At the formal invitation of the evangelical leaders in Texas, which represents the center of the evangelical community in the United States of America, His Excellency Sheikh Dr. Muhammad bin Abdulkarim Al-Issa, Secretary-General of the Muslim World League, President of the Association of Muslim Scholars, was presented as a guest of honor at the extraordinary event held by the “International Forum of Religions 2022” themed: “Unusual allies build together prosperous communities”, and hosted for the first time by the three most important American states comprising the American evangelical community, numbering more than 90 million. It is the state of Texas, which is the first and most important incubator for “evangelicals” in the world, the state of Kansas, where the largest American churches are, and the state of Maryland, with official representation and participation from the US government and leaders of American religious diversity along with a number of international organizations, representatives of the American Muslim community, and a selection of influential religious, community, intellectual and academic events inside and outside the United State. This is also in the presence of hundreds of thousands of audiences at the three sites of the historic event, and through the platforms that directly broadcast it.
The forum witnessed an introduction to the “Makkah Charter” and a welcoming introduction to the guest of honor, His Excellency Secretary-General of the MWL, Sheikh Dr. Muhammad bin Abdulkarim Al-Issa in addition to a speech delivered by the Ambassador of Religious Freedom in the current US administration. Then, His Excellency Sheikh Dr. Al-Issa presented the key working paper in the opening session of the forum as his word was the focus of discussion for the sessions of the first day of the forum.
In his introductory speech delivered at the main church of the Evangelical community in the United States of America, Evangelical leader, Bob Robert, said: “We are delighted that Dr. Al-Issa is hosted by the General Forum, the most famous international religious figure in the Islamic world, with his leadership of an organization representing all Islamic peoples, based in the holy city of Makkah. He is also the figure whose name was carved in the field of making the global peace and building bridges among religions, cultures and civilizations. Bob Robert added: “Dr. Al-Issa is a strong moderate voice that our world urgently needs today in the face of the voices of hatred, racism and extremism.”
Bob Robert continued: “We are proud of our strong partnership with the Muslim World League, led by Dr. Al-Issa, in its latest distinguished march to establish community co-existence and global peace and we should work together side by side in bridging the negative gaps among followers of religions and cultures, especially the hate speech, racism and intolerance propagated by extremists, fanatics and proponents of clash,”. He stressed that such exceptional leadership and with these joint efforts “are what always gives us hope to overcome the crises of reality and look forward to a better future for our world, in which we are united by love, common interests, and the will for the goodness of our human communities.” Bob Robert also praised the “Makkah Charter”, which presented a role model in conveying the civilized image of Islam to the whole world.
His Excellency Sheikh Dr. Muhammad Al-Issa, Secretary-General of the Muslim World League, in his speech to the audience, stressed that the true progress comes only when action and courage are combined with a strong determination to create a better world for all people regardless of religious, ethnic or other differences. He also explained that striving for making a better change “is not easy, because it needs a long-time course, and all of this requires a sound and ambitious vision.”
In making change towards our common human values, Dr. Al-Issa stressed the importance of the fruitful meetings with their effective dialogues, in addition to the importance of the inter-faith meetings among followers of different religions and cultures. His Excellency Dr. Al-Issa added: “I am happy that our dialogue today has resulted in a strong alliance to support our common values.” He continued to say, “Hate speech is at the forefront of the causes of division and violence, and it must be criminalized in all legislations and laws, with no leniency in its pretexts.”
His Excellency touched upon important contents of the “Makkah Charter”, which was ratified in the holy city of Makkah by more than 1,200 Muslim religious figures. The Charter was also endorsed by more than 4,500 Islamic thinkers who attended the historic conference of Makkah Charter, from 139 countries, representing 27 Islamic denomination and sects. Dr. Al-Issa pointed out that this Charter is considered the most important Islamic document in modern Islamic history, due to its universal remedies of the most important contemporary issues and problems, and for the unprecedented Islamic consensus of its kind along with the official support for it by Islamic countries.
His Excellency concluded by saying: “We share the building of a world in which there is no room for fanaticism, discrimination and injustice among us, seeking with our common values and strong determination to promote a more inclusive and just world.” His Excellency praised the human values of the evangelical community and expressed his happiness with the friendship of the Muslim World League with this community, which we consider a reliable ally.
After that, the Ambassador-at-Large for Religious Freedom in the US Administration touched on the importance of protecting religious minorities around the world. He said: “I want all of you to know that we cannot do this work without you. You are our partners in civil community, and you are often more effective than us in doing this work; because you have credibility of your group, you have credibility in working with them. I believe that cooperation between the government and the civil community can achieve this important task.
For his part, former Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom in the US administration, Sam Brownback, said: “I believe that peace in the world will be achieved if the followers of the three religions can communicate with each other and agree to commit to dialogue and reject violence.” He also stressed that “the values adhered to by the followers of the three religions reject violence and call for peace, saying: “We all belong to one great- grandfather, who is Abraham. We are brothers. We must always remember this.”
Former ambassador for international religious freedom in the US administration, Mr. David Saperstein, expressed his great admiration for what His Excellency Dr. Al-Issa presented, calling for the circulation of the working paper delivered by Dr. Al-Issa and its publication in various parts of the world.
Executive Director of the World Food Program, David Beasley, whose organization has recently won the Nobel Peace Prize, stressed that the hotbeds of conflict in the world teach us something important that the lack of communication among the followers of religions causes much pain to all of them. Beasley added: “We don’t care about the religion of that hungry kid, what matters is that he never starves again. We see the consequences of religious discrimination all over the world. At the end of the day, one does not think of the children he saved, but of the children he failed to save. One person starves to death every four seconds. One must love for his brother what he loves for himself. If we could carry out this principle in places of conflict, people would not fight.”
Christine Kane, a human rights activist said: “When we look at the religious backgrounds of the victims of human trafficking, we find that they are from all the world’s religions,” She added: “Well, as long as they are united in harm, why are not they united in benefit?” She emphasized that joint action among followers of all faiths is the only way to end human trafficking and modern slavery.
The meetings of His Excellency the Secretary-General of the Muslim World League with Evangelical Leaders included three cities in three US states, during which he met with its leaders in large celebrations attended by thousands of evangelists in a scene that everyone considered exceptional and unprecedented event. In their final statement, these leaders affirmed that the Muslim World League represents, in their discourse, the Islamic religious reference, and that it is a strong and reliable ally to work on common values
