HE the Advisory Council Speaker Ahmed bin Abdullah bin Zaid al-Mahmoud said the Islamic world today is full of all kinds of oppression and injustice and Muslims face serious risks that target their existence and survival as a nation and people.
The speaker was addressing the 13th conference of the parliamentary union of Organisation of Islamic Co-operation (OIC), being held in the Iranian capital of Tehran yesterday. At the outset, al-Mahmoud thanked Iran for hosting the event while expressing his condolences for the victims of the Iranian oil tanker, which sank off the coast of China earlier this week, killing 30 Iranian crew members.
In his speech, al-Mahmoud said attacks against Muslims and their rights have seen a rise in different parts of the world.
“They have underestimated Muslims and attacked them in Palestine, Myanmar and other countries.” He added that, “Islam calls for unity and solidarity,” pointing out that, on the contrary, “Muslims are riven by differences and disagreements on various issues and wasted their efforts and energies in non-useful matters, in what leads to weakening and diminishing their position among the nations.”
In this regard, he cited the unjust siege imposed on Qatar by the neighbouring countries. Al-Mahmoud pointed out that the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said in an official report that the measures taken by the siege countries against Qatar exceeded the limits of diplomatic procedures, and that it is not just a boycott because it grossly violated humanitarian, economic, social rights adding that the report referred to these actions as an ‘economic warfare’.
The speaker said that the conference for all Islamic countries, considering it representative of the will of the Muslim peoples belonging to this union, carries the message of peace, tolerance and brotherhood and went on to liken those who deny the virtue of Islam and Muslims to humanity to those who deny the light of the sun in broad daylight.
The speaker added that, “Muslim scientists are the pioneers of civilisation, progress, science and technology.” Further, he added, “prominent Muslim scientists such as Jaber bin Hayyan in chemistry; Abu Bakr al-Khwarizmi, Buzjani and Omar Khiam in mathematics; Abu Bakr al-Razi, Sinan ibn Thabit ibn Qurra and Ibn Sina in medicine; Hassan bin al-Haytham in optics; Abuhadhifa Dinuri and Ibn al-Roumiyah in botany; and al-Qazwini and al-Idrisi in geography and astronomy, were all popular for their scientific contributions.” He added that, “Islam is the religion of mercy, tolerance, peace and equal treatment for all human beings, regardless of religion, race and colour.”
Concerning the Palestinian issue, the speaker said that in this situation, “everyone is saddened by the pain and sorrow of what is seen everyday from the cruelty of the military machine of the Israeli occupation, which is trying by all means to break the resistance.”
He added that, “Qatar has not spared any effort to support the steadfastness and resistance of the Palestinian people in the face of the continuing aggression of Israeli forces.”
During the conference, al-Mahmoud reiterated Qatar’s call for activating all resolutions on Jerusalem from the UN Security Council, the United Nations General Assembly and the numerous Arab and Islamic conferences adopted by the OIC parliamentary union.
With regard to terrorism and human rights, the speaker pointed out that Qatar calls for a distinction between the right of defence and resistance to occupation and terrorism against civilians, stressing that addressing the phenomenon of terrorism is not limited to the security aspect, but must be fought intellectually and ideologically in order to dry its sources.
He also said that Qatar calls to provide support to Muslim minorities suffering from persecution and injustice in many regions of the world, especially Muslim minorities in Myanmar, southern Philippines and Central Africa so as not to be forced to use violence to defend themselves and their religion.
At the end of his speech, the speaker of the Advisory Council said that, “four experienced and competent women joined the Qatari Advisory Council at its current session,” adding that this comes within the framework of increasing women’s involvement in political work and their role. The speaker also thanked Tunisia, Algeria and Sudan for their concession to the candidate of Senegal for the post of OIC secretary-general, wishing the conference would achieve its goals and what Muslims aspire to.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani opened the conference and delivered the opening speech. Rouhani stressed the importance of strengthening and consolidating the relations of co-operation and exchange of views among Islamic countries. He called on the Islamic world to put differences aside and rely on its internal human and social potential, stressing that the preoccupation with conflicts does not provide the opportunity for construction and development.
President Rouhani referred also to the important role played by parliaments in reflecting people’s views and participation in the administration of the country.
He explained that the main reason for the instability of the region is the US support for the Zionist entity, considering that the American move against Jerusalem is a violation of all international laws, noting that terrorism led to the deviation of the compass from Jerusalem and Palestine.
President Rouhani noted the importance of the role of Muslim parliaments in consolidating unity, adding that the Muslim world is facing serious obstacles, and confronting these obstacles, including military intervention and the spread of discrimination, will come through solving internal problems.