On Sunday, 01 Jumada al-Ula 1443H corresponding to 05 December 2021G, the Eighth International Meeting of the Forum for the Promotion of Peace was launched in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

This year, the Forum chose the topic of “Comprehensive Citizenship from Common Existence to Shared Consciousness” as the title of the forum, and was inaugurated by His Excellency Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, Minister of Tolerance and Coexistence in the United Arab Emirates, in the presence of scholars and thinkers from all over the world. His Eminence Sheikh Abdullah Bin Bayyah, Chairman of the Forum and Chairman of the Emirates Council for Sharia Fatwa, gave the forum’s introductory speech in which he stated: “We gather this time to think together, and to contemplate together a basic concept of peace, a concept that has its profound philosophical depths, and its current realistic horizons, the concept of inclusive citizenship.” His Eminence also indicated that the forum sought, after a series of workshops held previously, to crown the efforts by issuing the Meeting’s “Abu Dhabi Declaration of Inclusive Citizenship.”

And on Monday, 02 Jumada al-Ula 1443H corresponding to 06 December 2021G, His Excellency Prof. Koutoub Moustapha Sano, Secretary General of the International Islamic Fiqh Academy (IIFA), chaired the session entitled “Inclusive Citizenship on the Path of Peace between the Absoluteness of the Principle and the Relativity of Application”. He opened the session by expressing his great thanks and appreciation to the leadership and people of the United Arab Emirates for the warm reception and hospitality. He also expressed his great gratitude to His Eminence Sheikh Abdullah Bin Bayyah for the invitation, praising the estimated achievements of the forum since its establishment to this day, and praising in particular the innovations of the forum in the field of selecting important topics and distinct and accurate titles that express the challenges and issues of peace in the current era. His Excellency also stressed that the issue of comprehensive citizenship is today one of the most important current topics, whose major issues and various questions should be addressed through editing, authentication, investigation, and application, because “promoting the concept of comprehensive citizenship would reduce the conflict situations prevailing in many societies, and this value would be more effective if discussed in light of the practical side applied on the ground”.

Over the course of an hour, the participants presented summaries and results of their research papers on the topic of the session.

It is worth noting that the name “Forum for Promoting Peace in Muslim Societies” was established in 2014 and will be changed from now on to “Abu Dhabi Peace Forum.”