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Muslim World League

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Muslim World League
AbbreviationMWL
Formation1962
TypeNGO
Legal statusfoundation
HeadquartersMakkah, Saudi Arabia
LeaderDr. Abdullah bin Abdul Mohsin Al-Turki
Affiliations–The United Nations Organization: Observer in consultative status with the ECOSOC.

– Organization of the Islamic Conference: Observe status in attendance at all meetings and conferences.
– ISESCO: Member

– UNICEF: Member
Websitewww.themwl.org

Introduction Saudi Arabia is the leading contributor member of the Muslim Countries funding the Muslim World League. Along with other member states, they seek to establish a brand of Islam that adheres to the precepts of Gad and the tradition of the Prophet Muhammad. Their quest is to steer this Muslim organization away from the "fundamentalism" preached and followed by some. The Muslim World League's work stems from Makkah the cradle of revelation: the Quran and the beginning of the message of Islam. It's necessary for the MWL to use these basic texts of the true Islam to reach people. It is these authentic texts that the Rabita needed to propagate and call people to tolerance, harmony and peaceful coexistence. The League's is relentlessly pursuing the establishment of a human society based on the principles of genuine faith. It teaches people to keep away from violence, terrorism and extremism. It addition, the preachers (Da'eya-sing, Da'e) working with the Rabita are sent to Africa, Asia, Europe, North and Latin America to teach the real Islam. These, educate people about the right way to live according to their religion. Books of renowned scholars are used as reference to instill the proper concept of Islam. Islam is after all a moralistic religion that preach moderation, tolerance and coexistence between humans. Like any other organization, the Muslim World League has also contributed in building mosques, schools and cultural and women's centers in many parts of the world where is needed. Today, the Muslim World League is still doing all it can to improve the status of Muslims at all education and social levels.


The League has Observer in consultative status with the ECOSOC (United Nations Economic and Social Council) in the United Nations, Observer status in attendance at all Islamic summit meetings and conferences of the Islamic Foreign Ministers with the Organization of the Islamic Conference, and is a member of UNESCO and UNICEF.[1]

History

Following a meeting of 22 prominent Muslim religious figures held in 1962, the Muslim World League saw the light. The then Crown Prince Faisal Bin Abdulaziz has been seen as the founding figure. Since its inception, the Rabita has been working on promoting the adherence to a clear teaching of Islam. It encouraged the moderate stance that the Prophet Muhammad has preached. It is noteworthy that Dr.Said Ramadan has been banned from coming to Saudi Arabia to participate in any of the Rabita's activities. Hence, he wasn't a founding member of the Muslim World League as it is stated.

Structure

According to various sources, the MWL is funded primarily by the Saudi-Arabian government.[2][3]

The current Secretary General is Dr. Abdallah Ben Abdel Mohsen At-Turki, a Saudi cleric. According to its website, the Secretariat General is the executive wing of the League. It supervises the Leagues day-to-day activities, and implements the policies and resolutions adopted by the Constituent Council. According to Hamid Algar, the statutes of the League require that the head of the Secretariat General be a Saudi citizen.[4]

The League website lists three councils affiliated with the League:

  • The General Islamic Conference – the body that originally founded the League. There have been four meetings of the conference, in 1962, 1965, 1987, 2002.[5]
  • The Constituent Council – the council has "about 60 members who are "prominent Muslim scholars representing Muslim peoples and minorities".[5] The presidency of the council is vested in the chief mufti of Saudi Arabia.[4]
  • World Supreme Council for Mosques – "has an independent legal personality". It was founded was in 1975 at the "Message of the Mosque" conference, held "under the auspices of the Muslim World League."[5]

In addition to the councils, the League has seven other "bodies" with various functions;[6][7]

Mission

According to scholar Olivier Roy, while "not openly Wahhabi", the WML "encourages" a type of Islam that is "very clearly conservative fundamentalist, based on a return to the Quran and the Sunna," and attempts "through publishing, grants and the organization of colloquia and seminars", to "influence" Islamist activity in a "conservative direction," away from "the issue of political power".[9]

The website of the WML states its functions and objectives as:

  • advocating the application of the rules of the Shariah either by individuals, groups, or states;
  • coordinating the efforts of Islamic preachers the world over;
  • developing methods for the propagation of Islam, peacefully in accord with the Qur'an and the Sunnah;
  • education and culture; holding symposia, rehabilitation, and refresher courses;
  • bringing intellectuals and opinion leaders together during the pilgrimage season with the aim of fostering closer relations among them and urging them to develop practical methods of raising the standard of Muslims in the world;
  • overseeing the activities of the Fiqh Council and lending it the support it needs to find Islamic solutions to contemporary problems;
  • promoting activities that aim at spreading the Arabic language and raising the standard of teaching to both Arabs and non-Arabs;
  • setting up branch offices as well as Islamic centers to serve the purpose of Islam;
  • extending urgent relief to Muslims affected by war and natural disasters; and making the activities and construction of mosques more effective.[10]

