With collaborative efforts from fellow Muslim nations, the Islamic community can successfully confront all the immense challenges surfacing for Islam, says President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih.
The Maldives President made this statement during his address at the 14th High-Level Summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), held in Mecca, Saudi Arabia.
During his statement, President Solih highlighted that Maldives is “consistent” in our advocacy on behalf of Muslims worldwide, examples of which include its unwavering support for the Palestinian cause and Maldives repeated condemnation of anti-Islamic bigotry.
President Solih departed to attend the summit on 29 May and was joined by Maldives Minister of Foreign Affairs, Abdulla Shahid.
Following their participation, FM Shahid took to twitter, writing that the challenges faced by the Islamic community can only be tackled by working "hand-in-hand".
While extensive discussions were held on some of the pressing issues surfacing for the global Muslim community including prevalence of Islamophobia, other discussions include regional peace in the Middle East as well as many such issues and difficulties that the Muslim community faces across the globe.
Since its inception in 1969, OIC has been known to be the aspiration to speak as the collective voice of the Islamic community. The summit is to gather heads of states and governments of countries with a majority of Muslims.
While summits are held once in every three years in accordance with the OIC charter to discuss matters of importance to the Muslim community, it currently comprises of 57-member state representing over a billion people.
This year’s summit focused on the growing prevalence of Islamophobia, regional security in the Middle East and of the growing threat posed by extremists, who willfully distort the peaceful message of Islam, revealed the President’s Office.
Before returning to Maldives, President Solih will be performing his Umrah pilgrimage and meeting with senior officials of Saudi Arabia.
