Dr. Abdel Fattah Abnauf, Director of the Department of Planning, International Cooperation and External Relations at IIFA, participated as a representative of IIFA in the coordination meeting of Islamic universities and related institutions affiliated with the OIC, which was held at the OIC headquarters in Jeddah, on Tuesday, 4 Rajab 1445, corresponding to the 16 January 2024.

His Eminence delivered a speech in which he presented an introductory overview of the Academy, as it is one of the most important bodies emanating from the OIC, which was established in 1981 to become the leading religious reference for Muslim countries and communities regarding the Sharia rulings on current issues that concern Muslims around the world. He pointed out that one of the objectives of the Academy is to achieve intellectual convergence and integration between scholars of respected Islamic schools of law and other specialists in the fields of knowledge, human sciences, social sciences, and natural and applied sciences in order to clarify the stance of Sharia on contemporary life problems, stressing that the ways to achieve these goals are through strengthening cooperation between the Academy and universities to benefit from their experts in various fields of knowledge and specialties, exchanging knowledge, competencies, and research related to modern jurisprudential issues, in addition to organizing joint scientific events.

His Eminence also spoke about the agreements and memorandums signed between IIFA and several universities in the OIC’s member states and Muslim communities that aim to promote Islamic culture by spreading the Islamic heritage, dealing with contemporary issues, and enhancing cooperation in common fields, especially in research and studies, speaking to the world in its various languages, and spreading authentic moderate Islam. At the end of his speech, His Eminence expressed the Academy’s full readiness to cooperate with various scientific institutions and universities to achieve these noble objectives, especially the affiliated and subsidiary universities of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation.

It is worth noting that the Organization of Islamic Cooperation contains five affiliated universities in five of the OIC member states: the Islamic University of Technology in the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, the International Islamic University in Malaysia, the Islamic University in the Republic of Uganda, the Islamic University of Niger in the Republic of Niger, and King Faisal’s s University in the Republic of Chad. These universities constitute the OIC’s main organ in its activity in higher education.