DAVOS: Secretary-General of the Muslim World League and Chairman of the Muslim Scholars’ Council Sheikh Dr. Muhammad bin Abdul Karim Al-Issa participated in the main dialogue session at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Wednesday.
Speaking in a session titled “The Moral Responsibility of Religious Leaders in Conflicts,” Al-Issa emphasized the importance of religious leaders supporting and endorsing the New York Declaration as the just and wise option.
The declaration was issued in July by the High-level International Conference for the Peaceful Settlement of the Question of Palestine and the Implementation of the Two-State Solution, co-chaired by Saudi Arabia and France, and adopted by the UN General Assembly with a majority of 142 votes.
Al-Issa also stressed the importance of a “sincere” and “tangible” understanding among religious leaders that human life and dignity — including the protection of lives, rights, and legitimate freedoms — is a supreme value that every human being deserves as a general principle.
He called for the stripping away of any immunity or sanctity from methods used to justify oppression and persecution, emphasizing that silence in this regard was not neutrality, but rather complicity. He urged exposing the falsehood of using religious texts as tools to ignite unjust wars or deny legitimate rights.
“Any text used to justify killing is a betrayal of the text,” he said, adding: “Justice is indivisible, and there is no selectivity in dignity and mercy.
“Dehumanizing the other is the first step toward every humanitarian catastrophe, and toward the chaos of our world. Innocent blood has no classification that elevates some above others.”
He added: “True religious leaders are not spokespeople for power. Rather, they are guardians of virtue and justice, and advocates for dialogue and peace.”
