World Muslim Congress

Not to be confused with the World Islamic Congress.

The World Muslim Congress (Motamar al-Alam al-Islami) (Arabic: مؤتمر العالم الإسلامي) is an Islamic organization based in Karachi. Its co-founder and Secretary-General for over four decades was Inamullah Khan. It was the recipient of the 1987 Niwano Peace Prize,[1] and Khan was the recipient of the 1988 Templeton Prize.[2] It has general consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council.

The Congress was founded at the 1949 World Muslim Conference in Karachi, following the creation of Pakistan in 1947. Mohammad Amin al-Husayni, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, who presided over the Conference, was elected President of the Congress.[3] Its cofounder and Secretary-General for over four decades was Inamullah Khan.[4]

Although formally founded in 1949, the Congress traces its roots to a Congress hosted in Mecca in 1926 hosted by Ibn Saud of Saudi Arabia shortly after his occupation of Mecca and Medina; he "hoped [it] would confer Islamic sanction upon his administration of the holy cities, instead [it] leveled many criticisms, and he did not reconvene it."[5] Mohammad Amin al-Husayni had also been a leading figure at this Congress.[4]

According to Husain Haqqani, formerly Pakistan's ambassador to the US, the Congress "has... played a crucial role in building up the feeling of Muslim victimization that has subsequently fed the global Islamist movement."[3]

See also

References

  1. Niwano Peace Foundation, The World Muslim Congress
  2. New York Times, 19 April 1988, Anti-Semitism Charges Lead To Delay on Religion Prize
  3. 1 2 Husain Haqqani (2005), May 19, 2005, The Ideologies of South Asian Jihadi Groups, Current Trends in Islamist Ideology, vol. 1
  4. 1 2 World Muslim Congress, History
  5. Martin Kramer, "Muslim Congresses", The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern Islamic World

External links

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