Dr. Salim M. AlMalik, Director-General (DG) of the Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO), stressed the need for concerted efforts to ensure the right of people to freedom in the same manner they enjoy other rights, calling for countering the risks associated with metaverse and artificial intelligence applications, which threaten the system of values and ethics and the principles of freedom, and warn people against losing their freedoms in favour of machines.

This statement came in ICESCO DG’s address, delivered on Thursday, August 24, 2023, at the opening session of the International Conference on “Regulating Freedoms in Accordance with Islamic Values and Principles of International Law,” organized by the League of Islamic Universities, at ICESCO Headquarters, in Rabat, which brought together high-level scholars and religious leaders, university presidents, thinkers and researchers in international law.

In the same vein, ICESCO DG highlighted that Muslims in the early days of Islam fully understood the message of our religion, which calls for liberation from humiliation and subjugation, and, thus, they ruled the world with justice and fairness. “On the other hand, scientific and technical development without taking into consideration people’s cultural and social differences yielded a single story that seeks to standardize civilizational awareness and set the Western experience as a model to follow for all humanity,” he added.

He also pointed out that in an effort to confront the prejudiced campaign, which allows some ignorant ideological trends to attack the Holy Quran, ICESCO announced its initiative “Read it to understand it,” which is characterized by comprehensiveness, accuracy and seriousness as a positive response in the face of these miserable campaigns, calling for resolute efforts to highlight the true image of the Islamic civilization, the civilization of creativity, sophistication and science.

In his address, Sheikh Dr. Muhammad bin Abdulkarim Al-Issa, President of the League of Islamic Universities and chairman of the Organization of Muslim Scholars, stressed that freedoms morally and spiritually cannot remain uncontrolled as Islam guarantees rights and freedoms, indicating that most world countries seek to establish peace and harmony in their societies within the framework of shared commonalities between various groups of society far from ignorance, materialism, grudges and ideologies.

For his part, Dr. Shawki Allam, Grand Mufti of the Arab Republic of Egypt, highlighted that the issues of rights and freedoms have become at the core of intellectual, literary and philosophical debates, especially with the great technological development that has provided greater space for communication between peoples, pointing out that the Holy Quran calls upon people to fulfill their duties while enjoying their rights, and that development loses its meaning and deviates from its purpose to serve humanity if stripped from the moral system.

Dr. Sami al-Sharif, Secretary-General of the League of Islamic Universities, explained that this conference comes within the framework of the relentless efforts to promote rights and freedoms in the Islamic world as the system of religious values in Islam stresses the common human ancestry and the centrality of human rights and freedoms.

The conference agenda also featured scientific sessions on various themes, including the philosophy of freedom and intellectual trends, the concept of freedom from the Islamic perspective, freedom under the principles of international law, the anarchy of freedom and the fuelling of civilizational clash, and the leading initiatives in regulating the freedom of opinion and expression.