Organization of Islamic Conference: Genesis & Development with Special Reference to Political & Educational Policies (1969-91)

The title is a thesis submitted for the award of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in West Asian Studies (Political Science) by Bandit Aroman, Centre Of West Asian Studies Aligarh Muslim University Aligarh (India), 2011. The following is a report of the research.

Introduction

The Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC), now known as Organization of the Islamic Cooperation, is the second largest international organization after the United Nations and it also has a permanent delegation to the United Nations. The OIC consists of 57 member states in which the Muslims constitute the majority of the population. These countries belong to various regions such as West Asia, Africa, Central Asia, the Caucasus, the Balkans, South East Asia, South Asia, etc. The organization possesses the economic, geographical, political, and human resources potentials that would endow it with a significant role to play in the international arena.

The OIC was established in 1969 as a response to the challenges posed to symbolic sites and Holy Places (the al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem). The idea of an organization that would unite Muslim efforts politically, culturally, and economically predates the 1969 burning of al-Aqsa. Successive meetings had taken place towards achieving this goal. Yet, in 1969 the moment seemed ripe for the success of the previous efforts due to the sense of a need for solidarity at a moment of crisis.

The OIC is primary a Muslim organization concerned with Muslim issues everywhere. It attempts to galvanize Muslim majority states into a unified body and to represent Muslims by espousing their causes, grievances, aspirations and concerns. The organization depends almost exclusively on diplomacy. It has consultative and cooperative relations with the United Nations and other International Governmental Organizations to protect the vital interests of the Muslims and to work for the settlement of conflicts and disputes involving the member states.

The OIC was envisioned as a decision-making body. However, it has little authority to implement its decisions as these are not binding to the member states, actually, the latter acts according to the dictates of national interests. Moreover, the disparity and even conflicting views in visualizing interest among states posed insurmountable obstacles to the Muslim-centered vision of the OIC. Therefore, the notion of Islamic Ummah (unity) which seems to provide the raison d’être of the organization is set against nationalist identity to the disadvantage of the latter. The epistemological difference between the religious notion of Muslim unity (Ummah) and the secular notion of nation-states created an unbridgeable gap that hampers the smooth functioning of the OIC.

As a decision-making body, the OIC attempts to play a significant role in all major issues concerning the Muslim world in particular and humanity in general. The structural imperatives of the Charter of the OIC are composed of fourteen articles. The concept of Islamic solidarity based on common faith essentially formulates the spirit of the Charter. The main purpose of this organization is to deal with the issues pertaining to the Islamic world. The OIC has specific objectives mentioned in its Charter. Article-II of the Charter specifies the objectives of the OIC. These are to promote Islamic solidarity among member states and to consolidate cooperation among member states in the political, economic, social, cultural, educational and other vital fields of activity and to carry out consultations among member states in international organizations. The OIC mainly seeks to promote political, economic, social, cultural, and scientific cooperation among the member states, safeguard Muslim Holy Places, and work towards eradicating racial discrimination and colonialism.

The OIC consists of the Islamic Summit, the Islamic Conference of Foreign Ministers, the General Secretariat, the Islamic Court of Justice, Specialized Institutions, Specialized Committees, Subsidiary Organs, and Affiliated Institutions. These organs work either directly under the OIC control or as an autonomous body and work in liaison with the OIC. The OIC seems to have been over-ambitious in the creation of these bodies which has led to duplication or overlapping of activities. Emphasis has been laid on diversification of these bodies rather than on their consolidation. The objectives of these institutions are very well in tune with the requirements of Muslim societies and the problems that they are confronted within the present time.

The OIC is studied in the context of international organizations. The study deals with the political and educational activities of the OIC over the period of two decades (1969-1991). A period of twenty-two years from its inception to the Sixth Summit Conference (Dakar; 1991) has been set for this study. This time period has been selected because it witnesses the emergence of the organization and its maturity. This period is also substantial for an analytical study. The study adopts the analytical approach. It analyzes and evaluates the OIC in political stances and achievements, its educational policies as well as OICs’ role in resolving the conflict among the member states. The study attempts to answer the following questions:

a) What are the aims of the OIC and why was it created?

b) Is there a sufficient raison d’être for the OIC to exist?

