Organisation of Islamic Cooperation

• 1. Introduction

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  The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation counts 57 member states, and it describes itself as "the collective voice of the Muslim world." Of those members, 48 have Muslim-majority populations. That leaves nine that do not. As of 2015, the member states held over 1.8 billion people, just under a quarter of everyone alive. Its headquarters sit in Jeddah, it works in Arabic, English and French, and it keeps permanent delegations at the United Nations and the European Union. Its stated purpose is to safeguard the interests of the Muslim world in the spirit of international peace and harmony. Can one body speak for governments this different from one another? What happens when its members disagree, or when critics say it shields governments rather than the people they rule? And what set such an institution in motion in the first place?

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• 2. A Fire in Jerusalem

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  On the 21st of August 1969, fire swept through the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem. It destroyed part of the old wooden roof and an 800-year-old pulpit. The arsonist was Denis Michael Rohan, an Australian Christian fundamentalist. Amin al-Husseini, the former Mufti of Jerusalem, responded by calling for a summit of every Muslim head of state.

  On the 25th of September 1969, representatives of 24 Muslim-majority countries met in Rabat, Morocco. They passed a resolution promising close cooperation and mutual assistance in economic, scientific, cultural and religious work. Foreign ministers followed in March 1970 with their first conference, held in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The formal Organisation of the Islamic Conference was founded in 1972.

  Dreams of a pan-Islamic institution reached back to the 19th century, so the fire was only one catalyst. Many Muslims wanted a body that could serve the shared political, economic and social interests of the ummah, the Muslim community. The collapse of the Ottoman Empire and the Caliphate after World War I had left a vacuum that nothing had filled.

  The charter sets out what the new body was meant to do. It aims to preserve Islamic social and economic values and to build solidarity among members. It also seeks wider cooperation in social, economic, cultural, scientific and political fields, along with international peace, and progress in education, especially science and technology. The emblem carries three elements chosen to reflect that mission: the Kaaba, the Globe and the Crescent.

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• 3. Members and Machinery

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  Fifty-six of the 57 members are also member states of the United Nations. The exception is Palestine. The non-Muslim-majority members include Ivory Coast, Guyana, Gabon, Mozambique, Nigeria, Suriname, Togo and Uganda. Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Central African Republic, Thailand and Russia hold observer status, as does Northern Cyprus under the name "Turkish Cypriot State." Together the members cover about 31.66 million square kilometres.

  Membership can be taken away. On the 14th and the 15th of August 2012, the organisation suspended Syria because of the government's use of heavy weapons against civilians and its refusal of peaceful dialogue. Syria's full membership was restored on the 7th of March 2025, after the fall of the Assad regime.

  In September 2014, a summit in New York ended without a single resolution, for the first time in several years. Egypt, Iran and the United Arab Emirates had demanded that the phrase "Turkish Cypriot State" be removed. Egypt's president, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, called any such reference unacceptable.

  The largest gathering is the Islamic Summit, where heads of state and government meet every three years. The foreign ministers meet once a year to review how the summit's decisions are being carried out. A Permanent Secretariat in Jeddah does the executive work. The Secretary General is elected by the foreign ministers for five years and may serve two terms, with posts rotated across regions. Regional offices operate in New York, Geneva, Brussels, Iraq, Kabul and Indonesia.

  The wider system is broad. The Islamic University of Technology in Dhaka is a subsidiary organ, and affiliated universities stand in Say in Niger, Mbale in Uganda and Malaysia. Research centres sit in Ankara and Istanbul, and a standards institute in Istanbul. A banking council operates in Manama and an education and culture body in Rabat. Even the Islamic Solidarity Games have a sports federation, based in Riyadh.

  On the 28th of June 2011, at the 38th Council of Foreign Ministers meeting in Astana, Kazakhstan, the organisation dropped the word Conference from its name and adopted a new logo.

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• 4. Rights and Their Limits

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  On the 5th of August 1990-45 foreign ministers adopted the Cairo Declaration on Human Rights in Islam. It was meant to guide members on rights as far as they fit with Sharia. Article 24 says all the rights and freedoms in the text are subject to the Islamic Shari'ah. Article 25 calls the Shari'ah "the only source of reference for the explanation or clarification of any of the articles of this Declaration."

  Supporters say the declaration complements the Universal Declaration of Human Rights rather than replacing it. When it was pushed at the United Nations Human Rights Council, it drew criticism for contradicting that earlier text, including from liberal Muslim groups. Harsher critics called it "manipulation and hypocrisy."

