Conclusion of the regional consultative meeting on progress in implementing the Marrakesh Declaration

Rabat, 16 October / WAM / During the period from 11 to 13 October, the Moroccan capital, Rabat, hosted the final regional consultative meeting on progress in implementing the Marrakesh Declaration, headed by His Excellency Sheikh Abdullah bin Bayyah, Chairman of the Emirates Council for Sharia Fatwa and Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Peace Forum, and jointly organized by the Forum, the Network of Religious and Traditional Peacemakers, and the Dutch JISRA Initiative, as part of ongoing efforts to activate… Contents The historic Marrakesh Declaration issued in 2016, under the patronage of His Majesty King Mohammed VI of the sisterly Kingdom of Morocco, and in partnership between the Forum and the Moroccan Ministry of Endowments, which is concerned with consolidating the values of comprehensive citizenship and coexistence in Islamic societies.

The meeting comes within a series of regional consultations aimed at evaluating the implementation path of the Marrakesh Declaration, in an attempt to explore ways to transform its contents from theoretical principles into practical and institutional programs capable of influencing public policies and public spaces. His Excellency Abdullah bin Bayyah concluded the consultative meeting, stressing that the existential challenges facing our world today increase the need to protect religious freedoms for followers of different religions, and to confront exclusionary tendencies and forms of extremism that threaten the values ​​of coexistence and human understanding.

He added: In contrast to these trends, the United Arab Emirates provides a pioneering model in establishing a culture of tolerance and coexistence, where dozens of religions, cultures and ethnicities coexist in security, peace and respect.

His Excellency recalled the encouragement and praise that the Conference on the Rights of Religious Minorities in Marrakesh in 2016 received from His Majesty King Mohammed VI, in the royal message addressed to the conference when he said: “We would like to acknowledge the efforts made by our Ministry of Endowments and Islamic Affairs to organize and prepare for this meeting, and to hold it under the high patronage of our Majesty. We would also like to express our satisfaction for the reasons it provided for its success, and we express our thanks.” For the Forum for Promoting Peace in Muslim Societies, which is chaired by Sheikh Abdullah bin Bayyah and supported by the United Arab Emirates.

His Excellency stressed that the Declaration is the origin of the concept of contractual citizenship as a valid basis for coexistence in modern Muslim societies, and a choice guided by values ​​and nominated by historical experience to activate common humanity and neutralize elements of exclusion and conflict. One of the most prominent major principles on which this Declaration was built is the combination of the right to exclusivity in belief and the virtue of pluralism in practice, within the framework of the modern national state that embraces Religious, cultural and ethnic diversity, and the consolidation of happy citizenship and coexistence.

The meeting began with an opening session that brought together religious and intellectual leaders and civil society activists, headed by His Excellency Sheikh Mahfouz bin Bayyah, Secretary-General of the Abu Dhabi Peace Forum, and with the participation of Dr. Muhammad Al-Senussi, member of the Religious Freedom Committee of the US Congress, Executive Director of the Network of Religious and Traditional Peacemakers, Moroccan thinker Dr. Hassan Aourid, and Dr. Abdullah Boussouf, Secretary-General of the Council. The Moroccan community residing abroad, Dr. Abdelhamid Ashaq, Director of the Dar Al-Hadith Al-Hassaniyya Foundation – Al-Qarawiyyin University, Abdelrafie Hamdi, Director of Human Rights at the National Council for Human Rights, Dr. Amna Saeed Al-Shehhi, Director of the Abu Dhabi Peace Forum Office in Rabat, representatives of Finnish and Dutch civil societies, academics and scholars from the Kingdom of Morocco, and other figures from civic activities in North Africa and the Middle East. In his opening speech, His Excellency Sheikh Mahfouz bin Bayyah stressed that the Marrakesh Declaration represents the fruit of maturity in contemporary Islamic thinking, as it rereads the texts in light of their greater purposes, and embodies a civilized vision of the correct narrative of Islam.

The Secretary-General of the Forum explained that this meeting comes as a continuation of a long path that the Abu Dhabi Peace Forum began years ago, in accordance with the sound vision of the leadership of the United Arab Emirates, in order to make religious discourse a tool for building peace, stressing that the path to activating the Marrakesh Declaration passes through a real partnership between scholars, decision-makers, and civil society institutions, calling for a renewed collective commitment to promoting a culture of coexistence and respect for diversity, as a basic guarantee of peace. And development. The interventions stressed the importance of producing knowledge related to the issue of religious minorities, stressing that the Declaration is the legitimate successor to Al-Madina newspaper, and renewing the major issues defined by its contents, in connection with major global transformations, focusing on the importance of the international dimension of the Declaration, and that its values ​​can contribute to correcting the stereotypical image of Islam in Western societies, by highlighting that Islam is a religion based on dignity, justice, and mercy.

The participants also discussed the cognitive and scientific foundations of the idea of ​​the Marrakesh Declaration, which establishes human dignity and considers it a precursor to the dignity of faith. It also establishes equal citizenship and belonging to the land and to one homeland, considering that the dangerous escalation of hate speech requires reviving the Marrakesh Declaration and its relevance in the world, which witnesses an explicit threat to religious pluralism from within some societies in the name of religion and from outside them in the name of nationalism, and that the world today He is experiencing a global crisis of religious moral conscience.

At the conclusion of the session, the participants stressed the need to join efforts to move the requirements of the Declaration from rooting to implementation, with various partners, and to crystallize its contents, which were based on the Islamic vision of the issue of minorities, in promoting a comprehensive citizenship that embraces diversity, considering that this regional consultative meeting on the Marrakesh Declaration constitutes a renewed step in a long path to building a more just and peaceful world, where religious and human values ​​​​converge in Serving human dignity, regardless of religion, race or culture.

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