SHARJAH: Crown Prince of Sharjah Sheikh Sultan bin Mohammad Al-Qasimi opened the 19th conference of the International Islamic Fiqh Academy (IIFA) at the Al-Zuhri Hall in Sharjah yesterday.
In his address on the opening day of the five-day conference, Secretary-General of Endowments in Sharjah Sheikh Saqr Al-Qasimi, who also heads the Islamic Affairs Department in the emirate, stressed the policy of his government to support all efforts aimed at solving Islamic issues. “It is our duty to strive for Muslim unity in the light of the Holy Qur’an and Sunnah,” Al-Qasimi said.
IIFA, an offshoot of the Jeddah-based Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC), was established in 1983. Speaking on the occasion, OIC Secretary-General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu warned against the dangerous practice of issuing irresponsible interpretations of religious principles because the practice undoubtedly has prepared the ground for the growth of extremist ideas that have harmed the Muslim community and the outside world as well.
“The dangerous situation should be countered and the interpretation of the principles of fiqh (jurisprudence) should be returned to competent people so that corrupt and dubious ideologies do not gain influence among people,” Ihsanoglu said.
IIFA Chairman Saleh Bin-Humaid, who is also chairman of Saudi Arabia’s Supreme Judicial Council, stressed the immediate need of the Muslim world for religious scholars who can spread the right religious knowledge and guide people to the correct path.
“The prime goal of the academy is to explain Islamic law, focusing on its capability to solve contemporary issues in a comprehensive manner and bringing stability and welfare to humanity,” Bin-Humaid said.
IIFA Secretary-General Abdul Salam Al-Ebady said the academy plans to bring about total coordination in the issuing of fatwas (religious edicts) in the Muslim world with rapport between various schools of Islamic thought in addition to devising a uniform strategy in dealing with new issues. He added that the academy would unveil its new plans at an OIC foreign ministers’ conference in Damascus next month.
Wide-ranging topics, such as Islamic finance, banking, domestic abuse, health, medicine and environmental protection, besides religious tolerance under Shariah and freedom of expression, will feature in the discussions at the conference, Al-Ebady said in an earlier statement.
