His Excellency Engineer Waleed Abdulkarim El Khereiji, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, received His Excellency Prof. Koutoub Moustapha Sano, Secretary General of the International Islamic Fiqh Academy, at the Ministry’s headquarters in Riyadh, on Monday, 29 Jumada Al-Akhira 1446, corresponding to 30 December 2024.

The Deputy Foreign Minister welcomed the Secretary General and congratulated him on the renewal of his leadership of the Secretariat General of the Academy in recognition of his outstanding efforts in the Academy’s development and progress and encouraged him to continue his efforts. His Excellency also emphasized the Saudi government’s continued sponsorship and support for joint islamic action, as well as its willingness to continue providing services and assistance that enables the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and all its organs to carry out their work in the best possible ways. He affirmed that the host country and other OIC member states are positively looking forward that the International Academy of Islamic Fiqh continues to play its leading role in the Muslim world, notably by providing appropriate Sharia provisions on various issues.

For his part, the Secretary General of the Academy then expressed his sincere thanks and appreciation to the Deputy Foreign Minister for the warm welcome, noting that he was one of the fruits of the Saudi leadership’s wisdom and initiatives when he once received a scholarship to study at one of its most prestigious universities, King Saud University, four decades ago, praising the care and support, he has received since assuming the post of Secretary General of the Academy. His Excellency pointed out that the success achieved by the Academy over the past years is due to the full and unlimited support of the Government of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, and his Crown Prince, HRH Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, may Allah protect them. He also expressed his sincere thanks to H.E. Sheikh Dr. Saleh bin Abdullah bin Humaid, the representative of Saudi Arabia in the Council of the Academy, and President of the Academy, for his wise guidance and promotion of the Academy. He then concluded his speech by stressing the Academy’s commitment to exert all efforts to deserve the trust of their Highnesses and Excellencies, Rulers, Kings, and Heads of the OIC Member States, in order to remain the pioneering jurisprudential reference to which the Muslim countries and communities refer to receive sober Sharia rulings on contemporary issues and developments, as well as to benefit from its solutions to Muslims worldwide.

The meeting was attended by H.E. Dr. Abdullah Al Tayer, Consultant at the Vice Ministry of International Affairs, and H.E. Dr. Saleh bin Hamad Al Suhaibani, Permanent Representative of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to the OIC.