At the kind invitation of the World Forum for Proximity of Islamic Schools of Thought and under the patronage of His Excellency Ayatollah Sayyed Ebrahim Raisi, President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, H.E. Prof. Koutoub Moustapha Sano, Secretary-General of the Academy, participated in the opening session of the Thirty-Seventh Conference of Islamic Unity on Sunday, 16th Rabi’ al-Awwal 1445, corresponding to 1st October 2023, in the capital, Tehran.

His Excellency delivered a speech before the President of the Republic in which he spoke about Islamic unity as a concept, types, values, and foundations, beginning his speech by expressing his sincere thanks and great gratitude to the Islamic Republic of Iran, the presidency, the government, and the people for the warm welcome, and hospitality, and congratulating the President of the Republic and the Ummah on the return of brotherly and loving relations between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in order to enhance joint Islamic action and consolidate Islamic solidarity, praying Allah The Almighty to strengthen the relations of cooperation and integration between the OIC Member states.

His Excellency explained that the major challenges facing the Islamic nation today, both states and peoples, require the nation’s scholars and wise men to enhance people’s awareness of the Islamic unity in this era. This unity, in our view, is represented by unity of feeling through deepening the sense of belonging to the nation and loyalty to it and its major issues. Also, it is the the unity of feelings through the surge and expression of feelings towards Islamic brotherhood, interest in the affairs of Muslims. This unity is also represented in the unity of rituals through pride and adherence to the eternal rituals of Islam in worship, transactions, marriages, and all areas of life.

His Excellency explained that the unity that we aspire to achieve is unity in diversity, and diversity in unity, and unity in diversity means enhancing awareness that the existence of diversity and pluralism among Muslim countries, peoples and communities does not conflict with the desired unity, but rather diversity and pluralism are a reason for integration, solidarity, synergy, and support. As for diversity in unity, it means the necessity of being open to multiple forms and patterns of unity, and moving away from limiting unity to one field only. There is a need for intellectual unity, cultural unity, social unity, economic unity, and political unity. These patterns and forms are fertile and important areas that require strengthening cooperation, coordination and communication between OIC member states and Islamic societies, institutions and organizations in the fields of education, culture, economics and politics.

His Excellency spoke about the importance of adhering to values that he called the values of desired Islamic unity, which are the starting points and intellectual foundations upon which unity should be based, which are moderation, centrism, tolerance, coexistence, and acceptance of others. Today, more than ever before, the Islamic nation needs to enhance the awareness of its members about the importance of moderation and balance in thought, behavior and practice by rejecting extremism, intolerance and violence, and to consolidate the values of tolerance, coexistence and acceptance of others among its peoples, countries and societies through openness and flexibility, as the magnitude of the challenges, the succession of developments and the pursuit of changes all require the necessity of deepening cooperation and consolidating work towards Fighting extremist ideology, sectarianism, and sectarianism. Rather, all of this requires working together in order to preserve the unity of the Ummah and the solidarity of its people in order to make the most of its capabilities, resources, experiences, and expertise. His Excellency emphasized that the Almighty’s saying in the Quran (Indeed, this Nation of yours is one nation, and I am your Lord, so worship me) is a declarative sentence, but it is in the meaning of construction, and what is meant by it is that we must be one nation in our sentiments, feelings, and practices. Unity is an obligation, a necessity, and an unavoidable interest if we desire to survive. His Excellency also pointed out in the meantime that the desired unity has foundations and principles that the Messenger of Allah (PBUH) summarized in his authentic hadith, “the believers, in their mutual love, compassion, and sympathy are like a single body; if one of its organs suffers, the whole body will respond to it with sleeplessness and fever”.

This noble prophetic message includes an accurate clarification of the most important manifestations of Islamic unity sought in every time and place, which are love, compassion, and sympathy between Islamic countries, peoples, and Muslim societies to confront all the challenges, crises, and calamities to which they are exposed from time to time. These manifestations, in reality, represent the foundations and principles of unity, which consists of the concept of unity that we referred to at the beginning of our conversation.

His Excellency concluded his speech by praying and supplicating to the Noble Lord to preserve and bless the Islamic Republic of Iran’s leadership and people, and to perpetuate upon it the blessing of security, and stability, and to protect Muslim countries from all evil, and to increase the Ummah’s solidarity and cooperation.