H.E. Prof. Koutoub Moustapha Sano, Secretary General of the International Islamic Fiqh Academy (IIFA), held a virtual consultative meeting on Monday evening, 03 of Muharam 1444, corresponding to August 1, 2022, with the members of the Executive Board of the Fiqh Council of North America (FCNA), represented by Dr. Muzammil Siddiqi, President, Dr. Zainab Al-Alwani, Vice President, Dr. Zulfiqar Ali Shah, Executive Director, and Dr. Jasser Odeh, member of the Council and President of the Canadian Fiqh Council.

At the outset, Dr. Muzammil thanked His Excellency for giving the Executive Board the opportunity to meet with him to consult on ways to strengthen cooperation and communication between IIFA and FCNA in all areas of common interest. He added that “nearly thirty-six years have passed since the establishment of the Council and it was chaired by the distinguished Professor Taha Jaber Al-Alwani, may Allah have mercy on him, and the Council includes under his leadership many representatives of Islamic organizations, scholars and prominent imams in North America.” He concluded his speech by wishing that the desired cooperation between the two institutions would result in the signing of a cooperation agreement between them at a later date.

On his part, the Secretary General expressed his sincere thanks and appreciation to the members of FCNA’s Executive Board for accepting the request of the Academy to consult on how to strengthen the relations of cooperation, partnership and coordination between both institutions, based on the fact that some of the similar objectives are the realization of coordination between ifta, jurisprudence and Islamic Councils; Among others, inside and outside the Muslim world, in order to avoid contradictions and conflicts of opinions on the issues causing affliction. He added: “FCNA is considered one of the most important fiqh councils outside the Muslim world. It has great weight and influence in explaining Sharia rulings to North American Muslims, which makes cooperation and coordination with it important to provide fiqh and scientific support, and to enable its members to benefit from the Academy’s publications, especially its resolutions and recommendations,” His Excellency stressed. “The Council is indebted to its late Chairman, Sheikh Dr. Tahar al-Alwani, who was an active and influential member, and represented the Fiqh Council well in the Academy until his death. Therefore, the Academy is pleased today to reinforce the historic partnership he made between the two institutions. Therefore, I request the Fiqh Council to appoint a competent member from among its jurists to replace the deceased, and become an appointed member of the Council, starting from the next session of the Academy, in recognition of the Council’s pioneering role, and in appreciation of its intellectual and scientific status in North America”. His Excellency also expressed his content with Dr. Zainab Al-Alwani’s membership on the Executive Board of the Council for her distinguished scientific level, and her sound legal knowledge of the objectives of Sharia and family issues. He also expressed his delight at Dr. Jasir Odeh’s membership, as one of the promising young scholars of maqasid, and welcomed Dr. Zulfiqar, whom he had never met before. Then, His Excellency gave a brief introductory overview of the vision, mission, objectives, programs and activities of the Academy, emphasizing the Academy’s full readiness to sign a cooperation agreement or a memorandum of understanding with the Council in the future.

His Excellency also spoke about the methodology of the Academy in issuing its resolutions and recommendations through thorough scientific discussions, as the researches submitted to the session are discussed in a deep and wide way in order to arrive at a sound and authentic formulation of the resolutions and recommendations, which today amounted to two hundred and thirty-eight resolutions and recommendations concerning various topics and issues of concern to Muslims at that time.

Then, His Excellency discussed with the Council members on many issues and topics of common interest and called upon the Executive Board members to visit the headquarters of the Secretariat General of the Academy in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, in the very near future.

In conclusion, the Council members thanked the Secretary General for inviting them to this meeting and for the additional information he provided about the Academy, its activities and programs. They also asked His Excellency to participate in the annual meeting of the Council to be held next October.

The meeting was attended by Dr. Alhagi Manta Drammeh, head of t of international cooperation and external relations division at the Academy.