At the official invitation of the State Department of the United States of America to the International Islamic Fiqh Academy (IIFA), a delegation from the Academy, headed by His Excellency Prof. Koutoub Moustapha Sano, Secretary General of the Academy, participated in the strategic dialogue organized by the U.S. State Department between the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and the United States of America in the capital, Washington, over two days, Monday and Tuesday 22-23 Shawwal 1443H corresponding to 23-24 May 2022G.

Over the course of two days, His Excellency the Secretary General highlighted important aspects of the Academy’s achievements in many areas of common interest between the OIC and the USA, foremost of which is the fight against extremist ideology and terrorism. His Excellency spoke about the Academy’s determined and persistent efforts in combating extremism, fanaticism, and terrorism, through its clear resolutions, statements and recommendations. He also highlighted a series of intellectual and practical measures submitted by the Academy to the member states of the OIC in order to combat extremism and terrorism. His Excellency also spoke about the Academy’s efforts in spreading the culture of moderation, tolerance and coexistence, and promoting moderation inside and outside the Muslim world, praising the good results achieved through the commitment of many member states to the Academy’s resolutions and recommendations. His Excellency also spoke about the efforts of the Academy in promoting awareness of the importance of correcting misconceptions about many Shariah terms, on top of which is the term jihad, the term loyalty (wal’) and disavowal (bara’), the term governance and others, stressing that the concepts woven around these terms to achieve suspicious purposes were and still are one of the most important reasons for the spread of extremist thought, fanaticism and terrorism, which prompted the Academy to issue many resolutions and recommendations to correct these concepts in a scientific, systematic and objective manner. In his intervention, His Excellency dealt with the efforts of the Academy in explaining the Shariah provisions appropriate to calamities and developments, and for this he gave an example of the emerging Corona 19 pandemic, where the Academy organized two specialized seminars highlighting a number of issues and questions related to this pandemic, especially with regard to dealing with precautionary measures, and those infected with the Corona virus, those who died from it, and so on, as well as a statement of the ruling on taking Corona vaccines, and spending from zakat funds to buy vaccines and provide them to the helpless as individuals, communities or countries.

Ms. Sarah Amjad Hussein, Director of Family and Women’s Affairs at the Academy, spoke about the Academy’s efforts related to empowering women and combating all forms of violence and injustice against them, noting that the Academy, during a number of its sessions, issued effective resolutions that clearly clarify the rights granted by Shariah to women, foremost of which is the right to education, the right to work, the right to own property, the right to inherit, the right to choose, the right to circulate, and the right to participate in the efforts of construction, progress and development of countries and societies. She also clarified that Shariah did not differentiate between men and women in many religious duties, such as compliance with the pillars of Islam and the pillars of faith, enjoining what is good and forbidding what is wrong, and so on. She also added that the origin of the commandments is that they are addressed to both sexes, except for what is excluded from that with another special evidence, as men and women are addressed together, and are equal in rights and duties. Therefore, equality between the sexes is in fact considered equality and equal opportunities and privileges, and this equality is approved by the texts of Shariah from the Holy Quran and the Sunnah of the Prophet.

It should be noted that the participation of the Academy’s delegation was greatly welcomed and praised, and the American side expressed their great satisfaction with the efforts of the Academy in all fields, especially its recent efforts in combating rumors about vaccines, and urging Muslims everywhere to adhere to the precautionary measures aimed at preventing the spread of the pandemic. They also expressed their desire to establish partnerships of cooperation and understanding between some of the agencies affiliated with the American State Department and the Academy, hoping to achieve more coordination and integration between the Academy and those agencies.