Home > News > ISNA Convenes Scholars in Mauritania to Discuss Religious Minorities' Rights
ISNA Convenes Scholars in Mauritania to Discuss Religious Minorities' Rights
(Washington, DC - July 12, 2012)
Last week, ISNA President Imam Mohamed Magid and ISNA Director of Community
Outreach Dr. Mohamed Elsanousi convened a small multilateral forum of scholars
in Mauritania to discuss challenges faced by religious minorities in
Muslim-majority communities around the world. Since last year, the
Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) has dedicated substantial efforts to
this issue.
As part of its mission, ISNA seeks
to help represent the voice of diverse Muslim communities within the United
States, as well as to represent an American voice within Muslim communities
around the world. Both goals require heightened attentiveness to issues
of religious freedom and civil liberties, which we seek to address through
positive interreligious partnerships both here in the U.S. and abroad. As
a result, we have become increasingly concerned not only about the challenges
faced by Muslim minorities within the United States, but also those faced by
religious minorities in Muslim-majority communities around the world.
Over recent years, we have heard
numerous reports about serious violations of the rights of religious minorities
in Muslim-majority countries. These incidents stand in stark contrast to
the values and traditions of Islam. Historically, when such circumstances
arise which run counter to our Islamic theology, it has always been the role of
Islamic scholars to intervene. As such, the Islamic Society of North
America, is currently working together with Muslim leaders worldwide to promote
a mechanism for developing Islamic standards and protocols on religious freedom
and the role of religious minorities in the Muslim-majority communities.
This effort is also in line with ISNA's domestic priorities, because poor
treatment of religious minorities in Muslim-majority communities also has a
substantial and negative effect on the manner in which Muslim minorities are
regarded and treated in the West.
To address this issue, ISNA has met
with Muslim scholars and high-level government officials in several countries,
including Morocco, Tunisia, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia, to discuss the importance
of elevating this issue to the forefront of scholarly discussion in the Muslim
world. We have also organized and participated in several events,
including a symposium with
Georgetown University's Alwaleed bin Talal Center for Christian-Muslim
Understanding this past May in Washington, DC.
The meeting last week was hosted by
Shaykh Abdallah bin Bayyah, Vice Chair of the International Union of Muslim
Scholars, in his new Global Centre for Renewal and Guidance in Nouakchott,
Mauritania. Participants included Dr. Nourredine al-Khademi, Tunisian
Minister of Religious Affairs; Dr. Ahmed Toufiq, Moroccan Minister of Islamic
Affairs and Endowment; Mr. Rashad Hussain, President Obama's Special Envoy to the
Organization of Islamic Cooperation; Dr. Ahmed Ould Neini, Mauritanian Minister
of Islamic Affairs; Dr. Abderrazak Juessoum, President of the Algerian Muslim
Scholars Association; and other prominent scholars. The scholars also met
with President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz of Mauritania to brief him on the
purpose of their visit to Mauritania and the goal of their project. The
President was very supportive and offered the scholars his assistance
facilitating the development of solutions to this enormous challenge.