The League of Islamic Universities convened representatives from Islamic jurisprudence bodies, major universities, experts in international law, as well as academics and thinkers, to deliberate on issues of freedom and their real-world implications and practice.
This took place during a scholarly international conference titled, “Framing Liberties According to Islamic Values and Principles of International Law.”
The conference was held in the Moroccan capital, Rabat, and was inaugurated by the president of the League, Sheikh Mohammed Al-Issa.
The meeting takes place against the backdrop of increasing crimes committed against Islamic and religious sanctities in general, under the pretext of “freedom of opinion and expression.”
The conference included scholarly sessions that hold significant importance in clarifying this noble human value, which holds great significance in Islam, and in establishing the desired academic role in education and intellectual stimulation towards a future that fosters more solidarity, understanding, and respect among followers of religions and civilizations.
This aims to address the narratives of cultural clash and religious conflict.
In his opening speech at the conference, Al-Issa emphasized that a rational approach does not accept that the legislative understanding of freedoms remains unchecked without a framework that upholds values and preserves rights, particularly the dignity of others, especially their sanctities.
According to Al-Issa, this framework also prevents the ignorant and the malicious from employing freedom of expression in a way that harms world peace and the harmony of societies.
A final statement was issued by the conference, in which the participants agreed that honoring and respecting humanity is a common ground among followers of religions and cultures.
They emphasized that nurturing and developing humans spiritually, intellectually, and materially forms the cornerstone of constructing civilized societies aimed at repairing the world and bringing happiness to individuals.
As per the communique, freedom is considered a fundamental human value guaranteed to everyone, like other values and principles, but is neither arbitrary nor synonymous with chaos and recklessness.
Moreover, the final statement emphasized the call to countries that have permitted the burning of copies of the Holy Quran to “reexamine their constitutional concepts, restore their cultural awareness, and recall the lessons of history.”
It said that those countries should avoid conflating the humane meaning of freedoms with the chaos that detracts from that meaning, especially by allowing the concept of freedoms to deteriorate into insulting the dignity of others and inciting futile conflicts between nations and peoples solely based on religious and ideological differences.
