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Righteous deeds draw their greatness from their solid bases,
lofty goals and sound programs, and from their clear means which
enable them to achieve their humanitarian objectives. Their
contributions prosper and their dream comes true when they are
realistic and practical. It was from this base that the World
Islamic Call Society sprang since it was just a cherished dream of
its Muslim revolutionary founder Muammar al-Qaddafi whose moral
values emanate from a deep understanding of the message of Prophet
Mohammed (SAW). Soon after Allah enabled him to remove the tyranny
and darkness that were oppressing his people and his family and a
short time after cleansing the country from abomination and
despotism, and as an expression of gratitude to the Almighty, he
promptly invited a group of the Ulema of the Islamic Ummah from all
over the world to a general conference held in Tripoli in the period
from 13-18 Shawwal corresponding to 11-16 December 1970 (AD). The
founding leader participated in person in the proceedings of the
conference that was characterized by a frank and original dialogue.
He drew the Ulema’s attention to the need for the Muslims to assume
their responsibilities in compliance with God’s commands which
stipulate that the message of the seal of the prophets be delivered
and that people be invited to it through wisdom and beautiful
preaching, after purifying the message from all the fallacies that
have befallen it from worldly designs emanating from the events of
political, social and historical conflicts, and bringing it back to
its original purity. The Leader wished that the participants would
reach not just theoretical results or mere decisions similar to
those emanating from conventional conferences. He wanted their
conference to produce practical results that can be applied in real
life. It became clear to every one that they were facing a new long
and difficult stage, but one that was characterized by lofty goals
and a clear vision. This stage defines the problems and solves them
scientifically, objectively and originally to spread Islamic Daawa
all over the world through the means available, and that seeks to
achieve the following:
* Introducing the Holy Qur’an, teaching, memorizing and spreading
it through all means
* Introducing the glorious prophetic sira (biography) and
uncovering the lofty ideals from the life of the Prophet (SAW)
* Presenting Islam in a comprehensive way in all its aspects, as
a faith, morals, customs, and transactions and in a way that
purifies it from the fallacies and interpretations that are foreign
to the essence of Islam.
* Explaining the Holy Qur’an in a way that is compatible with all
the branches of human knowledge and science.
* Preparing and distributing periodicals, magazines and journals,
Islamic encyclopedias and books that would present the principles
and teachings of Islam and the Prophet’s sira and the values of
Islamic civilization with their translations in all languages.
* Holding meetings for Muslim students, youth and professionals
with a view to introducing Islam and spreading Islamic Daawa
* Contacting religious and scientific bodies and organizations
with a view to spreading Islamic Daawa
* Disseminating the Arabic language as the language of the Holy
Qur’an, and requesting that Islamic countries make it their official
language, and teaching it at all educational levels.
* Urging Islamic countries to adopt Sharia, and to amend their
laws according to its requirements and principles.
Since the publication of the closing statement of the first
meeting of the World Islamic Call Society, a number of experts drew
up a charter that defines the bases of a world body for Islamic Call
that would guarantee it its total financial and administrative
autonomy on solid bases which would enable the Society to shoulder
its responsibility, to realize its goals and to spread Islam as a
mercy to the worlds. The Charter includes the following fundamental
items:
1- The Society must have an Islamic identity; it should have an
international orientation and should possess the means of its
mobility. It must be run by means of a consultative system, and
should not be politically motivated. It should consolidate Islamic
unity; every Muslim committed to Islamic faith has the right to be a
candidate for running it, monitor its performance and contribute to
its activities in accordance with its charter, regardless of his
race or nationality; he should acknowledge the Oneness of God and
the Prophecy of Mohammed (SAW) and comply with the provisions of
Sharia.
2- Its funds should be free from any constraints or restraints,
and it should have its own investments in order to support its
financial autonomy through an effective monitoring system that would
guarantee transparency and as much economy as possible, and to draw
expenses from it to cover programmed activities.
3- Total commitment to spreading the Word of Allah through wisdom
and beautiful preaching, renouncing violence through all sound
means, and abstaining from any involvement in local political
conflicts. Its actions should be public, governed by agreements
concluded with government departments operating in the same field
while opening up to followers of other religions and faiths so that
it can convey the message to them on the basis of its being a mercy
to all.
