I was pleased to take part in The eleventh Global Forum of the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC) held in Riyadh this week, a capital of alliances and coexistence, in the presence of the United Nations Secretary-General Mr. António Guterres; Prince Faisal bin Farhan, Saudi Minister of Foreign Affairs; and Mr. Miguel Moratinos, High Representative for the Alliance and UN Special Envoy to Combat Islamophobia, alongside many leaders, officials, thinkers, religious figures, and representatives of international and regional organizations, the private sector, civil society, academia, youth, the arts, sports, and the media, who all believe in the need to build a single human family.
The Forum provided an opportunity to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of the initiative’s founding and to chart a roadmap for its future course in the pursuit of global peace. At the eleventh Forum, we addressed the global security environment, especially since its four defining characteristics especially since its four overarching challenges (volatility, apprehension, complexity, and ambiguity) are increasingly shaping our lives, leaving expert strategists scrambling to diagnose the present and anticipate the future in order to push it in a peaceful and civilizational direction...
The United Nations Alliance of Civilizations Chair that I have the honor of heading took part in the deliberations. In our intervention, we drew on remarks made by Prince Faisal bin Farhan, Saudi Minister of Foreign Affairs. Prince Faisal stressed that youth are the true embodiment of hope: “They are the leaders of the future and messengers of peace. In this context, I cannot help but express my great pleasure at seeing such a large number of young people in this hall. A youth forum is being held on the sidelines of this forum, and this venue will host the graduation of the eighth cohort of the Young Leaders Qualification Program of the (Salam) Project for Civilizational Communication. Accordingly, it can be said that this United Nations Alliance of Civilizations forum is a forum for youth.”
I fully agree, and his speech is consistent with the framework of the United Nations Chair for the Alliance of Civilizations. Together with the United Nations, we have designed a set of specialized university training programs in the field of the Alliance of Civilizations targeting young people. These include specialized master’s programs in international conflict resolution, attended by students from many countries around the world and taught by international judges, high representatives of certain international bodies, academics, experts, and global specialists who believe in the principles of coexistence. We have also established a doctoral program in which students of many nationalities pursue dissertations in the field of the Alliance of Civilizations and the peaceful resolution of conflicts. We also hold training and consultancy activities, organize training courses and international forums, and encourage young people around the world to engage in positive thinking on how to shape the future of the world.
In his opening address, Miguel Moratinos stressed the need for all cultures and civilizations to enjoy an equal voice in shaping an increasingly complex world. He raised the alarm about the “return of hatred” and stressed the need for vigilance in the face of discrimination and division. He cited a verse from the Holy Qur’an, from Surat al-Hujurat: “O humanity! Indeed, We created you from a male and a female, and made you into peoples and tribes so that you may know one another. Surely the most noble of you in the sight of Allah is the most righteous among you. Allah is truly All-Knowing, All-Aware.” He also reaffirmed that Islam is a religion of peace and stressed that there must be zero tolerance for Islamophobia in every country.
This line of thought led me to call for the revival of the spirit of the historic Hilf al-Fudul and its virtues, to reinforce global peace, spread a culture of coexistence, reject violence and hatred, and work for the interest of humanity everywhere all time, promoting the spirit of sustainable peace worldwide. Hilf al-Fudul was a pact concluded to support the weak and the aggrieved by the notables of Quraysh in the pre-Islamic era, and it was praised by the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), who said that he would have joined it if he were alive to see it. Every Muslim should follow its example, extending a hand to all who seek to establish such a covenant.
That pact was concluded in the pre-Islamic era and was not founded on religious or ethnic grounds. Rather, the parties were united around noble goals and shared human values. For this reason, Islam endorsed it and spoke highly of it, reviving the model whenever the need for it arises. The call for a new Hilf al-Fudul thus rests on two premises: first, shared awareness of the reason for the impasse that humanity now finds itself, as a result of the contemporary civilizational model’s (embraced by all humanity) failure to live up to its hope for prosperity and stability. Second, the conviction that we share human values. These are universal values upon which minds do not differ and which are not affected by changes of time, the constraints of geography, or impulses, because their deep roots protect them from the waves of time and the arbitrary side of humanity.