c) To what extent does the OIC respond to Muslim grievances, which were its founding rationale?

d) How do member states respond to the OIC declarations? Endorse its policies? Facilitate its functioning? Cooperate with it, etc?

e) To what extent does the OIC fulfill its goals? What obstacles its face? And how has it been justified since its inception?

f) Is the OIC a strictly religious organization? To which extent can it be labeled a Muslim organization?

g) What role has the OIC played in the Muslim world and internationally?

h) What are the conceptual systems governing of the OIC? How does the idea of Ummah figure in OIC conception at the theoretical and practical levels?

i) What are the political achievements of the OIC? To what extent can they be used to judge the organization?

j) What role does the OIC assign to education in raising Muslim consciousness? What are its achievements in this regard? And how can it be evaluated?

Thus, the basic concern of this study is to find out the answers to these basic questions. The study also attempts to analyze and identify the role of OIC for the achievement of the basic principle and effort with special reference to the political and educational policies of the OIC. In so doing, this study focused on describing and analyzing five distinct areas, in the form of five chapters:

1) Genesis and Growth of the OIC;

2) Structure and Objectives of the OIC;

3) Political Advancements, Conflict Resolution and Peace Making: Initiatives and Efforts of the OIC;

4) Educational Policies of the OIC; and

5) OIC in Search of a Role.

Chapter I

Chapter I, entitled “Genesis and Growth of the OIC” deals with the historical background and development of the OIC. It attempts to characterize the nature of the OIC by examining some key issues related to it by way of its ideological basis, its features as an international organization, the historical setting in which the idea of the Muslim unity was conceived and developed by some of the prominent ideologues of the Muslim world towards the end of the nineteenth century, like Jamal al-Din al-Afghani (d. March 9th 1987). It also discusses the emergence of the OIC and its initiative formative years with special reference to supporting countries like Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Malaysia, etc.

Chapter II

Chapter II, entitled “Structure and Objectives of the OIC” deals with the organizational structure of the OIC, its main bodies, subsidiary organs, special committees, and affiliated institutions. It also evaluates their significance and success in achieving the objectives for which they were originally established.

Chapter III

Chapter III, entitled “Political Advancements, Conflict Resolution and Peace Making: Initiatives and Efforts of the OIC” focuses on the political policies of the OIC in the area of West Asia since 1969-1991 particularly focusing on the PLO-Jordan conflict, Palestinian problem, Iran-Iraq war and Iraq-Kuwait crisis, etc. This chapter attempts to examine the important role of the OIC in these conflicts and to analyze the role of the OIC in addressing and solving these problems.

Chapter IV

Chapter IV, entitled “Educational Policies of the OIC” focuses on the educational policies of the OIC under the categories of the cultural aspect of the OIC. It discusses the role and potential of education in solving the problems and enhancing the sense of solidarity, unity and understanding among Muslim states and non-Muslim states as well as raising the Islamic consciousness among the Muslim people in every corner of the world. The chapter tries also to introduce the institutional educational bodies under the umbrella of the OIC.

Chapter V

Chapter V, entitled “OIC in Search of a Role” presents the conclusion of this study. It evaluates the OIC as an organization. It also provides recommendations and suggestions for making the organization more effective.

With the focus on political and educational policies, much controversy has evolved concerning the OIC and its performance. Critics of the organization see it as an ineffectual and failed organization while its advocates regard it as a symbol of Islamic unity to be encouraged. The OIC was not able to achieve what many of its leaders envisioned at its inception. The organization's objectives were very ambitious from the start, but little has been realized. In its resolutions on various issues, the OIC has expressed its lofty goals and ideas, but in reality, it had mostly failed to meet the needs of the global Muslim community. Many have already raised the question about the usefulness of such an organization and expressed frustration with its efficacy and performance on many issues-especially political matters, in which the organization has been irrelevant, a failure or at best a marginal ineffective observer rather than an influential player. However, the researcher believes that the achievements of the OIC are primarily dependent on the exercise of the political wills of its member states. The OIC has surely contributed to the promotion of a sense of unity and cooperation among Muslim countries and their people.

