The meeting will be attended by 300 presidents and members of the Foundation’s sections from 34 African countries, including 50 female scholars, as well as 17 Moroccan scholars, members of the Council, including 4 female scholars, the Mohammed VI Foundation of African Oulema said in a press release.
During this session, 14 new sections will join the Foundation, representing the following countries: Burundi, Botswana, Congo, Cape Verde, Eswatini, Equatorial Guinea, Lesotho, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, South Sudan, Seychelles, Zambia and Zimbabwe, the same source noted, recalling that the Foundation has sections in Niger, Kenya, Somalia, Burkina Faso, Chad, the Comoros, Benin, Gambia, Mali, Djibouti, Angola, the Central African Republic, Gabon, Ethiopia, Sierra Leone, Mauritania, Madagascar, Guinea-Bissau, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Senegal, Côte d'Ivoire, Cameroon, Congo, Togo, Sao Tome, Liberia, Ghana, Guinea, Tanzania, Sudan, Uganda and Malawi.
The Foundation noted that the convening of this session falls within the framework of implementing the provisions of amended Article 4 of Royal Decree No. 1.15.75, dated 7 Ramadan 1436H (24 June 2015), providing for the setting up of the Mohammed VI Foundation of African Oulema. It provides for pooling and coordinating the efforts of African scholars, in the Kingdom of Morocco as well as in the other African countries, in order to shed light on the pristine values of Islam, and disseminate and strengthen them.
It stipulates for undertaking any initiatives likely to promote the tolerant values of the faith in any reform Africa depends on, whether at continental level or at the level of each country; promoting the intellectual, scientific and cultural movement in African Islamic sectors; consolidating the historical relations existing between the Kingdom of Morocco and the rest of Africa and seek to develop and expand them; and revitalizing the common African-Islamic cultural heritage by making it better known, disseminating it, and seeking to safeguard and preserve it.
During this session, the official report on the Foundation’s activities for the year 2022 and a summary of the Foundation’s activities for the year 2023 will be presented by the Foundation’s General Secretariat, the Foundation said, adding that the projects and activities scheduled for the year 2024 will be introduced, discussed and adopted by the Foundation’s four Standing Committees, namely the Scientific and Cultural Activities Committee, the Sharia Studies Committee, the Committee for the Revival of the African Islamic Heritage, and the Communication, Cooperation and Partnerships Committee.
At the end of the session, the final declaration of the Foundation’s Higher Council will be presented, together with the recommendations of the four Standing Committees, the same source underlined.
It should be pointed out that on the sidelines of this session, the Mohammed VI Foundation of African Oulema will hold a ceremony on Friday 25 Jumada I, 1445H, corresponding to 8 December 2023, in the library of the AlQarawiyin Mosque, for the official announcement of the African Oulema Charter. This doctrinal guide will serve as a reference document for the promotion of the foundation’s scholarly work, while also taking care of its scholars and achieving the Foundation’s goals.
In addition, prizes will be awarded to the winners in the finals of the Mohammed VI Foundation of African Oulema’s Fourth Competition in the memorization, recitation and psalmody of the holy Qur’an, which took place online in the city of Fez on 10-12 Ramadan 1444H (1-3 April 2023) via the Zoom platform.
There will be three winners in each competition category, namely: memorization of the entire Qur’an with recitation according to the narration of Warsh, on the authority of Nafi’; complete memorization with recitation using the other narrations; psalmody with memorization of five hizb. Similarly, an honorary prize will be awarded to the youngest female reciter and the youngest male reciter.