Category: Front Page

In parallel with the celebration of Eid al-Fitr all across the Islamic world, the Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO) celebrates its fortieth anniversary. The Organization is honored by this inspiring coincidence and seizes this opportunity to renew its commitment to steadily accomplishing further achievements through its fruitful open-door approach and modernizing vision, which includes making progress towards meeting future requirements through many programmes and activities. ICESCO also called various non-Member States to join the Organization as observers, and updated its internal regulations and organizational structure.

Moreover, ICESCO has concluded many cooperation and partnership agreements with major international space institutions to keep up with the rapid global transformations. The Organization has created centers specialized in the fields of civilizational dialogue and strategic foresight. It also developed training incubators for young people from various Islamic countries, some of whom have become ICESCO ambassadors. Furthermore, ICESCO has enhanced the status of women, who now account for half of its staff, given a new impetus to the Federation of the Universities of the Islamic World (FUIW) to achieve its desired goals, and concluded successful partnerships in the field of heritage restoration and preservation in the Islamic world.

This anniversary also coincides with the Celebration of Rabat as Culture Capital in the Islamic World for 2022. On this occasion, the Organization expresses its sincere thanks and gratitude to the Kingdom of Morocco for this forty years of care and support, particulalry the continuous patronage of His Majesty King Mohammed VI, may Allah assist him, to many programmes and activities.

ICESCO also avails itself of this opportunity to extend its heartfelt thanks to the leaders of its Member States for their support to the Organization through their valuable participation and the payment of their financial contributions to the Organization’s budget.

Special thanks go to the leadership and members of the General Conference and the Executive Council for their contribution to the Organization’s achievements and outstanding performance.

ICESCO also sincerely thanks all those who have contributed, throughout the last forty years, to its achievements, which are highly commended at the regional and international levels.

Being aware of this responsibility, ICESCO renews its commitment to fulfilling the requirmements of its vision and making further achievements to ensure the prosperity and progress of the Islamic world.

The Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO) recalls its previous statements regarding the recurrent Israeli attempts to threaten the identity of holy sites and obliterate their history, along with the relentless campaigns of terror targeting Palestinian citizens. The Organization condemns these recurrent incursions and provocations which took place during the holy month of Ramadan, violating the sanctity of Al-Aqsa Mosque and its courtyards, closing the holy site’s gates and attacking worshipers, without regard for religious considerations or respect for the monument of Al-Aqsa Mosque for the Islamic nation. This would magnify the hate, violence and extremism, and dim any chances of reviving the peace process.

ICESCO also calls upon all humanity to stand against this injustice and work towards preserving historical rights and preventing all acts that could hinder peoples’ pursuit of a decent life that guarantees their freedom and the future of their children.

The Science and Technology Sector of the Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO) held two separate meetings with Cadi Ayyad University in Marrakesh and the Regional Investment Centre in Beni Mellal (Kingdom of Morocco), respectively, to discuss cooperation in the implementation of science and technology activities and initiatives.
The first meeting gathered ICESCO’s Science and Technology Sector, represented by Dr. Muhammad Sharif, advisor to the Sector, and Dr. Abdul Rahman, expert to the Sector, and Cadi Ayyad University represented by its president Dr. Moulay Lahcen Hbid, and Dr. Fatima Iflahen, Vice President of the University, and Dr. Zuhair Benkhaldoun, professor at the same institution.

The two parties discussed cooperation between ICESCO and the University in the implementation of an awareness-raising program on space sciences, as well as a workshop and training on the “CanSat” device for the benefit of youth and students from the Islamic world.

During the second meeting, held by the Sector’s delegation with Mr. Adil Azmi, Director of the Pole “House of the Investor” at the Regional Investment Center of Beni Mellal, and Mr. Nawfal Hamoumi, Director of the Pole “Economic Drive and Territorial Offer” at the same Center, Dr. Muhammad Sharif reviewed the efforts to contribute to the development of entrepreneurship and scientific research in ICESCO Member States through strengthening cooperation means and mechanisms with various bodies and institutions in implementing many programs and activities. Cooperation includes the implementation of ICESCO’s program for training young people in the creation and development of small projects in the fields of technology and innovation in the Kingdom of Morocco.

The ICESCO Women Poets Forum launched its new creative project, “20 Moons in the Poetry Sky,” which will release 20 poetry collections by women poets.

Dr. Salim M. AlMalik, Director-General of the Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO), announced the launching of the ICESCO Women Poets Forum in March 2022 during ICESCO’s International Celebration of World Poetry Day, which was held under the theme “Perspectives of Women’s Poetry,” in recognition of women poetry to give them a creative platform.
The Forum aims to highlight women’s poetry as a fulcrum of Arab culture and support women poets through increasing their participation in international cultural events, publishing their poem collections, and holding poetry seminars and readings.

ICESCO Women Poets Forum, headed by Ms. Rawda Al-Hajj, continues its creative and introductory program, with three recent poetry sessions held via videoconference. The first session was moderated by Ms. Salwa Rabhi from Tunisia and featured the Libyan poet, Dr. Umm Al-Khair Al-Barouni; the second session was overseen by poet Soumaya Al-Yacoubi from Tunisia and hosted three poets, namely Ameni Zaibi from Tunisia, Amani Amine and Ameera Tawheed from Egypt. For the third session, it was moderated by Sumaya Wadi from Palestine and featured two poets, Asmaa Talaat from Egypt and Ameera Nader from Syria.

The Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO) and the Moroccan Observatory on Extremism and Violence held a meeting to discuss a number of ideas and proposals related to the arrangements for organizing the Second International Conference on Combating Terrorism and Violent Extremism, under the theme “Collective Intelligence in Combating Terrorism and Building Strategies to Combat Violent Extremism and Prevention”.