4- Upon completion of the charter by the Charter committee, Law
number 58 was promulgated in 1972 AD to establish a new public
utility body that has an independent Plc whose resources are exempt
from all levies and taxes. Its funds are exempt from all financial
or banking transfer constraints. The Society’s funds cannot be
frozen or owned by prescription or acquired by the right to
possession. To achieve its goals. The body may cooperate with
associations, bodies, and institutions that seek to achieve the same
goals for which it has been set up.
Since that historical day, the march of the World Islamic Call
Society was launched from Tripoli which the constitutive conference,
in which 134 Islamic associations and organizations and a number of
personalities, Ulemas and Muslims from 73 countries across the
world, had chosen as a seat for the Society’s headquarters. Its
offices and preachers were soon to spread all over the world, while
adhering to its charter. It implements the programs developed by the
General Conference which convenes every four years and whose action
plans are drawn up by a scientific council made up of 36 Islamic
personalities from various nationalities. The personalities are
selected by the General conference through direct voting.
Implementation is carried out by the World Council through an
ingenious system whose effectiveness and reliability have been
proven. As a matter of fact, this has produced the following
excellent accomplishments:
In spite of the huge responsibilities shouldered by the founding
leader, Leader of World Islamic People’s Leadership, Brother Muammar
al-Qaddafi, his Daawa activities has always been at the top of his
responsibilities at all times. He introduces Islam to his visitors
and invites them to embrace it in all gatherings. High-ranking
personalities, children of presidents, kings, tribal leaders,
thinkers and scientists have embraced Islam thanks to him. His field
trips in many parts of the world were always crowned with meetings
with Muslims in their own regions. He urges them to adhere to the
true values of the last Islamic message and, with wisdom and
beautiful preaching, he calls upon others to convert to Islam. His
African land travels, which covered thousands of miles, and the
prayers in which he led millions of people played a significant role
in promoting Daa’wa activities which WICS emulated in its actions
that led hundreds of thousands of people to embrace Islam. WICS
built mosques schools, medical units, vocational training centers
and assigned imams and teachers. It simplified Fiqh books to make
them more suitable to the level of the new converts and their
cultural heritage without impacting the essence of religion. The
contributions which WICS has made over the last few decades can be
summed up as follows:
1. Total adherence to the charter whose broad horizons helped
expend the scope of its activities without the need for its
amendment. Commitment to effective consultation at all levels was
instrumental in the development of WICS’s strength and credibility
acknowledged by both those who agree with or oppose its objectives.
Its commitment to the method of wisdom and beautiful preaching, to
the renouncing of all forms of violence, and to adhering to the laws
that are in effect was one of the most important factors that have
contributed to boosting respect of the Society whose main goal is to
serve Islam and Muslims, to defend their interests, and to spare no
effort in improving their conditions, and in providing suitable
conditions for spreading the message and Daa’wa without greed or
self indulgence.
2. WICS’s opening up to international institutions and
organizations and its activating the areas of shared interests has
contributed to providing yet important extensions for Islamic
Daa’wa, and underscored the true civilizational image of Islamic
thought. The Society became a member in the UN Economic and Social
Council. Thanks to its cultural activity, it became an active UNESCO
member with a permanent representative whose task is to ensure the
coordination of the effort of activating the shared human cultural
activity through an effective Islamic vision. WICS’s membership and
activation of its action with the Organization of the Islamic
Conference and with all other organizations emanating from it and
with ALECSO has plaid a distinctive role in unifying the efforts of
Islamic Daa’wa and in refuting the fallacies and extremist ideas and
redressing them, through convincing dialogue, and limiting their
destructiveness on Islamic societies.
