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“OIC: ORGANIZATION OF THE ISLAMIC CONFERENCE”

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Lesson 31
"OIC: ORGANIZATION OF THE ISLAMIC CONFERENCE"
Text of handout for students
Note: The text of this handout reproduces a section from the book titled: "Reasserting International Islam: A
focus on the Organization of the Islamic Conference and other Islamic Institutions" by Saad S. Khan with a
foreword by John L. Esposito, published by Oxford University Press. This particular section is taken from
the last chapter titled: "Epilogue: Islamic challenge in the 21st century".
Students are advised to read the principal and relevant sections of this comprehensive and well-researched
study in order to obtain an accurate understanding of the OIC as it has evolved and as it exists at the start of
the 21st century.
Agenda 21: Future Directions
The answers to the staggering questions about the role of political Islam, its `hidden' Islamic agendas and its
likely directions in the 21st century, are not easy to predict. In any case, the conscious, subconscious and
unconscious biases are likely to influence the perceptions of a beholder on the topic. It was never the
intention of this book to provide conclusive answers, which should better be left to the final arbiter­­
History. The underlying purpose of the work was to bring the discussion on the future of international Islam
from the realm of rhetoric and prejudice to that of reality.
The academics and policy-makers of the day may get an insight into political Islam through an incisive
description of the strengths and weaknesses, as well as past record, present orientation, and the future goals
of the international Islamic institutions. These institutions promote the confidence-building process and
provide a forum for meaningful cooperation. No group of nations can join together in a Union in a vacuum,
without such proper infrastructure and without undergoing the evolutionary process that it entails. Such
infrastructure of institutions definitely precedes a meaningful long-term alliance but the latter does not
necessarily follow the former.
The argument is that the strength or weakness of international Islam and the Muslim bloc is inextricably
intertwined with these organizations. This freemasonry can be the vanguard of an Islamic Union (on the
pattern of the European Union), if at all, any progress is ever made in the direction. Arguing on the same line
that international organization is the only conceivable framework that can bring together the Muslim states,
Noor Ahmad Baba notes:
"The Muslim world, like the rest of the modern world, operates under the dualistic pressures of centripetal
and centrifugal forces. This is a phenomenon of the post-industrial revolution world society that has on the
one hand, increased interdependence of countries and thereby necessitated co-operation among them and on
the other hand proliferated the world into smaller identities and further sharpened and strengthened their
consciousness as Nation-States. International governmental organization in this regard has been a product of
the human genius to accommodate these conflicting realities and make them converge for positive gains. In
this connection, the international governmental organization framework has provided an ideal model for
cooperation at different levels while allowing nations to preserve their separate hood."
There is no denying the fact that the OIC and its subsidiary institutions have achieved much less than what
the pioneers had envisioned. Most of the lofty goals and ideals are still on paper alone. The Muslim
Common Market, the Islamic Free Trade Area, the Islamic Collective Security System and many such things,
which the OIC has long been harping about, are yet unrealized dreams. But for our purpose, it is the
potential, rather than performance of the Islamic institutions that is relevant. The atmosphere in the Muslim
world at present, owing to separate nationhood of the states, parochial outlook, mutual suspicions, and the
often incongruous economic interests may not be very hospitable to a serious effort at evolving a consensus
on the future political order. Nevertheless, the decades of experience in diplomacy of the Muslim states and
organizations, ramifications of global political trends, fading away of colonial legacies and the existence of a
good measure of areas of complementarily, are the counter-factors that cannot be discounted. At best, the
Islamic Conference can turn out to be a League of Nations (LoN) of the Muslim states, which organization
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was a failure in its own reference but on its ashes, rose a more assertive and confident organization, the
United Nations.
The phenomenon of the OIC and other Islamic organizations should be taken as a process, not an event.
Based on religious foundations, the Islamic organizations are using the Islamic tradition in convergence with
modern organizational framework to serve the community of Muslim states. It is also true that these
organizations have challenged the rising role of secular ideas in Muslim societies and have disproved the view
that secularism is the order of the day. More than that, the OIC experience has shown that in some respects
at least, religious affinity becomes a stronger basis for cooperation than geographical proximity. The Arabs'
experience with invoking Arab linguistic nationhood or socialist ideological bonds, to counter Israel failed
miserably. It was the oil, and it alone, that kept the Palestine issue alive on the slogan of a Muslim people
(Palestinians) being displaced and oppressed, which the Arab League failed to realize prior to the inception of
the OIC.
The role of international Islamic organizations is vital in another respect also. Unlike the hard-line Islamist
political parties, with localized influence within the Muslim states, one may agree, the international Islamic
organizations are forces of moderation. Their solidification as bridges between Islam and the West, may
eventually contain the Islam-West rhetoric.  On their part, the Islamic organizations should conduct
themselves so as to be seen by the Muslims and other civilizations and societies alike as assets, in order not to
fan the atavistic fears about Islamic resurgence in the West.
