based on the confiscation of land, the expansion of settlements and the displacement of the legitimate inhabitants. Also, we are diligent in our action to defend Islam and Muslims through defending the rights of Muslim minorities, by means of persistent diplomacy and well-targeted dialogue, in addition to standing up to all attempts to tarnish our values or defame our sanctities and fundamentals, latest of which attempts was the defamatory film against Islam. We have, similarly, been putting great efforts to project the right image of our authentic faith, as a religion of tolerance, mutuality and human fellowship. We have spared no effort in combating the phenomenon of Islamophobia which causes us deep concern inn view of is attendant discrimination and abuses against the fundamental rights of Muslims. Once again, I reiterate my heartfelt congratulations to all, on the occasion of the new Hijri calendar year, and I pray to Allah to guide us all and inspire us to follow the right path, the path of wisdom and rightfulness.
