The Islamic Unity Conference (1988)

The Islamic Unity Conference held between the 16th and 17th of February 1988 was one of the last major conferences hosted by the Islamic Council. It was held in Islamabad, Pakistan and faced opposition from then Prime Minister Muhammad Khan Jenjo and some Arab regimes, but it instead received the blessing of Zia Ul Haq and thus went ahead as planned. The conference saw the participation of a variety of distinguished guests composed of great Islamic thinkers and leaders including President Zia ul Haq, Necemetting Erbakan, Sawar al Dhahab, Hassan al Turabi, Sadiq Abdul’Maajid, amongst others. During Ustadh Salem Azzam’s welcome address to the conference he saluted the Islamisation policies of Zia Ul Haq and hoped that such policies be emulated by regimes across the Muslim world. He also emphasised that there can be no real Islamic unity until there is an Islamic order whilst also mentioning the Iran-Iraq war and the destruction caused by it. Ustadh Azzam highlighted a number of Muslim causes ranging from Afghanistan, Palestine, Kashmir, Thailand, to Bulgaria and did not fail to also make note of the dangers of underdevelopment and poverty to the Muslim world. The Conference led to the publication of the 5th pamphlet of the Islamic Council entitled ‘Unity of the Ummah’ succeeding the previous 4; the Islamic Declaration (London, 1980), the Universal Islamic Declaration of Human Rights (Paris, 1981), A Model Islamic Constitution (Islamabad, 1983) and the Dawah and Methodology for the Establishment of the Islamic Order (Khartoum, 1987).