By Ruth Peacock
A new organisation for Muslims in Europe has been launched in London to promote bridge-building and peaceful global existence.
The Conference of European and British Muslim Leaders held its inaugural gathering under the auspices of the Muslim World League, whose secretary-general, the former Saudi justice minister Dr Mohammed bin Abdul Karim al-Issa, chaired the event.
His attendance came at the end of a whirlwind visit to London where he met the King, Cardinal Vincent Nichols, Archbishop Justin Welby and parliamentarians, as well as visiting the Foreign Office and the Ministry of Defence.
Three hundred scholars and religious leaders from the UK and countries across Europe, gathered for the launch and gala dinner at the Roundhouse in Camden.
Dr al-Issa addressed the guests in Arabic and commended the Charter of Makkah, which he said was the most important Islamic document in the modern era.
It was produced at a meeting of senior scholars and leaders from 139 countries and all sects within Islam at a meeting in Makkah — Islam’s holiest city, also spelt Mecca — in 2019, under the patronage of King Salman bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud.
The charter is now being promoted around the world by the Muslim World League and ratified in conferences of Muslim leaders. It advocates coexistence within and between religions, while denouncing terrorism and hatred.
Dr al-Issa said the charter was about coexistence, understanding and co-operation. Division and rivalry had “offended Islam” from the beginning and attempts to mobilise Muslim youth with “extremely dangerous ideas of extremism, hatred and violence” had led to disasters based on wrong ideas.
There was a duty of “optimal coexistence” with countrymen, regardless of diversity, in order to reconcile hearts and strengthen the cohesion of society. He said a nation’s constitution, laws and culture must be respected.
The Muslim World League started in Saudi Arabia in 1962 and more recently has become a vehicle for promoting values of Islam which condemn terrorism and include interfaith work.
The league was the driving force of the R20, the gathering of world religious leaders that met in Indonesia shadowing the G20 last autumn, when Dr al-Issa said it was high time to acknowledge that religion and faith must be part of the solution to global political crises.
The interfaith approach is a key part of the charter, which says differences among people are part of God’s will and God is the origin of all religious belief. At the inaugural conference gala dinner, European Muslim leaders lent their support to the charter and the new organisation.
Sheikh Yahya Pallavicini from Italy spoke of the challenge in Europe of religious illiteracy, an ignorance of Islam and a loss of the knowledge of the meaning of sacredness.
Zara Mohammed, secretary-general of the Muslim Council of Britain, said there was a need to build the Muslim community in this country, with 50 per cent of Muslims being under 25, and entrenched cycles of deprivation. The engagement of Muslims in society required confidence despite the threat of Islamophobia and hate crime, especially against women.
Chems-Eddine Hafiz, the Rector of the Grand Mosque of Paris, told the gathering he would defend Muslims and Islam against a discourse of hate. It was a responsibility to teach people that Islam was a religion of peace, kind acts and justice, and negative interpretations must be detached, ensuring no blind following of fundamentalism. Internal faith and external presentation must be the best examples of humanity.
Announcing the creation of the Europe-wide new organisation, which will be based in London, Sir Iqbal Sacranie, the former secretary-general of the Muslim Council of Britain, said the leaders would take concrete steps towards implementing the Charter of Makkah.
These included accepting that diversity made people stronger, to accept and provide safety for people of different faiths, to recognise injustice and inequality, and to protect the planet.
The success of the charter’s adoption around the world depends on its support among Muslims in each country. But the aim of encouraging all sects and branches of Islam to work together is considered a challenge. The Salafi tradition of Islam in Saudi Arabia accounts for an estimated 9 per cent of all Sunni Muslims in Britain and as one commentator suggested, an initiative from Saudi Arabia “comes with baggage”.
Sir Iqbal, however, said the charter was a “wonderful effort” which he hoped would positively impact communities.
