H.E. Sheikh Farid al-Din Mahmoud, one of the most eminent scholars of the Afghan government, President of the Afghan Academy of Sciences, received the delegation of scholars of the Ummah visiting Afghanistan, led by the International Islamic Fiqh Academy, on Monday 18 Safar 1445, corresponding to September 4, 2023, at the Academy’s headquarters.

The meeting began with a recitation from the Holy Quran. H.E. Prof. Koutoub Moustapha Sano, Secretary General of the Academy and head of the delegation, delivered a speech in which he expressed the delegation’s thanks to the Afghan authority for its warm welcome and generosity, praising the role of the Afghan Academy in disseminating knowledge and science, and supporting scientific research, and hoping that this Academy will play a central role in raising society’s awareness of the importance of education, saying if the jihad waged by the Afghan people for forty-five years was a jihad in defense of honor and homeland, the expected jihad that the Afghan people should undertake now is a constructive and reconstructive jihad aimed at fighting ignorance, poverty and diseases. This jihad is considered to be one of the most honorable types of jihad, and one of the most difficult, so it must be waged in order to preserve the emirate’s achievements and enable the Afghan people to benefit from its abundant natural resources. His Excellency declared that enabling Afghan girls and boys to receive education is a religious and legitimate duty, as education is a sacred legal right, and the Ummah has been unanimous in its obligation since the time of the Sahaba.

As a result, the delegation of scholars called on the President of the Afghan Academy of Sciences to be their messenger and ambassador to the current authorities to reopen universities and schools to enable girls to continue their studies, while stressing that the OIC is ready to provide the logistical and technical support the authorities need to facilitate the return of girls to school.

For his part, the President said that the Academy of Sciences would like to thank the delegation for its visit, and for its support for the Afghan people. He then provided the delegation with detailed information on what the Afghan people have been exposed to over the past four decades, including the types of persecution, tribulations, injustice and oppression, and the attempts by the forces of occupation and aggression to eliminate Afghan Islamic identity and its glorious history, and to replace Islam and Afghan culture with atheism and decadence. He also detailed the attempts of the occupying forces to interfere in the affairs of Afghanistan through their agents from within and without, stressing that the current authority will remain steadfast in the face of all attempts to obliterate Afghan identity.

With regard to the education of girls and boys, the President stressed that the authorities firmly believe in their right to education, but are still working on revising curricula and finding solutions to the difficulties they face in this area. He therefore appealed to the delegation of scholars from the Ummah to stand by the Afghan people, offering support and assistance in this area.

At the end of the meeting, the delegation visited the library of the Afghan Academy, which contains valuable works in various fields, including religious, human, natural and applied sciences, as well as works of general culture.