  In March 2008, the organisation revised its charter to promote human rights, fundamental freedoms and good governance. The new text dropped any mention of the Cairo Declaration. It backed the Charter of the United Nations and international law, yet did not name the Universal Declaration.

  The same revision created the Independent Permanent Human Rights Commission. Its eighteen members come from varied educational and professional backgrounds. It is advisory and independent of the organisation, with the power to monitor rights in member states. In December 2012 it met in Washington for the first time, holding talks at the National Press Club, on Capitol Hill and at Freedom House. At Freedom House it stressed adopting the Universal Declaration and rejecting the Cairo Declaration.

  Human Rights Watch has been blunt about the organisation's conduct at the Human Rights Council. It says the bloc "fought doggedly" to shield states from criticism, except criticism of Israel. As an example, it cites the 2006 Lebanon War, when delegates from member states attacked independent experts for also examining Hezbollah's violations. Critics add that the organisation rarely discusses minorities inside its own members, among them the Kurds in Syria and Turkey, the Ahwaz in Iran, the Hazaras in Afghanistan, the Al-Akhdam in Yemen and the Berbers in Algeria.

  In March 2012, the Council held its first discussion of discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. It followed a 2011 resolution proposed by South Africa. Pakistan's representative spoke for the organisation and denounced the talks, saying the concept promoted "licentious behaviour... against the fundamental teachings of various religions, including Islam." Most Arab countries and some African countries walked out. Yet Albania, Gabon, Guinea-Bissau, Suriname and Sierra Leone had signed a 2011 General Assembly declaration supporting LGBT rights, and Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan and Turkey had legalised homosexuality. In May 2016, members including Egypt, Iran, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates asked that LGBT groups be removed from a high-level meeting on ending AIDS.

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• 5. Minorities Abroad

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  In September 2017, the human rights commission strongly condemned abuses against the Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar. That stance made the organisation's silences elsewhere easier to notice.

  In December 2018, it tentatively raised the Xinjiang internment camps and abuses against the Uyghurs. After a visit to Xinjiang it reversed course. Its March 2019 report on Muslim minorities praised China for "providing care to its Muslim citizens" and hoped for closer cooperation. In December 2020 a coalition of American Muslim groups, including the Council on American-Islamic Relations, accused member states of bending to Chinese power.

  A different quarrel played out in southern Thailand, in the provinces of Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat. On the 18th of October 2005, Secretary General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu voiced concern over a conflict that had killed innocent people and driven residents from their homes. He warned that the government's security approach would worsen the violence.

  The region had been annexed by Thailand in 1902, and its ethnic Malay Muslims had struggled against assimilation and for self-governance. On the 18th and the 19th of April 2009, the exiled Patani leader Abu Yasir Fikri addressed the organisation with a six-point proposal. He asked for equal rights of language, religion and culture, and for self-governing rights like those of other regions. He also accused Bangkok of arming Buddhist militias and of ignoring corruption, murder and abuse by officials and soldiers.

  Thailand's foreign minister, Kantathi Suphamongkhon, insisted the violence was not religious and that the government protected all citizens. The Foreign Ministry accused the secretariat of spreading misinformation and said it should condemn the militants instead. Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International shared the organisation's concerns.

  The UN refugee agency reported that member countries hosted 18 million refugees by the end of 2010. Members kept absorbing people fleeing conflict, including the 2011 uprising in Syria. In May 2012, a conference titled "Refugees in the Muslim World" convened in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan.

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• 6. Wars and Envoys

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  On the 27th of June 2007, President George W. Bush announced that the United States would send an envoy to the organisation. He said the envoy would listen to representatives of Muslim states and share American views and values. Arsalan Suleman was appointed on the 13th of February 2015 and served as acting special envoy.

  A Snopes.com check of viral chain emails found that during the October 2003 to April 2004 General Assembly session, 17 members voted against the United States 88 percent of the time.

  In February 2007, the Parliamentary Union of member states held its ninth meeting in Kuala Lumpur, on the 15th and 16th. Its agenda included stopping Israeli excavation at the Western Wall of the Temple Mount, called Masjid Al-Aqsa by Muslims. Delegates also discussed peacekeeping troops for Muslim states, a possible name change, and the return of sovereignty to the Iraqi people. The union itself was established in Iran in 1999, and its head office is in Tehran.