3. Acting on the directives of the founding Leader, WICS was the
first to have established dialogue with followers of other religions
in search for common denominators that would serve social peace and
realize the interests of the human being whom Allah has honored on
land and sea, on the basis of consolidating the bases and adhering
to the constants. This march began with the symposium on
Muslim-Christian Dialogue convened in Tripoli from 1-6 of the month
of Nawar (February) 1976 of the Christian era, in cooperation with
the Vatican. This symposium was attended by a group of Muslim and
Christian thinkers hailing from 60 countries. The march continued
and developed until everybody was certain that dialogue would not to
yield fruit unless the followers of one faith corrected the image
they have of the followers of the other faith. To achieve this goal,
each religious group had to introduce its faith and beliefs and its
value system with a view to broadening the scope of their common
ground and adopting a referential framework that would organize
dialogue. Hence the call for a series of symposia under the title of
“Lita’arafu” that activated the tools of dialogue, brought cultures
closer together, and helped in developing the methodology of
searching for the truth and for ways to establish what is right and
for calling for it.
4. In application of the directives of the constitutive
conference and the ensuing conferences, the Society paid special
importance to education. It opened the Islamic Call College in 1974
of the Christian era in Tripoli, then other branches followed in
Damascus, Beirut, Chad, Senegal, Benin, and London. This
quantitative and qualitative educational effort began with a BA
degree, MA 'degree and a PhD degree. The College’s relations with
specialized universities developed through the conclusion of a
number of agreements that allowed the College to acquire a
respectable position in the circles of Islamic education in the
world. The number of graduates (BA to PhD) is more than 4,000
graduates from more than 60 countries. The College set up other
branches of knowledge, i.e., economics which it started to teach
this year. It is now broadening its educational field in ways that
would improve the Muslims’ educational level and living conditions.
5. Following the directives of the founding Leader in his African
travels which draw attention to the importance of fundamental
education namely in the field of teaching Arabic, the Society set up
the Post Kano program which contributed effectively to the spread of
Arabic especially in the countries of sub-Saharan Africa. Given the
importance of this program, an independent committee and a budget
were assigned to it to administratively manage more than 2,000
teachers stationed across 8 African countries. These teachers teach
more than 300,000 students (males and females) annually at primary,
middle and secondary schools. This program has achieved excellent
results in terms of disseminating the Arabic language, teaching the
Holy Qur’an and Islamic culture, organizing high quality seminars
for local teachers, building and carrying out restoration works on
schools, funding Arabic programs at local universities. The Minister
of education in Burkina Faso said that out of every five graduates
from Burkina Faso universities three of them have a good command of
the Arabic language.
6. The Society took full advantage of its excellent relations
with international organizations, of the existence of the members of
its World Council in all the continents of the world, and of its
very good relations with local organizations and bodies to solve the
problems facing Islamic societies, especially Muslim minorities.
That was why its presence was strongly felt in defending them,
alleviating their suffering in times of natural catastrophes,
political conflicts, religious extremism or discrimination. Thus it
dispatched relief caravans and took special interest in refugee
camps. It spared no effort in activating solidarity among Muslims
especially at times of hardship, such as in the case of the Muslims
of the Philippines and those of the north of the Caucasus, Kosovo,
Afghanistan, Kashmir and other places, the latest of which are the
violent acts perpetrated against Muslims in Holland.
7. The directives of the founding Leader and the way which the
Society has adopted to spread the call through wisdom and beautiful
preaching, along with its commitment to suiting word to action, and
the sound planning within the means available, has plaid an
effective role in activating Daa’wa activity, especially in terms of
looking for common denominators with the beliefs of others, most
important of which is coming closer to the followers of primeval
religious especially in Africa, studying them and making the effort
to correct them in light of divine Law, and to create developed
methods for spreading Islam, such as radio broadcasts in local
languages through more than 10 stations covering huge areas in
Africa. This has resulted in hundreds of thousands of new converts
from all religions into Islam in all parts of the world. The
conversion into Islam is a constant phenomenon whose pace is
increasing by the day. The Society keeps track of them, teaches
them, simplifies Sharia for them and consolidates their Islam, which
has increased WICS’s responsibilities it has so far shouldered with
as much capability and means as it has at its disposal.
8. The Society has paid special attention to humanitarian
activities, especially in the field of health and coming to the
assistance of the needy, regardless of their race, creed or color.
