H.E. Prof. Koutoub Moustapha Sano, Secretary General of IIFA, held a consultation and coordination meeting at IIFA headqurters with a delegation of scholars from the Muslim world, who came to Jeddah to prepare their trip to Afghanistan, on Wednesday 14 Safar 1445, corresponding to August 30, 2023.

The meeting was an outcome of the decision of the OIC Council of Foreign Ministers at its extraordinary meeting on December 19 in Islamabad, Islamic Republic of Pakistan, in which the International Islamic Fiqh Academy was asked to lead a delegation of eminent Ummah scholars from OIC member states. Present was Ambassador Tariq Ali Bakhit, OIC Assistant Secretary General for Humanitarian, Cultural and Social Affairs, and the OIC Secretary General’s Special Envoy for Afghanistan.

His Excellency began the meeting by expressing his sincere thanks and great gratitude to the OIC member states for approving the nomination of eminent scholars from their countries to participate in the delegation of scholars visiting Afghanistan between August 31 and September 5, 2023, praising the great facilities provided by Saudi Arabia, as the host country, and that they are grateful for the great cooperation and deep communication with the permanent delegations of the OIC member states, as the number of participating scholars, both men and women, in the delegation reached around thirty members. His Excellency also noted the positive response the General Secretariat had received from the ruling authority in Afghanistan, which expressed, through its Permanent Delegation to the OIC, its delight at welcoming the Ummah delegation.

His Excellency explained that this visit follows on from the scholarly delegation’s first visit to Afghanistan over a year ago, during which he met a number of senior Afghan officials and scholars, underlining the urgent need to pursue fruitful dialogue and informed communication with the ruling authority in order to enable young Afghan girls to return to schools and universities. This will enable them to continue their studies, which they have been deprived of for almost a year. He also explained that the first visit by the delegation of scholars had lifted suspicions about Islam’s clear position on the education of women and girls, namely that education, both religious and worldly, at all levels, is an established legal right for men and women, and one of Islam’s eternal obligations. It may not be abused under any pretext whatsoever. His Excellency concluded his speech by saying that there are positive indicators of a real change in the authority’s stance on the issue of women’s education and women’s work, making this second visit a valuable opportunity to build on these indicators and move forward. His Excellency asked the members of the delegation to express their views and suggestions to enable the delegation to achieve the objectives stipulated in the decision of the OIC Council of Foreign Ministers. The meeting then discussed a number of important strategies and suggestions aimed at achieving harmony and integration between the members of the delegation.

It should be noted that the delegation of scholars participating in this visit includes senior scholars from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the Kingdom of Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, the Republic of Chad, the Republic of Guinea and Malaysia, in addition to scholars from the countries that took part in the first visit, namely the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, the Republic of Indonesia, the Islamic Republic of Pakistan and the Republic of Turkey.