The OIC has worked towards resolving conflicts among member states since its inception. It played a very significant role particularly in the Palestine issue, the Iran-Iraq conflict, and Iraq-Kuwait crisis, etc. The efforts of the OIC have been exclusively diplomatic, with no corresponding pressure or leverage to support its positions.

However, the failure to resolve the conflict cannot be blamed wholly on the OIC. This failure is more related to the constitutional nature of the OIC which maintains that the OIC resolutions are not binding on the member states. In other words, the OIC as such offered a lot to implement its political goals and agendas, but the fact that the final word is in the hands of the member states presents a major problem to the success of the organization on the political level. Once the hierarchy of identities is clearly defined, the OIC will need to restructure its form. The failure of its resolutions suggests that the OIC cannot be effective as a structure where the components are more powerful than the mother organization.

Since its inception, the OIC has successfully adopted resolutions on a number of political issues, including relations of Muslim countries with major powers, the security of Muslim nations, and conflict among its member states. However, the adoption of these resolutions did not bring any substantial change in the situation due to various factors beyond the reach and control of OIC.

In the field of education, the OIC has very successfully established many affiliated organs including universities, institutions, research centers and culturally oriented centers. The activities of these establishments range from modern education to raising Islamic consciousness, spreading the Arabic language, dealing with contemporary issues and developing in relation to the Islamic jurisprudence fostering Islamic cultural awareness and religious teachings.

The educational policies of the OIC provided a good performance especially in the field of science and technology. It has established four universities that were sponsored by the organization. These are the Islamic University of Uganda, Islamic University of Niger, International Islamic University of Bangladesh, and the International Islamic University of Malaysia. The Organization has also provided important institutions such as Research Center for Islamic History, Art and Culture (IRCICA); Statistical, Economic, Social Research and Training Center for Islamic Countries (SESTRCIC); Islamic Center for Vocational and Technical Training and Research (ICTVTR) renamed Islamic University of Technology (IUT) as sustaining efforts for the promotion of Islamic Education, Scientific and Cultural advancement among the citizens of the member states.

The educational policies of the OIC seem to reflect the desire of the organization to create the unity among Muslims all over the world. Education occupies a position in the vision of the organization. It is viewed as a means to realize the OIC’s political objectives of changing the current international political and economic system, as well as to attempt an Islamic cultural renaissance as a means of self-expression and self-fulfillment in modern contemporary civilization.

The OIC seems to be more successful in the field of economic cooperation. The rising interest in joining the organization by member states can be explained in terms of economic assistance and educational and other gains, rather than political goals. A remarkable achievement in terms of economic cooperation is the establishment of the Islamic Development Bank (IDB). IDB has been active in granting loans for development projects as well as loans for promoting trade and commerce between the member states. The Bank has particularly concentrated on the financing of trade in order to foster closer trade relations among the member states and it has also partially financed a number of joint ventures among these countries. Perhaps the achievements of the IDB deserve special attention as they represent a breakthrough at the level of economic cooperation among Muslim states.

In the present, however, the organization faces the crisis of financial discipline; the member states cannot pay their contributions to the organization regularly except the regular members of the oil-rich countries or some other regular members like Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Jordan, Malaysia, Pakistan, Senegal, Yemen, etc. The stark truth is that only eleven of the fifty-seven member states pay their contributions regularly. Saudi Arabia alone pays 10 percent of the total financial contribution of the OIC.

The future of the OIC however depends on the political and financial cooperation of the member states and on the organization’s ability to convince all member states that there is no conflict between the group’s collective identity and objectives. It is necessary that the member states of the OIC must be seriously pursuing their effort of cooperation in all fields.

The Muslim countries have the potential necessary for development but they need to inculcate in themselves the desired understanding to make the fullest possible use of the available opportunities. There are various areas of complementary within the Muslim world which if made use of can qualitatively contribute to its progress and prosperity. Undoubtedly, cooperation among all Muslims in political and economic fields is possible, desirable and beneficial for the Muslim world. The OIC is the best platform to pursue these objectives.

Member states should work to improve their bilateral relations. It is imperative for Muslim countries to change their thinking and behavioral pattern to cope with the problems and to survive in this environment. The ultimate objective should be to take lead in creating peace and harmony in the world. In the present changing scenario, the OIC is an important bloc of fifty-seven Muslim countries that has a greater role to play.