The Society’s hospitals, health facilities and medical and relief
caravans exist everywhere, which has added yet another humanitarian
dimension to its activities, strengthened bonds with others and
enabled it to deliver the message in an atmosphere of friendship and
mercy. This has drawn attention to the tolerance of Islam and the
chivalry of Muslims, and contributed to the increase in the number
of converts to the right path.
9. The Society has paid special attention to research and
publishing, especially in the field of printing the Holy Qur’an and
translating its meanings. It published and distributed millions of
copies of the Holy Book in various sizes and readings. The Society
has put out an exclusive version in Qaloon’s reading in which Leader
Muammar Al Gheddafi took part by hand writing the last word of Surat
‘Annas’. The Society has expanded its action in the publishing and
distribution of the interpretations of the Qur’an, of religious
books, Arabic language teaching curricula as well as the textbooks
reserved for non-Arabic speakers. It also translated a number of
books from and into many world languages, and restored and
catalogued a number of valuable manuscripts. All these achievements
have made the Society a distinguished and highly commended
participant in world book fairs. The Daa’wa Newspaper, which is
published three times a week in three languages (Arabic, English and
French), has equally contributed in facilitating cultural
interaction between Doats and people in charge of Daa’wa action. The
same purpose was served by the ‘Attawasul’ newspaper which first
appeared early this year, in addition to a number of books, booklets
and publications of which the issue is supervised by the Islamic
Daa’wa Newspaper and which are starting to impose themselves on the
Daa’wa and information scene.
10. The Society began to take interest in technological
developments and commissioned a number of experts to put the
internet network to contribution in matters of daa’wa and education.
The Society is expected to achieve great progress in this field in
the coming period.
This evaluation, supported by documented statistics in books and
reports that have been distributed to all the Members, showcases the
action of the Society since its launch from reality in the pursuit
of our dreams. In its thirty-four years march of sustained
contribution, it has come a long way thanks to the tireless
dedication of its leading founder, its unwavering commitment to the
recommendations and decisions of its conferences, and to its
continued follow-up by its World Council. It has confirmed its
position as a civilizational organization worthy of the respect and
esteem of the most important organizations, bodies and international
figures that are active in the human and cultural fields.
Furthermore, and despite the deep political changes that the world
has recently experienced and which have greatly impacted on the
activities of associations and organizations that became involved in
shady operations and gave rise to situations that threaten world
peace and the civilizational interaction of the different cultures.
However, for the Society, this period was marked by unwavering
steadfastness and attachment in the constants of the Sharia and the
precepts of the divine message. None of the graduates of its
educational institutions or doats was involved in any
uncivilizational conduct or an incitation to violence and
insurgence. This conduct played a tremendous role in the embracing
by thousands of the tolerance of Islam. This situation has also
increased the burden and responsibilities of the World Islamic Call
Society in view of its international status, its position as the
organization of reference for Muslims throughout the world and their
attachment to the thought of its founder and main sponsor who is
most faithfully attached to keeping it on the correct path. Thanks
to this distinction, the Society has been the deserving recipient of
the trust of governments and leaders in all parts of the world.
Requests poured in from many parties asking the Society to be active
in their fields of action and develop mechanisms of cooperation with
them confident in the importance of the Society in refining
behavior, redressing conceptions and preserving social peace. This
places on the shoulders of its 7th Conference a responsibility that
differs from all those of previous ones, through the issue of
resolutions and recommendations that will guarantee the continuity
of its existence and its evolution. This is all the more important
since the founding generation is readying itself to hand the flag
over to the next generation, and the road is still very long before
the fulfillment of the dream of a universal society where peace
prevails, where religion is that of the One and Only Allah, and
where the relations between individuals and societies are governed
by rules derived from the concluding divine Sharia. Therefore, the
decisions and resolutions of this Conference have to be compatible
with the needs of this phase and the prerequisites of our objectives
as laid down when the Society was founded and that experience has
shown to be sound. For these reasons, the future generations will
certainly remember the historical importance of the 7th Conference
of the World Islamic Call Society.
Mr. Muhammad Assadeq
Mufti of Uzbekistan and Member
Of the World Islamic Call Council |
