First Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives Takes Part in Meeting of Speakers of the Councils of the OIC Member States on the Repeated Holy Quran Burning and the Examination of Climate Change Repercussions

First Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rep. Mohammed Sabbari, took part in the meeting of the Speakers of the Councils of the OIC Member States on the repeated Holy Quran burning and the examination of climate change repercussions.

The participants extended their condolences to the Kingdom of Morocco following the earthquake that struck it and expressed their solidarity with the Moroccan people.

The First Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rep. Mohammed Sabbari, took part on Monday, September 25, 2023, via videoconference, in the meeting of the Speakers of the Councils of the Member States of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC). The meeting focused on two main topics: the repeated burning of the Holy Quran and the examination of climate change repercussions, as well as Islamic solidarity in dealing with it. 

On this occasion, Rep. Mohammed Sabbari delivered an address in which he emphasized that the Islamic world faces many challenges, including hatred and Islamophobia, which promote discrimination, hostility, and violence against Muslims and Islam. In the same vein, he added that burning the Holy Quran is not only an attack on our religious beliefs, but also a violation of human rights and religious freedom that all countries must respect.

Besides, Rep. Mohammed Sabbari highlighted the significant efforts made by the Kingdom of Morocco to defend the rights of Islamic nations and peoples, including the Kingdom's proposal to establish an annual World Day against Islamophobia to promote tolerance and dialogue between civilizations, as well as the adoption by the United Nations General Assembly of a resolution against the burning of the Holy Quran, on the Kingdom's proposal.

In his address, Rep. Mohammed Sabbari also stressed the importance of Islamic solidarity, awareness-raising, and promoting dialogue and tolerance between different religions and cultures. In this respect, he referred to the Royal Message addressed to the participants in the Parliamentary Conference on Interfaith Dialogue, held in Marrakesh last June.

Regarding climate change, Rep. Mohammed Sabbari reviewed the various measures taken by the Kingdom in this area to mitigate the negative effects of climate change and the extreme natural disasters it engenders.

Rep. Mohammed Sabbari concluded his address by presenting a series of recommendations, through which he called for efforts to introduce the principles and values of tolerant Islam institutionally, to raise awareness of the dangers of Islamophobia within the framework of the International Day against Islamophobia, and to promote dialogue and coexistence between different religions, sects, and cultures.

Rep. Sabbari also called for the adoption of the principle of sustainability as an approach to reducing the impact of climate change, facilitating the appropriation and access of developing countries to production mechanisms based on renewable energies, and helping Islamic countries suffering from water resource shortages to rationalize their resources by developing alternative solutions.

It should be noted that the participants in this meeting strongly condemned in their respective interventions the burning of the Holy Quran in certain European countries, calling for appropriate measures to be taken to combat such heinous acts in the future.

The participants also extended their deepest condolences to the Kingdom of Morocco following the earthquake that struck it on September 8. They also expressed their solidarity with the Moroccan people in this tragedy.