On the sidelines of the seventy-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly and in cooperation with the Islamic Youth Forum and Religions for Peace, and the International Islamic Fiqh Academy, H.E. Prof. Koutoub Moustapha Sano, Secretary-General of the Academy, participated in the online intellectual symposium entitled “Involving Youth in Eliminating all Forms of Racism from a Religious Perspective to achieve a Sustainable future for all”, on Thursday 6 Rabi al-Awal 1445, corresponding to 21 September 2023.

In his intervention, His Excellency congratulated His Excellency Mr. Taha Ihan, President of the Islamic Youth Forum, and the President of the Religions for Peace Foundation, for the organization of this symposium in New York, expressing his regret for the lack of physical attendance emphasizing the Academy’s keenness to participate in all demonstrations, meetings, and intellectual symposiums, based on its belief The importance of correcting stereotypical notions about Islam’s position on many contemporary issues, and highlighting its contributions Islam and Muslims are eternal in building civilization, elevating humanity, and rejecting violence, hatred, and fanaticism in all its forms and sources, noting in this regards that racism represents one of the social diseases that he combated and fought and considered it a major crime and a blatant assault on the Creator of the universe and the order He created. He explained that Islam views people as equal as the teeth of a comb, and that black has no superiority over white nor the white over black, Arab over non-Arab, and non-Arab over Arab, and that people differ in their deeds and what not what they look like.

His Excellency pointed out that involving young people in such intellectual seminars is necessary and important to enable them to know the position of all religions on racism, as it is an incurable disease and an unforgivable crime, he added, “It is From the first day of the mission of the Messenger of Islam, Muhammad bin Abdullah, may Allah bless him and his family, he announced Islam waged a fierce war on racism, fanaticism, and violence, and established eternal teachings and solid systems that enable During which it eliminated all forms of racism, slavery, and tyranny, and Islam made equality among people a principle fixed and eternal until the Hour comes, because all people are born free, and it is not permissible to enslave them or discriminate against them. Between them because of color, race, religion, or language.

His Excellency concluded his intervention by calling on the United Nations to classify racism as one of the heinous crimes against humanity, and to reject all forms and images racism, and the need to prosecute anyone who practices it, or is involved in any form of it, and in any area of life. He also called on intellectual leaders, especially young people, followers of all religions, to join efforts, coordination, and cooperation to make this dream a reality, because racism is not a crime which is not less heinous than the crimes of murder, rape and cleansing, which requires combating them by all means in order to achieve harmony and peace, between peoples and nations based on love, respect, integration, and cooperation, in all that benefit humanity as a whole.