For the West, any under-estimation or overestimation of the phenomenon would be equally inappropriate.
Much more counter-productive would be dubbing Islam in stereotypes of extremism, anti-Westism and as
something repugnant to progress and development. Islamic resurgence is a potential agent of change. The
West should not take change as anathema; otherwise this may inadvertently precipitate another cycle of
uncalled-for rivalry and conflict. The best response at present would be co-operation, trust, and mutual
respect.
Economic imperatives are rising to the fore and will inevitably overshadow other imperatives such as politics,
ethnicity etc. Every actor or group of across recognizes peace and development for humanity as the ultimate
goals, strives for them or its own people but professes them for all mankind. A great challenge awaits the
world in the 21st century which will neither be European, American, or an Asian century but will be a world
century, not by choice but of necessity. Globalism will force the pace of regionalism and the development of
regional economic zones which capitalize on complementarities and synergies with a view to become better
competitors in the global market. When that challenge comes, it would require a high degree of sagacity,
wisdom, and statesmanship, from the leaders and peoples of all the nations, to work collectively for the
common good of the human race and its abode­­the earth.
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Table of Contents:
  1. THE UNIQUE NATURE OF THE PAKISTANI NATION-STATE
  2. “PAKISTAN: THE FIRST 11 YEARS 1947-1958” PART 1
  3. “PAKISTAN: THE FIRST 11 YEARS 1947-1958”PART-2
  4. ROOTS OF CHAOS: TINY ACTS OR GIANT MIS-STEPS?
  5. “FROM NEW HOPES TO SHATTERED DREAMS: 1958-1971”
  6. “RENEWING PAKISTAN: 1971-2005” PART-I: 1971-1988
  7. RENEWING PAKISTAN: PART II 1971-2005 (1988-2005)
  8. THE CONSTITUTION OF PAKISTAN, PARTS I & II
  9. THE CONSTITUTION OF PAKISTAN, PARTS I & II:Changing the Constitution
  10. THE POLITICAL SYSTEM OF PAKISTAN:Senate Polls: Secrecy Breeds Distortion
  11. THE ELECTION COMMISSION OF PAKISTAN:A new role for the Election Commission
  12. “POLITICAL GROUPINGS AND ALLIANCES: ISSUES AND PERSPECTIVES”
  13. THE LEGISLATIVE PROCESS AND INTEREST GROUPS
  14. “THE POPULATION, EDUCATION AND ECONOMIC DIMENSIONS OF PAKISTAN”
  15. THE NATIONAL ENVIRONMENT POLICY 2005:Environment and Housing
  16. NATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY 2005:The National Policy, Sectoral Guidelines
  17. THE CHILDREN OF PAKISTAN:Law Reforms, National Plan of Action
  18. “THE HEALTH SECTOR OF PAKISTAN”
  19. NGOS AND DEVELOPMENT
  20. “THE INFORMATION SECTOR OF PAKISTAN”
  21. MEDIA AS ELEMENTS OF NATIONAL POWER:Directions of National Security
  22. ONE GLOBE: MANY WORLDS
  23. “THE UNITED NATIONS” PART-1
  24. “THE UNITED NATIONS” PART-2
  25. “MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS (MDGS)”:Excerpt
  26. “THE GLOBALIZATION: THREATS AND RESPONSES – PART-1”:The Services of Nature
  27. THE GLOBALIZATION: THREATS AND RESPONSES – PART-2”
  28. “WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION (WTO)”
  29. “THE EUROPEAN UNION”:The social dimension, Employment Policy
  30. “REGIONAL PACTS”:North America’s Second Decade, Mind the gap
  31. “OIC: ORGANIZATION OF THE ISLAMIC CONFERENCE”
  32. “FROM SOUTH ASIA TO SAARC”:Update
  33. “THE PAKISTAN-INDIA RELATIONSHIP”
  34. “DIMENSIONS OF TERRORISM”
  35. FROM VIOLENT CONFLICT TO PEACEFUL CO-EXISTENCE
  36. “OIL AND BEYOND”
  37. “PAKISTAN’S FOREIGN POLICY”
  38. “EMERGING TRENDS IN INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS”
  39. “GLOBALIZATION OF MEDIA”
  40. “GLOBALIZATION AND INDIGENIZATION OF MEDIA”
  41. “BALANCING PUBLIC INTERESTS AND COMMERCIAL INTERESTS”
  42. “CITIZENS’ MEDIA AND CITIZENS’ MEDIA DIALOGUE”
  43. “CITIZENS’ MEDIA RIGHTS AND RESPONSIBILITIES”Exclusive Membership
  44. “CITIZENS’ PARTICIPATION IN PUBLIC SERVICE BROADCASTING”:Forming a Group
  45. “MEDIA IN THE 21ST CENTURY”