Report of the Director General of the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization -ISESCO-
on
The Organization’s Perception of Dialogue among Civilizations
Presented to
The International Symposium on Dialogue among civilizations in a changing world
18-20 Rabii II 1422H/10-12 july 2001
Rabat

Introduction:

The Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization has quite early shown an active interest in issues pertaining to intercivilizational dialogue and played, by virtue of its prerogatives and mission, an outstanding role in the crystallization of a new balanced and consistent concept of the dialogue at three levels, namely :

- Inter-civilizational dialogue

- Inter-cultural dialogue

- Inter-religious dialogue

The concept of dialogue in modern political and cultural thought is one of the newly used concepts. The term dialogue is, in fact, to be found nowhere in the international law terminology, nor is there any mention of it in the United Nations charter, nor in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, nor in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, nor in the International Convention on Economic and Social Rights, nor in the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights, nor in the Declaration of International Cultural Co-operation Principles.

Based on this, dialogue is a political, ideological, cultural and civilizational concept and not a legal one.

Dialogue in our cultural and civilizational heritage is one of the values and principles of Islamic civilization. It is also an intellectual attitude and psychic state, as well as an expression of the most salient feature of a sound and healthy Islamic personality.

In ISESCO’s view, dialogue is based on firm foundations and general rules, as well as  on three considerations, namely :

- Mutual respect

- Equity and justice

- Rejection of fanaticism and hatred

Dialogue’s objectives and orientations :

Based on ISESCO’s perception of dialogue and its civilizational concept, dialogue that meets the general objectives of humanity and which may be the subject of interest for the Muslim World, must proceed along the following three orientations:

First : Link the objectives of the dialogue with the vital interests of the Muslim Ummah so that there will be no conflict between the objectives set for any intercivilizational or intercultural dialogue with the participation of the Muslim side, and the major issues unanimously agreed upon by the Muslim Ummah and which are reflected in the resolutions of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, including those issued by summit or ministerial meetings.

Second : Gear the dialogue towards a human orientation so as not to be centred on intellectual or faith issues which are of no benefit to anyone of the sides involved. This includes defining clearly the position on human rights and combating injustice and aggression, oppression and mischief under all their forms, with special emphasis on the need to issue joint communiqués at the close of each round of the dialogue, stating the positions of the people of faith on the violations of human rights occurring worldwide, as well as the injustice and inequity being committed by oppressors and aggressors and which are contrary to the commonly-shared principles of right and justice, and not only from the viewpoint of politics, law or the interests of the powerful and influential in the world.

Third : Co-ordination between the members of the Muslim side on all matters related to the dialogue between civilizations and cultures. The official or popular Muslim side to take part in a dialogue of such level, would inform all the parties, or the most prominent or most active ones in the Islamic scientific, intellectual and cultural field, about the themes, date and objectives of the dialogue, as well as about the organizing party, in order to ensure the participation of those who wish to do so and are available

If the dialogue between civilizations takes these orientations, it will be possible to reach positive results that would first serve the best interests and causes of the Muslim Ummah, back up the efforts being made at different levels to preserve those interests and further those causes, strengthen and enrich international relations, contribute to establishing peace, security and stability in the world and enhance faith in Almighty Allah and in the principles of co-existence between all mankind.

Dialogue activities implemented by ISESCO and in which it has participated :

The Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization has implemented several activities under its plans and co-operation programmes it had concluded with Arab, Islamic and international organizations and bodies. These activities include many meetings and symposia on topics and issues related to intercivilizational and intercultural dialogue as well as to the activation of the Muslims’ role in shaping human culture, and publication of valuable academic works on the subject.

I- Conferences, symposia and meetings :

The major conferences, meetings and symposia which addressed the intercivilizational and intercultural dialogue in the Muslim World and outside, which ISESCO held or in which it participated are as follows :

- Eighth General Conference of the Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs in Cairo, Egypt, on 24-27 July 1996. The Director General participated in that meeting and presented a paper on  “Islam and the Future of the Civilizational Dialogue”. The paper has been published in a book in Arabic, English and French.

- International Meeting on Inter religious and Intercivilizational Dialogue, Cairo, Egypt on 8-10 November, 1998, convened by the Islamic Supreme Council for Call and Relief.

-  Meeting of the Co-ordinating Committee on Islamic-Christian Dialogue, Amman, Jordan, on 22-23 April, 1998.

