A delegation from the International Islamic Fiqh Academy, including Mrs Sarah Bint Amjad, Director of Family, Women and Children Affairs, and Dr Alhaji Manta Drammeh, Head of the International Cooperation and Foreign Relations Division at the Academy, participated in a roundtable meeting to draft an executive guidance document on Islamic values and ethics to improve the moral welfare of women, children, and the family in OIC member states. The meeting was held in Kuala Lampur, Malaysia, from 20 to 22 Jumada al-Ula 1445, corresponding to 4 to 6 December 2023.

At the beginning of the meeting, H.E. Prof. Abdul Aziz Barghouth, Director of the IIUM’s International Institute of Thought and Civilisation welcomed the participants to the roundtable, and then presented the objectives and priorities of the policy paper submitted to the participants, noting that the efforts made by the various OIC bodies will improve the document with greater depth and precision, before finally submitting it to the OIC General Secretariat for further deliberations. H.E. Dr. Fleetat Ajoki, Director of the OIC Department of Social and Family Affairs, expressed the OIC’s gratitude to the International Institute of Thought and Civilisation for preparing and coordinating this round table. She also expressed her gratitude to the participants from the OIC bodies and hoped that their contributions would be important in improving the policy document.

In her speech, Mrs Sarah Bint Amjad Bedewi, Director of Family, Women and Children, stressed the importance of the family and its central position in IIFA’s activities and programmes, pointing out that “IIFA’s Secretariat General has recently created an independent Department for Family, Women, Children and Elderly Affairs to focus on issues and problems related to the family, women, children and people with special needs. This department has been involved in many activities since its inception, organising joint seminars on issues of particular interest to the family and women from an Islamic perspective. It has also organized meetings and conferences with local organisations and institutions on relevant international issues of common interest”.

For his part, Dr Al-Haj MantaDrammeh, during his chairmanship of the session introducing the OIC and its various bodies, spoke of the OIC’s concerns in promoting Islamic values, and also of the importance of this round table, while highlighting the IIFA’s efforts to promote family values through its various activities and programmes.

It is worth mentioning that this round table aimed to clarify the important role of Islamic values in the family, in building a balanced Islamic personality capable of facing the challenges of misconceptions and stereotyped caricatures of Islam through scientific and academic discussion, and its organisation is the result of OIC Council Resolution No. 4, Resolution No. 48-C, which states that: “Member States are requested to spread Islamic values in their respective countries : Member States are called upon to disseminate Islamic values relating to women, children and the family in general, in order to highlight the true image of Islam and improve the living conditions of children in the Muslim world, through the OIC and its organs, in particular ISESCO, the World Development Organisation, the Independent Permanent Commission on Human Rights, the International Islamic Fiqh Academy, IRCICA, as well as the United Nations”. Therefore, experts at the round table will discuss and improve the draft document on the promotion of Islamic values, making contributions and recommendations, and finally presenting the efforts and activities of the agencies involved in promoting Islamic ethics and strengthening the family, in order to definitively map out the way forward”.

The round table was organised by the OIC General Secretariat in partnership with the International Institute of Islamic Thought and Civilisation at the International Islamic University Malaysia.