The 13th international conference in memory of Bediuzzaman Said Nursi, the renowned Turkish Sunni Muslim theologian, is being held in Istanbul. Taking part in it, Sheikh Ali Muhyiddin al-Qaradaghi, head of the International Union of Muslim Scholars, has proposed the formation of an “Islamic United Nations” to establish world peace and security.
He put the proposal before influential scholars from various countries on Sunday (4 October), the opening day of the three-day conference. Sheikh Qaradaghi believes that, if implemented, it would create an alternative system for humanity to deal with global crises, as well as establishing peace and security.
He said the world today is suffering from crises of humanity, religion, morality and human nature, and that these problems are not confined to Muslims but have become common to all people.
Sheikh Qaradaghi said the whole world had become like a village and the Muslim nation could not be separated from the rest of humanity. Their problems were broadly one and the same, he said, and the solution must be the same too.
He called for solutions to be sought to the problems of all humankind and not only those of the Muslim nation, on the grounds that Islam is capable of offering humane solutions to crises.
Muslims must take practical steps to achieve intellectual unity based on the Holy Quran and the Sunnah of the Prophet, he said, and that unity must extend to civilisation, science, production, creativity and innovation.
He said one of the projects he was proposing for humanity was the formation of an “Islamic United Nations” to establish world peace and security.
Criticising the present system of the United Nations, Sheikh Qaradaghi said the UN was essentially founded on racism, because only five countries have the right of veto and the rest do not.
In a long speech to the conference he also set out the way such a body could be formed and the process by which that could be done. He condemned the continuing attacks on Gaza by Israel and its allies, and called for the unity of the Muslim Ummah to resolve all crises.
Bediuzzaman Said Nursi, who died on 23 March 1960, was a Sunni Muslim theologian. He wrote the Risale-i Nur, a commentary on the Holy Quran that runs to more than 6,000 pages. Seeing modern science and logic as the way of the future, he favoured teaching religious knowledge in general schools and modern science in religious schools.
The conference in Istanbul in his memory is titled “Quranic solutions to global crises”. Scholars, researchers and thinkers from at least 60 countries are taking part, and it is due to end on Tuesday.
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