-  Tenth General Conference of the Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs, Cairo, Egypt, on 2-5 July, 1998. The Director General of the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization participated in the Conference with a paper on Islam and Co-existence among Religions in the Twenty First Century. The paper has been published in a book in Arabic, English and French.

- Meeting of the Drafting Group of the Two World Documents on Intercivilizational Dialogue, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on 5-7 February, 2000 held at the headquarters of the Organization of the Islamic Conference.

- International Symposium on Dialogue and Co-existence between Civilizations and Cultures, Berlin, Germany, on 5 July, 2000 organized jointly by the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, the Muslim World League and Imam Alkhoey Charitable Foundation.

- International Symposium on the contributions of Human Civilizations to the Enhancement of Human Rights Values and Principles, Rabat on 25-27 November, 2000, organized by Amnesty International.

- International Symposium on Dialogue among Civilizations in a Changing World, Rabat on 10-12 July 2001.

- International Symposium on Dialogue among Civilizations between theory and practice, Tunis,  12-13 November 2001.

II- Specialized strategies and academic publications :

In this respect, the Islamic Organization has prepared three strategies concerning Inter-Islamic dialogue, ways of bringing closer together Islamic doctrines (Mazahib), as well as Muslims’ role in correcting Islam’s image in the West and making the Muslim World benefit from expatriate Muslim scientists, in order to promote the contribution of those migrant brains to narrow the cultural and scientific gap between civilizations.

Those strategies and publications include :

- Strategy for bringing closer together Islamic doctrines

- Strategy for benefiting from migrant brains

- Strategy for the Islamic Cultural Action in the West and its implementation mechanisms.

ISESCO’s publications on the dialogue :

- Civilizational dialogue and interaction from an Islamic perspective (Dr. Abdulaziz Othman Altwaijri). The research work has been published in three languages.

- Islam and inter-religious co-existence (Dr. Abdulaziz Othman Altwaijri). The research work has been published in three languages

- Future prospects of dialogue between Muslims and the West (Dr. Abdulaziz Othman Altwaijri). The research work has been published in three languages.

- Dialogue from an Islamic perspective (Dr. Abbas Jirari)

- Ethics of difference in Islam (proceedings of a symposium organized by ISESCO in Tunis, Tunisia).

- Islam between truth and allegations (Dr. Hamid Taher and others)

- Co-existence concept in Islam (Dr. Abbas Jirari)

- Books on correcting the image of Islam in the Islamic Encyclopaedia, published by Breil publishing house in Leiden, Holland :

a- Holy Qur’an

b- Prophet Tradition

c- Islamic creed

III- Planning for the future :

Based on ISESCO’s charter which calls for consolidating constructive dialogue with other cultures for the purpose of civilizational co-existence and respect of cultural identity of all peoples, as well as on the medium-term plan for the years 2001-2009 which attaches special attention to programmes on dialogue and communication between the Islamic culture and other cultures, ISESCO has included, under its three-year plan (2001-2003), a complementary field of action titled : “Active and interactive Islamic Culture”, developed in the light of an all-embracing perception of the dialogue’s foundations, its mechanisms and goals.

One of the salient features that have marked Islamic culture over the centuries has been its interaction and openness to other cultures and its propensity to allow a two-way process of give and take. By opening up to them, it has benefited from other cultures and civilizations without for that matter losing its characteristics and distinct specificities. It has given birth to an effective Islamic culture with a human dimension that has enriched the course of other civilizations. Yet, this culture has witnessed moments of crisis and indicators of weakness that fluctuated according to history and geographical location. It also came face to face with crucial challenges that rose with the colonialist hegemony that tried, in all manners possible, to dampen the vitality of the Islamic culture and erase the unique Islamic identity. But the Muslim world is slowly but surely regaining its leading civilizational role thanks to independence and reform movements that have endeavoured to liberate Muslim societies from the evils of westernization and ignorance. Islamic culture has resuscitated and resumed spreading its universal human message in accordance with Almighty Allah’s words "We sent you but for all humanity".

According to the Cultural Strategy for the Islamic world, it is impossible for any culture to survive with no interaction, but, instead, multicultural reality has become the norm. As stipulated in the Cultural Strategy for the Islamic World, the latter cannot let religious differences or sect affiliations rule in such a way as to hinder the march of cooperation and joint action. As long as the basics and constants are agreed upon and based on the provisions of this Strategy with regard to the openness of Islam to other religions and cultures and the positive effects of this spirit, in view of all this it has been decided to dedicate this field of action to persevering in cultural dialogue activities inside and outside the Islamic world. This inter-cultural dialogue will be crowned by the drawing up of a strategy of rapprochement between Islamic doctrines and strengthening the cultural identity of Muslim minorities and communities within the framework of the strategy of Islamic cultural action in the west as  prepared by the Islamic Organization to optimize dialogue between Islamic culture and other cultures and which the Organization had started to implement through reference studies and their posting in the Organization's working languages on the Internet.

