OIC stresses need for coordinated propagation
OIC stresses need for coordinated propagation
JAKARTA (JP): Religious leaders from 22 member nations of the
Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) concluded their two-day
meeting here yesterday, agreeing to coordinate their Islamic
da'wah, or propagation, efforts.
Over 100 Moslem experts deliberated at length about the
various difficulties they face in spreading Islam and about
strategies for improving the welfare of its followers.
They named, among other obstacles, the lack of exchange of
expertise among themselves, global political and economical
imbalance as well as widespread misperceptions of Islam.
The meeting also listened to a presentation by Indonesian
Minister of Population Haryono Suyono. In his speech, Haryono
discussed the results of the world conference on population in
Cairo last September, which received wide criticism from many
religious leaders at the time.
The meeting was closed by Minister of Religious Affairs
Tarmizi Taher and the participants are scheduled to pay a visit
to the IPTN aircraft company in Bandung today.
In addition to their task of finalizing a draft on da'wah
strategies for the next five years, yesterday's discussion also
tackled a number of other related issues, including the Serbian
persecution of Bosnian Moslems and Russia's military intervention
in predominantly-Moslem Chechnya.
On the Cairo conference, which many religious groups claimed
endorsed homosexuality, Dr. Kamil Sharif of the International
Islamic Council for Da'wah and Relief said the Cairo agenda was
unwelcome in many societies.
"(There was some) arm twisting (by the United Nations) of
those governments that hesitated (in accepting its resolutions),"
Sharif said, suggesting that Moslem societies join forces to
handle such coercion.
Minister Haryono rebutted the charge, citing Indonesia's
successful campaign to balance religious values with concerns
over a population explosion.
He also called on the Moslem leaders to move away from
discussion and actively address population issues.
The meeting yesterday also discussed the Israeli-Palestinian
peace talks, with most of the participants displaying
disagreement with the process.
Political issues
"We can't overlook political issues.. and Moslems throughout
the world should make clear that we cannot accept solutions,"
Kamal Sharif said.
He also said that the Moslem countries should clearly reject
Israel's stance on Jerusalem.
The meeting agreed on the need to build better relations among
da'wah institutions and also between institutions and individual
governments.
It also agreed in principle on a draft strategy prepared by
the OIC expert committee on the coordination of Islamic action,
led by Dr. Abdullah Omar Nashef of Saudi Arabia.
The draft proposes that Moslem leaders should, for instance,
urge Islamic governments to support and fund official da'wah
bodies.
The meeting agreed to begin creating an international Moslem
Waqaf (endowment) body for Islamic propagation, to establish
investment projects in favor of the body and to utilize the
potential and expertise of the Islamic development bank in
supporting Islamic causes.
The last speaker in the meeting, Dr. Amien Rais of Indonesia,
identified several obstacles Islamic propagators face in
Indonesia, among them a secularization process and other
religious proselytization targeting Moslem communities.
"The obstacles are serious problems," he said. "Secularism is
brought in by Western-educated Moslem children who, in
consequence, think in Western paradigms which see Islam as having
limited moral values."
The most serious challenge, however, lies with religions
which, he felt, caused the number of Moslems in the last two
decades to decrease by 0.36 percent, he said.
Almost 90 percent of the Indonesian population of 194 million
is Moslem. (swe)