  The organisation supports a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and calls for a boycott of Israeli products. At a 2013 meeting in Conakry, Guinea, Ihsanoglu said ministers would consider cutting ties with any state recognising Jerusalem as Israel's capital. In December 2017, an extraordinary meeting answered President Donald Trump's decision on Jerusalem by adopting the "Istanbul Declaration on Freedom for Al Quds."

  In September 2019, the organisation condemned Benjamin Netanyahu's plan to annex the Jordan Valley in the occupied West Bank. In January 2024 it backed South Africa's genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice. On the 11th of November 2023, it joined the Arab League in Riyadh for a special summit on the Gaza humanitarian situation.

  Support has not always meant unity. In March 2015, the organisation endorsed the Saudi-led intervention in Yemen against the Zaydi Houthis. On the 5th of August 2024, Iran called for an emergency meeting after the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran. It met in Jeddah on the 7th. Iran's foreign minister, Ali Bagheri, sought backing for Iran's war with Israel, but other delegates feared a wider regional conflict, and his motion failed.

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• 7. The India Question

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  At the first summit in Rabat in 1969, an Indian delegation led by President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmad was scheduled to attend. It was kept out after Pakistan threatened a boycott. Pakistan's president, Yahya Khan, reportedly held mixed views. India's admission had been discussed, but Pakistan kept India out of the final session and every later summit.

  India's case rests on numbers. Over 200 million Muslims make up about 15 percent of its population, the largest Muslim population outside Muslim-majority or Islamic states. India argued that Indian Muslims were 11 percent of the world's Muslims. Pakistan, a founding member, has staunchly opposed India's entry since the 1947 Partition, citing the Kashmir dispute. It accuses India of human rights abuses in Jammu and Kashmir, where a militant uprising has run since the 1980s. Indian officials push back on any references to the region.

  On the 14th of February 2019, a suicide bombing in Jammu and Kashmir killed over 40 Indian soldiers. The Pakistan-based group Jaish-e-Mohammed claimed responsibility. In March, India conducted airstrikes in Pakistani territory, which led to a military standoff. Pakistan said the strike violated its airspace, while India said the targets were terrorist-training camps.

  Pakistan asked for an emergency meeting, which the organisation held on the 26th of February. It condemned India's military response and urged both sides to show restraint. Then the United Arab Emirates invited Indian Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj as "guest of honour" to the 46th meeting of foreign ministers in Abu Dhabi on the 1st and the 2nd of March 2019. It was the first such invitation in five decades. Pakistan protested, then boycotted.

  On the 18th of April 2020, the organisation urged the Modi administration to stop the growing tide of Islamophobia. It cited attacks by Hindu nationalists on Muslims and accusations that Muslims spread COVID-19. That same year, Pakistan's foreign minister, S. M. Qureshi, criticised the organisation for its stand on Kashmir.

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• 8. Words as Weapons

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  In 1999, the organisation adopted its Convention on Combatting International Terrorism. Article 1 defines terrorism as any act or threat of violence aimed, among other things, at imperilling people's honour, seizing property or threatening a state's sovereignty. Human Rights Watch called this vague and wide enough to cover peaceful expression, association and assembly. Legal scholar Ben Saul warned of a "serious danger of the abusive use of terrorist prosecutions against political opponents."

  Article 2 protects peoples' struggle, including armed struggle, against foreign occupation, aggression, colonialism and hegemony. Human Rights Watch read that as unwillingness to call terrorism any acts that serve causes its members endorse. It urged adoption of universally recognised standards, with no result.

  A meeting in Malaysia in April 2002 failed to define terrorism at all. Delegates still rejected any link between terrorism and the Palestinian struggle, and the declaration called Israel's war a form of "state terrorism." In May 2007, at the 34th conference of foreign ministers, they called Islamophobia "the worst form of terrorism."

  A Danish newspaper published cartoons of Muhammad in September 2005, offending many Muslims. A Third Extraordinary Session of the Islamic Summit Conference condemned them that December, which brought broader coverage in Muslim-majority countries. Violent demonstrations across the Islamic world followed, with multiple deaths. On the 28th of March 2008, the organisation joined criticism of the film Fitna, by Dutch lawmaker Geert Wilders.

  Some Muslims have faulted the organisation for progress in social and academic matters but not political ones. Others say it limits freedom of speech and religion by treating apostasy and heresy as anti-Islamic speech. The latest summit in the source's list, the 15th, took place in Banjul on the 4th of May 2024.

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