Within the framework of his relentless endeavor to strengthen cooperation and partnership relations between the International Islamic Fiqh Academy and the religious and scientific institutions and centers in the member states of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and the countries of Muslim communities outside the Muslim world, His Excellency Prof. Koutoub Moustapha Sano, Secretary General of the International Islamic Fiqh Academy met with His Excellency Dr. Dato Zulkifli Mohamad Al-Bakri, Malaysian Minister of Religious Affairs, in his office in the city of Putrajaya, Malaysia.

His Excellency the Minister welcomed the Academy’s Secretary General, congratulated him on assuming his duties as Secretary General of the Academy, and also congratulated him on the developments and the qualitative changes that have occurred in the General Secretariat of the Academy since he took over a few months ago.

His Excellency also expressed his great happiness with this visit, which comes to strengthen the close cooperation and permanent coordination between the Academy and the scientific and religious institutions and centers in Malaysia, especially the National Fatwa Council, which represents the first reference for fatwas in Malaysia, and the Department of Islamic Affairs of the Office of the Prime Minister of Malaysia, as well as the Malaysian Fiqh Society, which is also active in the field of jurisprudence studies and research.

For his part, His Excellency the Secretary General of the Academy expressed to His Excellency the Minister his sincere thanks and appreciation for the warm welcome, praising in this regard the appreciated efforts made by the Minister for the advancement of the religious institutions in Malaysia. He also assured the minister of the Academy’s full readiness to make strategic partnerships between the two sides, through the joint organization of conferences, seminars and discussion groups, preparation of studies, publication & translation of scientific research, as well as the exchange of publications, visits, and scientific meetings. And to achieve this, the two sides agreed to sign a memorandum of understanding between them on Wednesday, May 19, 2021.

At the end of the meeting, His Excellency the Minister asked His Excellency the Secretary General of the Academy to make a television interview about the importance of taking vaccines against Covid 19, and explain the ruling of the Sharia regarding the extent to which this is permissible, based on the resolution issued by the General Secretariat of the Academy in this regard, in which it confirmed the permissibility of taking vaccines from a Shariah point of view, and that it is permissible for the ruler to put this in force for the general public interest, based on the rule agreed upon between scholars of jurisprudence: The Ruler’s actions towards his subjects, are in the general public’s interest.

It has indeed become clear today that there is no room for doubt that there is a real and clear interest in taking vaccines against Covid 19, as it has been clinically proven to be of great efficiency and great benefit in preventing the Corona pandemic, and therefore Muslims around the world are encouraged to take the available vaccinations to preserve their lives and the lives of those around them.