Not in the interest of Islamic nation: Why OIC criticises Malaysia’s Muslim summit?

Dr Mahathir Mohamad 

RIYADH, Dec 19 — The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) yesterday mounted a veiled attack on a Muslim summit in Malaysia shunned by Saudi Arabia, saying such gatherings would weaken Islam.
Leaders of Muslim nations, including Saudi rivals Iran, Turkey and Qatar are attending the summit this week in Kuala Lumpur, which analysts say is aimed at rivalling the OIC, a 57-member pan-Islamic body headquartered in the Saudi city of Jeddah.

Malaysian Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad dismissed those concerns in a phone call Tuesday with Saudi Arabia’s King Salman, insisting the summit was not intended to create a new bloc.

But in thinly veiled criticism of the four-day summit that started yesterday, OIC Secretary General Yousef al-Othaimeen said such gatherings would divide Muslims. “It is not in the interest of an Islamic nation to hold summits and meetings outside the framework of the (OIC), especially at this time when the world is witnessing multiple conflicts,” Othaimeen told Sky News Arabia, without directly naming Malaysia.

He added that “any weakening of the OIC platform is a weakening of Islam and Muslims.”

Malaysian officials say King Salman was invited to the Kuala Lumpur meeting but was not attending.

In his call with Dr Mahathir, the king insisted that issues pertaining to the Muslim world should be channelled through the OIC “in order to achieve unity”, the official Saudi Press Agency reported.

In a sign that Riyadh was unhappy about the event, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan cancelled his attendance after a recent visit to Saudi Arabia, reportedly to assuage his ally’s concerns.

With the president of the kingdom’s arch-rival Iran and the emir of Qatar — under a two-year Riyadh-led blockade — in attendance, there has been speculation the forum could be used to counter the kingdom’s influence.

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose relations with Riyadh worsened following last year’s murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul, is also set to attend.

In a commentary for the Middle East Institute think-tank, analysts Giorgio Cafiero and Khalid al-Jaber said some Muslim-majority countries were uncomfortable with Saudi Arabia due to the meteoric rise of de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

The Kuala Lumpur summit could “serve as an alternative to the... OIC, which is under Saudi Arabia’s de facto leadership”, they said. 

However, delivering his keynote address during Kuala Lumpur Summit in Kuala Lumpur, Mahathir said the Summit was meant to understand why Islam, the Muslims and their countries were “in a state of crisis, helpless and unworthy of this great religion”.

It was unclear to what extent the leaders would broach the major geo-political crises afflicting Muslims, ranging from the age-old disputes in the Middle East and Kashmir, to the conflicts in Syria and Yemen, through to the plight of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar and the alleged persecution of Uighur Muslims in China’s Xinjiang region.

Mahathir said the summit, which will end on Saturday, should address the world’s perceptions of Islam, the rise of Islamophobia, the decline of the Islamic civilization and reforms in governance needed by Muslim nations.

“We are not discriminating or isolating anyone,” he said in his welcome speech, watched on by leaders including Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamid Al-Thani.

“We are attempting to start small and if these ideas, proposals and solutions are acceptable and proved workable, then we hope to take it up to the larger platform for consideration.”

— AFP / Reuters