Strategy for Benefiting from Muslim Competencies in the West

Abstract

On the basis of ISESCO's mission whose aims are to enhance the scientific and technological status of the Islamic World, to firmly establish the scientific foundations of the Islamic educational renaissance, to inject new blood in its veins, to put Islamic cultural action at the service of the human being, society and the Ummah, to realize a comprehensive educational, scientific and cultural development that can meet the challenges of this modem age, to respond to the exigencies of scientific and civilizational progress and to win the civilizational struggle in which the Islamic Ummah is heavily engaged, with all the scientific and cultural spirit which this engagement requires, and all the support and cooperation between the various positive and efficient elements, in addition to the needed purposeful projects aiming at achieving further excellence, innovation, strength and respect, the Islamic Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization has, within the limits of its mission and competence, taken it upon itself to deal seriously with the educational, scientific and cultural issues of the Islamic World that are of major concern to all the various groups and segments that make up the Ummah. As it seeks to achieve this objective, the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is fully committed to scientific methodology and to strategic planning that is based on accurate anticipation, a more thorough analysis, a solid theory, and the best and most perfect realization. This is what prompted the Islamic Organization to draft general and secondary strategies in the fields of education, sciences and culture. Its hope was that secondary strategies would satisfy the characteristics of the specific fields, and the specificities of the targeted groups, while holding constant and intensive consultation with the various concerned factions, parties, and institutions. An example of these strategies is "A Cultural Strategy for the Islamic World" set up by the Islamic Organization in cooperation with the Secretariat General of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, and which was adopted by the Sixth Islamic Summit Conference held in Dakar in December 1991 at a time when the Islamic Ummah badly needed it due to the important role culture plays at the local, regional and international levels. This strategy has set up for

6 Preface

the first time signposts for Islamic countries on the road to effecting a qualitative leap in the approach to cultural action, its tools and methods, its goals and objectives, and its distinctive and important role which culture, in its general sense, plays in the comprehensive, complementary and balanced human development. The purpose being to develop the Islamic World through cultural performance that includes all aspects of human activity in the field of creativity and expression, of disseminating awareness and rationalization, of education and training at the theoretical and practical levels. Thanks to this strategy, and to the research and studies which have paved the way for it, and on the basis of the results of the strategies and plans in the various educational, scientific and cultural sectors upon which these strategies are based and to which they are complementary, and benefiting from the development projects that have been implemented in the scientific, cultural and intellectual fields with the help of many institutions, organizations, and competencies, and through the outstanding and pioneering role of the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, the cultural action has shifted to the stage of scientific planning that is based on anticipating future horizons and backed-up by the analysi of the realities of the Islamic World, the exploitation of competencies and potentialities, the use of resources and energies, the analy i of the ob tacle and difficulties the study of the new development and event , v hile dealing with the po sibilities and surprises and meeting challenges irre pective of their origin. This hift \ hich the I lamic World is experiencing thanks to the fruitful efforts deployed in the field of the Joint Islamic Action and on the basi of effecti e cientific planning, i what has prompted the Islamic Organization to formulate a cultural trategy pecifically for immigrant Muslim communities· one that ob erve their hi torical characteri tics, as well as their realities and dialog specificitie . This strategy is that of Islamic Cultural Action in the West which wa adopted by the 9th Islamic Summit Conference convened in Doha in the State of Qatar in November 2000. This is what has prompted the Islamic Organization, in view of the rowing phenomenon known as "brain drain" or "migration of competencies" or by other names, to shed more light on this phenomenon, and to carry out further studies on and analyses of the conditions and needs of this cate ory of Muslims; the purpose being to draft a clearly defined strategy that would allow for benefiting from these competencies, and to

Strategy for Benefiting from Muslim Competencies in the West

set up programs that can achieve a favorable reaction between these communities and their original "incubator", namely the Islamic World, of which they are part and parcel. In fulfilment of these needs and in response to these challenges, the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization has laid down the "Strategy for Benefiting from Migrant Muslims in the West", in light of the latest developments in the Islamic World and the requirements of comprehensive, sustainable development. The said Strategy was endorsed by the Tenth Islamic Summit Conference, held in Malaysia in 2003. The Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is honored to publish today this Strategy in the form of a book so as to extend its benefits. Allah we beseech to grant us success for the sake of the good of our Ummah and humanity altogether.

Dr. Abdulaziz Othman Altwaijri