“We are holding this conference during the Haj season, following a tradition introduced by King Abdul Aziz who had instructed Muslim scholars to meet in Makkah to discuss contemporary Muslim issues and problems,” said MWL Secretary-General Abdullah Al-Turki.

This is the 12th annual conference organized by MWL during the Haj, he said, adding that it would discuss the status of Islamic dawa activities in various parts of the world to come up with proposals to make them more successful.

The conference would set out effective dawa programs for different countries. “We have sent invitations to a number of scholars, university professors and heads of Islamic centers to take part in the conference and present papers,” Al-Turki said.

Hassan Al-Ahdal, director general for media and public relations at the MWL, said the conference would be attended by a number of new Muslims. Previous conferences discussed topics such as Muslims in Europe, the role of the media, and youth issues.

“The opening session will be held at the MWL headquarters in Makkah while the remaining sessions will be held in Mina,” Al-Ahdal told Arab News. The papers presented at the conferences are published in a book form. “We send letters to Muslim governments and Islamic centers to implement the conference recommendations.”

Al-Ahdal said the conference offers a good opportunity for Muslim leaders to meet and discuss various issues facing their communities and find solutions to them. “This is one of the major objectives of Haj.”

The four-day conference will have four sessions to discuss various aspects of the main theses, such as the principles and importance of dawa, the methodology followed by the Prophets in disseminating the message of Islam, the challenges facing dawa activities, especially in Muslim minority communities, vision and expectations of dawa, and application of modern technology.