Amongst the axes closely related to intercivilizational dialogue, included in this field, there is the axis on interaction between cultures and communication mechanisms between Islamic culture and challenges faced by the Muslim World, while the second axis concentrates on areas of cultural exchange between Muslims and means of promoting and developing it, and in particular with respect to encouraging exchange of cultural products between Muslims and publicize the various forms of the Muslim Ummah intellectual innovation and activate the role of expatriate Muslim minorities and migrant brains in correcting the image of Islam and transfer the results of scientific and technological progress to the Muslim World.

First axis : Interaction between cultures

The dialogue between the Islamic culture and other cultures is on-going programme in ISESCO’s Action Plans. Therefore, the Organization’s efforts were geared towards elaboration of studies and publications on the correction of widespread errors about Islam and Muslims carried by publications issued in the West. ISESCO’s efforts were also concentrated on dialogue between cultures from an Islamic perspective and on orientalism at large. These efforts also focussed on round tables held by ISESCO in Europe, in order to raise the awareness of western policy-makers about the values of Islam and portray it in its true image, given the fact that Islam is a religion of dialogue and peaceful coexistence among peoples as Almighty Allah said in the Holy Qur’an : “Invite (all) to the Way of they Lord with wisdom and beautiful preaching and argue with them in ways that are best and most gracious : For thy Lord knoweth best, who have strayed from His Path and who receive guidance” (Nahl Sura, Verse 124). “God forbids you not for (your) Faith nor drive you out of your homes, from dealing kindly and justly with them : For God loveth those who are just” (Mumtahana Sura, Verse 7).

Efforts will be continued under this axis in order to promote the culture of peace within children and youth and broaden the interest of Islamic culture to include contemporary cultural challenges to contribute to standing up to the adverse effects of cultural globalization and prepare the human resources operating in the field of strategic studies in the cultural area.

1- Dialogue between the Islamic culture and other cultures

The previous Action Plans devoted several publications and meetings, most important of which was the one on dialogue and coexistence among cultures and civilizations held in July 2000 in Berlin, Germany, and various other publications on the subject in order to address ways of encouraging dialogue between civilizations and religions. The 2001-2003 Action Plan will work on promoting dialogue between the Islamic culture and other cultures, and stress complementarity and solidarity in the face of the joint challenges posed by globalization. The meetings that will be held in this regard will be an opportunity for the representatives of the Ummah to illustrate the contribution of Islam, as a civilization of tolerance, peace and coexistence. Therefore, the programme would rely much on cooperation with the institutions of the United Nations and the OIC systems, as well as on International non-governmental organizations working in the fields of culture. In order to prepare rising generations for dialogue among cultures, the skills of human resources would be consolidated in this field, in cooperation with UNESCO and the institutions of the OIC system.

2-  Islamic Culture and the Cultural Challenges

Assimilating the nature and the various aspects of the contemporary cultural challenges is a pre-requisite if we are to avoid energy wasting in the settlement of secondary problems of little importance, mainly that they are common challenges among all Islamic countries who should work together to take them up. Therefore, consultation on the typology of challenges and the priority that they should be given will be conducted as part of cooperation with the institutions of the OIC and the Ummah, during sub-regional meetings that will be held in the three linguistic areas. The recommendations issued by these meetings will be submitted to the Member States so that they could take them into account in their cultural policies. Being aware of the paramount importance of the human dimension in the cultural field, ISESCO will hold training sessions destined to train human resources, working in this field.

Second axis : Cultural exchange between Muslims :

Since the advent of Islam, Muslims have never ceased to exchange cultural traits, even though the balance, as in any cultural exchange, was not often guaranteed. For ISESCO, this exchange should be organized in a fairly balanced manner, because there is no hierarchy in the realm of culture, especially when we deal with relationships within the same civilization of Islam. Therefore, ISESCO devoted, several activities under its previous Action Plan, to cultural exchange between Muslims and to the ethics of difference in Islam. These activities covered the rapprochement of Islamic madahib and the revival of the languages of Muslim peoples through publishing glossaries of African languages, such as the Fulani and the Swahili. Other activities were carried out for the Muslim minorities in Europe. The development of a strategy for the Islamic cultural action in the West, adopted in Croatia in 1998, should be highlighted, as well as the draft strategy of benefiting from migrant brains.