The meeting, held on Monday, April 25, 2022, at ICESCO headquarters, in Rabat, explored a number of ideas and proposals related to the preparation for the conference, to be held on 8-10 June 2022. The two sides agreed that ICESCO will host the conference at its headquarters.

The meeting brought together Dr. Abdelilah Benarafa, ICESCO Deputy Director-General, Ambassador Khaled Fathrahman, Director of ICESCO Center of Civilizational Dialogue, and Mr. Mohamed Hedi Shili, Director of the Department of Legal Affairs and International Standards at ICESCO, as well as Dr. Mostafa El-Rezrazi, President of the Moroccan Observatory on Extremism and Violence.

The Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO), in partnership with the Ministry of Endowments and Islamic Affairs in the Kingdom of Morocco, will launch today, Thursday, April 28th, 2022, the lecture series, “Cenacles of Gentle Exchanges”. Seeking to highlight the modern and ancient civilzational and historical aspects of Rabat, the series is part of the Celebration of Rabat as Culture Capital in the Islamic World for 2022.

The first lecture will kick off at 2:00 p.m UTC, at ICESCO headquarters in Rabat, which will be presented by Ms. Fouzia Ben Abbad, Head of the Department of Mosque-based Literacy at the Moroccan Ministry of Endowments and Islamic Affairs. The lecture will discuss the topic of the role of mosques in women’s literacy.

The lecture series will span over the period of two months and aims to highlight the civilizational and cultural depository of Rabat and the glorious history of the Kingdom of Morocco. These include historical mosques, patterns in manuscripts, ashama’il books, Moroccan endowments in the Two Holy Mosques, Moroccan monarchs’ special attention to the Holy Quran and Sahih Al-Bukhari, and other issues that cast light in civilizational aspects of the Kingdom.

Dr. Salim M. AlMalik, Director-General of the Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO), announced the launching of the ICESCO Women Poets Forum in March 2022 during ICESCO’s International Celebration in observance of the World Poetry Day, held its first activities by presenting the experiences of three women poets from Syria and Iraq.

ICESCO Women Poets Forum, headed by Ms. Rawda Al-Hajj, aims to introduce women poets and their biographies and creative productions, connect the generations of women poets, shed light on various experiences, establish linkages and promote exchange between women poets from different Muslim countries. The Forum’s activities include the presentation of the experiences of three women poets. The first meeting, held via videoconference, featured the experiences of the poet Ibaa Al-Khatib and the poet Israa Abdel Karim, from the Syrian Arab Republic, as well as the poet Israa Akrawi, from the Republic of Iraq. The meeting was moderated by the poet Dr. Khadija Al-Saidi, from the Kingdom of Morocco.

The Forum, which is a new comprehensive and literary space for creativity, currently includes more than 200 women poets. It endeavors to attract the largest number of women poets from the Islamic world through membership forms. It is also preparing the first volume of its quarterly journal “Shawa’ir” and twenty poem collections. The first conference of the ICESCO Women Poets Forum, which will bear the name of one of the leading women poets, will be organized in one of the ICESCO Member States.

The launch of this Forum marked the close of ICESCO Year for Women 2021 stressing the Organization’s sustained support for women in all fields. ICESCO Year for Women witnessed the implementation of a large number of programmes, activities and competitions, including the ICESCO Prize for Women’s Poetry: “Poem of the Year of Women 2021,” which was awarded to three women poets from Egypt, The Sudan and Yemen, and the publication of a poetry collection that includes the most prominent poems participating in the competition under the title: “Women’s Poetry Shining in Darkness (Hina Asrajna adayajira shi’ran).”

The Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO) participated in the inaugural ceremony of the “Lahadat” Project, which is supervised by the National Organization for Urban Coordination in the Arab Republic of Egypt, under the patronage of Dr. Inès Abdel Daim, Egyptian Minister of Culture, as part of Celebration of Cairo, Culture Capital in the Islamic World, and in observance of the World Heritage Day.

“Lahadat” is the fourth project launched by the National Organization for Urban Coordination, headed by Eng. Mohamed Abu Saada, as part of the series on the city’s memory to define and document the Egyptian cities, within the framework of the initiative “Our heritage is our identity, let us safeguard it together.”

It documents the landmarks of heritage cities, the course of the Nile and the ponds that resulted from the river’s floods, and the impact of these ponds on the method of construction with hard stone and buildings in Egyptian architecture.
The ceremony screened a documentary on the architectural spaces of Al-Ratli Pond, which used to exist in the center of the current city of Cairo. Eng. Abu Saada explained that the National Organization for Urban Coordination launched this project as part of the activities of the Celebration of Cairo, Culture Capital in the Islamic World for 2022, noting that the project has a special website to introduce the history of this site and how it turned from a water pond to its current form.

At the end of the ceremony, the National Organization for Urban Coordination honored three heritage figures for the year 2022, namely Dr. Muhammad Al-Kahlawi, Professor of Archeology and Islamic Architecture at Cairo University, President of the Union of Arab Archaeologists; Dr. Alaa Al-Habashi, Professor of Architecture at the Faculty of Engineering, Menoufia University, Founder of Bait Yakun for the Preservation of Architectural and Urban Heritage in Historic Cairo and Heritage Crafts; and Dr. Jamal Al Shaer, Writer and Media Figure interested in heritage affairs.

Dr. Sally Mabrouk, Head of the Office of ICESCO Director-General, represented the Organization in this ceremony, which brought together several officials, architects, university architecture students and those interested in urban heritage in Egypt.