Ahlul Bayt News Agency (ABNA.ir), At the close of the First Conference of African Ulema in Dakar on Thursday, participants called on Muslim religious scholars and intellectuals in Africa to work towards anchoring the Islamic values and enhance their role in the promotion of comprehensive development.
They also invited governments, public and private institutions, thinkers, international organizations and NGOs to foster scientific research and knowledge sharing towards comprehensive sustainable development in the Muslim World.
The opening session, chaired by the Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade, was attended by the respective presidents of the Senegalese Senate and National Assembly, the Prime Minister, members of the government, ambassadors, MPs and representatives of the delegations of 33 African countries and 8 international and regional organizations.
The Ulema (Muslim religious scholars) who took part in the conference, which was held under the patronage of the Senegalese President, called on the international community to explore the opportunities offered by Islamic financing in order to reshape the economic and financial patterns which proved ineffective at handling the world food, economic and financial crises.
They also called for using Islamic financing to boost direct foreign investments in Africa and promote partnership between African investors and cooperation among businesspeople in the Muslim world.
In the same spirit, they stressed the need for a stronger Islamic solidarity and further human development through increased economic relations between Muslim countries, and underlined the importance of scientific and technological research for a sound sustainable development in the Muslim societies.
To that end, they called for upgrading Islamic education, recommended establishing an Islamic university in Senegal, and welcomed the proposal of President Wade to hold a world conference of Muslim scholars in Dakar in the foreseeable future.
Participants also decided to work for establishing an African society of Ulema in order to mobilize the efforts and intellectual contributions of African Muslim scholars towards solving the problems of their continent.
They recommended holding the conference on a biennial basis in any country offering to host it, called for establishing national, bilateral and regional focal points made of African Ulema, and welcomed the proposal that Senegal host such focal points.
Moreover, they expressed their solidarity with the Palestinian people, called for lifting the blockade imposed on Gaza, and strongly condemned the Israeli assault on the Freedom Flotilla.
Dr Abdelilah Benarafa, expert at the Directorate of Cultural and Communication who was elected as rapporteur of the Conference, represented ISESCO in that event to which he contributed a working paper on “the knowledge divide in the Muslim World in general and Africa in particular”.
End item/ 129