It also includes "Elucidating the true Islamic tenets, refuting the false allegations against Islam, combating the defamation of its image and the misguidance that is directed against call of the truth.".[1]

Activities

In addition to using its own funds for activities, the League connects recipients with donors. It will "identified worthy beneficiaries" of funds to build a mosque or subsidize an Islamic association, "invited them to Saudi Arabia, and give them the recommendation (tazkiya) that would later provide them with largesse from a generous private donor, a member of the royal family, a prince, or an ordinary businessman."[2]

In a rare decision on orthodox Muslim faith the Muslim World League declared in April 1974 (by fatwa) that followers of the Ahmadiyyah movement are to be considered "non-Muslims“.[11]

Federal agents raided the U.S. offices of the Muslim World League after the attacks of 9/11. Abdurahman Alamoudi, who worked for the League, was convicted for sending funds to terrorist groups.[12]

The League also actively engages in inter-faith dialogue with Jewish, Christian and Sikh personalities.[13]

While the MWL activities are primarily limited to those of a religious nature it has sometimes ventured into political activities. As the Soviet Union was seen to be losing in the Soviet–Afghan War, but before its dissolution, Sayyid Hassan Mutuhar writing in Muslim World League's weekly newspaper, (Muslim World News, March 20, 1990), reportedly described "popular revolts" in former Soviet Republics as "sufficient grounds to invoke the principle of Jus Quasitum (the right to recover), so expressly dealt with in the Holy Quran".[14] During the Second Chechen War, the secretary-general of the MWL, Abdullah bin Salah al-Obaid, reportedly declared (on November 16, 1999) that the Russian "federal subject" Dagestan, like Chechnya, had the right to secede from Russia and be an independent state. Bin Salah al-Obaid condemned Russian incursions into "Islamic territories" of the former Soviet Union.[15][16]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "MUSLIM WORL LEAGUE (sic)" (PDF). themwl.org. Retrieved 6 April 2015.
  2. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference kepel-MWL was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Dore Gold quotes a local representative of the Muslim World League as saying: "Let me tell you one thing. The Muslim World League, which is the mother of IIRO, is a fully government-funded organization. In other words, I work for the government of Saudi Arabia." Dore Gold (April 6, 2003). "Reining in Riyadh". Retrieved August 11, 2014.
  4. ^ a b Algar, Hamid (2002). Wahhabism: A Critical Essay. Oneonta, NY: Islamic Publications International. pp. 49, 50.
  5. ^ a b c "Muslim World League. Profile". Muslim World League. Retrieved 27 August 2014.
  6. ^ Muslim World League DiscoverTheNetwork.org
  7. ^ Muslim World League Islamic Focus
  8. ^ Holy Qur’an Memorization International sees more than 40,000 Qur’an students| Arab News| 1 December 2012
  9. ^ Roy, Olivier (1994). The Failure of Political Islam. Translated by Carol Volk. Harvard University Press. p. 116.
  10. ^ "Muslim World League and World Assembly of Muslim Youth". Pew Research. Sep 15, 2010. Retrieved Aug 2, 2013.
  11. ^ Yohanan Friedmann. Prophecy Continuous. Aspects of Ahmadi Religious Thought and Its Medieval Background. Oxford University Press, New Delhi. p. 44.
  12. ^ Paul Sperry. Infiltration: How Muslim Spies and Subversives have Penetrated Washington. Thomas Nelson. p. 80,106,212.
  13. ^ "World Conference on Dialogue". Muslim World League. Retrieved 27 January 2015.
  14. ^ Gold, Hatred's Kingdom, 2003: p.136
  15. ^ http://www.lega-musulmana.it/Attualit%C3%A0/Comunicato6.htm (dead link)
  16. ^ Gold, Hatred's Kingdom, 2003: p.139

Further reading

  • Johannes Grundmann: Islamische Internationalisten – Strukturen und Aktivitäten der Muslimbruderschaft und der Islamischen Weltliga. Reichert Verlag, Wiesbaden, 2005, ISBN 3-89500-447-2 (Review by I. Küpeli)
  • Dore Gold: Hatred's Kingdom: How Saudi Arabia Supports the New Global Terrorism, pages 74–78, ISBN 978-0895260611, Regnery Publishing, 2004

External links

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