However, the Organization is aware that the inter-dependence and unity bonds holding together all Muslims, inside and outside the Islamic world, should continuously be consolidated. Cultural dialogue among Muslims should be promoted, support to inter-Muslim cultural exchanges enhanced and migrant brains harnessed. In this perspective, ISESCO intends to implement, in cooperation with the institutions of the OIC system a number of programmes related to "cultural dialogue among Muslims",  “Promotion of Islamic culture of the minorities and communities", "the activation of exchange of Islamic cultural products" and "the strategy on the brain-drain and the harnessing of migrant brains". These programmes will be implemented in cooperation with the institutions of the OIC system, as well as with other Islamic institutions and cultural centers of Muslim communities.

I- Cultural Dialogue Among Muslims

Cultural dialogue is one of the most ancient forms of cultural exchange between Muslims. To ensure a better promotion of this dialogue, ISESCO will assess its cultural, intellectual and religious dimensions, during international sub-regional meetings. However, in order that this dialogue remain a means of mutual understanding, the right to difference should be acknowledged squarely. That is why, the representatives of Member States and of Muslim minorities will be invited to pursue reflection, started during the previous Action Plan, on the ethics of difference in Islam and its impact on the cultural dialogue. The implementation of the strategy on rapprochement between the Madahib will feature high on the agenda of an international symposium on the subject. Cooperation, within the framework of this dialogue, will be carried out with the Organization's traditional partners of the OIC system and other specialized Islamic institutions.

II-  Promoting Islamic Culture of Muslim Minorities and Communities

ISESCO's previous Action Plans have given special consideration to Muslim minorities and communities, during several international and local meetings and extended support to cultural institutions, mainly through cooperation with the World Islamic Call Society (Libya). These actions will be carried on and consolidated, with ISESCO's traditional partners of the OIC and other specialized Islamic institutions, for a more fruitful cultural dialogue. To this end, relevant activities will be materialized in the Action Plan through the working out of a strategy of Islamic cultural action in the west. Two coordination meetings of the Muslim minorities and communities will be held, in a first stage. These sessions will make recommendations that will be submitted to all cultural institutions of the Muslim minorities and communities. Support will also be extended to these institutions to facilitate the cultural expression of the Muslim minorities and communities. In this vein, a special attention will be granted to women and children who will benefit from Islamic art and handicraft training workshops, as well as holiday camps to discover Muslim countries. The women training is designed to help them preserve and acquire artistic and handicraft skills that will contribute to the flourishing of the Islamic civilization.

III- Promoting Exchange of Islamic Cultural Products :

In contrast with the programme on the cultural industries which focuses only on the exchange of products, the present programme covers all cultural products, mainly painting, calligraphy, handicraft and photography. The promotion of exchange in the field of culture is fraught with obstacles that need to be removed. That is why, a reflection will be conducted by experts from Member States on means to facilitate the movement of cultural products, in cooperation with several of our partners, such as ISESCO, OIF and ALESCO.

Moreover, emphasis will be laid on the promotion of creativity, because quality needs to be enhanced if we are to boost exchange. Consequently, the teaching of certain Islamic arts -such as calligraphy and ornamentation, should be supported or introduced in Member States, where they are less developed or not existing, especially in sub-Saharan states. The proper exchange will be boosted through the holding by ISESCO of exhibitions on cultural products, in cooperation with the countries selected and the Organization's partners from the OIC system and other specialized Islamic institutions.

IV- Strategy for addressing the phenomenon of Brain Drain and Benefiting from migrant brains

The brain drain has, indeed, social, economic, political and scientific roots that go beyond the competencies of the Islamic Organization. However, the Organization is determined to study this phenomenon by developing a strategy to benefit from the capabilities of migrant brains in response to the instructions of the Organization's Executive Council issued at its 20th Session, on the ground that they bore on the cultural and intellectual flourishing of the Ummah. Accordingly, ISESCO will continue analyzing the deep reasons of the phenomenon of brain drain and the means likely to help benefit from migrant scientists. Such analysis was already started during the international expert meeting of Potsdam, held in June 2000. The meeting paved the way for the working out of a strategy in this field. To this end, international meetings will be held in cooperation with the institutions of the OIC system and other Islamic bodies, with a view to finalizing the mechanisms for implementation of the strategy on the phenomenon of brain drain and on ways of taking advantage from the capabilities of migrant scientists.