Strategy of Islamic Cultural Action in the West

Adopted at the Ninth Islamic Summit Conference held in Doha – State of Qatar, 2000

Preface

The Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO) is aware that any civilizational project targeting the prosperity of human life and its protection from perversion can only run smoothly when guided by regulating methods and constructive strategies, abiding by God’s Word “To each among you have We prescribed a Law and a Way”. Since its inception in 1982, the Organization has, therefore, striven to produce standard methods, guiding manuals as well as educational, scientific and cultural strategies. The rationale behind this is to meet the expectations of Islamic communities in the areas of development and civilization, and to satisfy their aspiration to occupy a suitable place among the other nations at the beginning of the twenty-first century.

Motivated thereby, ISESCO devised “A Strategy for Educational Development in the Islamic World”, which was adopted by the Third ISESCO General Conference in Oman in 1988. It also drew up “ The Cultural Strategy for the Islamic World” adopted by the Sixth Islamic Summit Conference held in Dakar in 1991. Subsequently, ISESCO devised “The Strategy for the Development of Science and Technology in Islamic Countries”, which was adopted by the Eighth Islamic Summit Conference held in Tehran in 1997.

Since the Muslim immigrant communities in Europe are part of the Islamic nation, and given that their second and third generations have made the existence of these communities permanent rather than temporary, we should identify the specificities of their referential framework so as to preserve their cultural identity on the one hand, and to indicate the scope of their relation to their new community and its human civilization on the other.

Given these considerations, the Islamic immigrant communities and minorities are given a priority in the Organization’s successive plans and educational, scientific and cultural programmes. ISESCO has offered support to their institutions to consolidate their efforts, organized training sessions to sensitize their administrators to their civilizational mission, and issued books to study their conditions and deal with their educational and cultural matters. In so doing, the Organization’s mission has been to highlight the tolerant values of Islam in co-existence and cooperation; and to foreground Islam’s mission to enrich human civilization and tackle the most complicated challenges of our time. ISESCO’s work is also targeted at rectifying the distortion affecting the image of Islam, and immunizing its moral awakening against perversion. Further, the Organization has been committed to unifying efforts, reconciling views, and coordinating positions among those involved in the Islamic cultural and educational arena in Europe.

Within this framework, ISESCO organized three meetings ; the first in Château Chinon, France, in 1993, the second in Madrid, Spain, in 1996 and the third in Brussels, Belgium, in 1997. All these meetings stressed the pressing need to devise a strategy for Islamic cultural practice in Europe.

Striving, through this strategy, to firmly establish the tolerant values of Islam, to coordinate all genuine efforts, and to preserve Islamic identity in Muslim immigrant communities and minorities in the West, the Organization believes that serious cultural action can only have its objectives accomplished by constructive dialogue.

May God assist us accomplish our mission for this work to benefit our Islamic nation. May God bless all those who have contributed to the completion of this work.

Dr. Abdulaziz Othman Altwaijri
Director General of ISESCO