Her Excellency Ms. Cecille El-Beleidi, Consul General of the United Kingdom in Jeddah, made the first visit of a British official to the headquarters of the General Secretariat of the International Islamic Fiqh Academy (IIFA) on Wednesday 03 Rajab 1444H corresponding to 25 January 2023G, and was received by His Excellency Professor Koutoub Moustapha Sano, the Secretary General of the Academy.

Her Excellency the Consul expressed her deep thanks and gratitude to His Excellency the Secretary General for the good reception and warm welcome, stressing her keenness to make this important visit and to communicate with the Academy to discuss and confer a number of issues and topics in which the Academy’s agenda intersects with the agenda of her country. She added that her country’s government looks with great respect and appreciation to the moderate and sober thought presented by the Academy, led by His Excellency the Secretary General, and the distinguished efforts to spread moderation, tolerance and peaceful coexistence among religions, races and peoples inside and outside the OIC countries, noting that her country’s government closely followed the visit of His Excellency to Muslim communities in the United Kingdom and the good impact it left on the hearts of the community there, in addition to the first round of negotiations that His Excellency led with the Afghan side in Kabul on the dossier of girls’ education and women’s work. She concluded by expressing her hope to consolidate the bonds of cooperation and coordination with the Academy in order to serve the noble humanitarian goals that enhance cooperation and communication between peoples, by organizing more intellectual and scientific activities aimed at Muslim communities in the United Kingdom. 

For his part, His Excellency the Secretary General expressed his sincere thanks and great appreciation to Her Excellency the Consul General for this important visit, noting that it is a sincere expression of her Excellency’s keenness to get to know the Academy and consolidate the bonds of communication and cooperation with it. His Excellency then took advantage of the occasion by giving her Excellency a brief overview of the establishment of the Academy, its objectives, programs and activities, and gave her an overview of the developments it witnessed in the recent period since he took over the reins of the General Secretariat. His Excellency also affirmed the Academy’s commitment to promoting awareness among Muslim communities of the importance of adhering to the requirements of citizenship in their countries, and the need to respect laws and regulations while preserving their religious identity, as there is, in fact, no conflict between religious affiliation and loyalty to the homeland inhabited by a Muslim. Then he expressed the Academy’s readiness to organize more intellectual and scientific events within the UK directed at Muslim communities to serve these ideas. He also expressed his thanks and gratitude to Her Excellency the Consul General and the government of her country for their follow-up and interest in the efforts of the OIC and the Academy with regard to the Afghan file, calling on the UK government to continue to support the Academy in this file and to intensify cooperation and coordination to achieve the set goals.

The meeting was attended by Mr. Mohamed Mondher El-Chouk, Director of Cabinet and Protocol Affairs at the Academy, Ms. Sarah Amjad Hussein, Director of Family and Women’s Affairs at the Academy, and Mr. Mourad TLiLi, Advisor to the Secretary General of the Academy for Media and Public Relations Affairs.