PERHAPS Professor Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, Secretary General of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), summed it up best when he said earlier this week that the organization wants the 11th Islamic Summit that convenes in Dakar today to go down in history. Ihsanoglu's message couldn't be clearer. This particular summit cannot possibly be allowed to fall short of the extraordinary challenges the Muslim world is facing today, which range from the excesses of the war on terror to the Danish cartoons controversy, and from trade issues to the Arab-Israeli conflict. The summit, titled “Islam in the 21st Century”, is particularly significant because so much is happening in the Muslim world that threatens its very solidarity and integrity. Palestine, Lebanon, Iraq, Somalia, and Darfur are all major issues that need extensive, robust cooperation and joint action among Muslim nations. Then there is the growing problem of Islamophobia. There is no denying the constant, intense attacks on Islam and Muslims, either from insignificant, willingly ignorant individuals like Wafa Sultan or by the formidable pro-Israeli lobbying machine in the US. The controversy of the Danish cartoons that had been jump-started recently is the perfect depiction of Islamophobia. Regardless of claims that the cartoons fall within the right to free speech, they do show a definite state of willful ignorance about the true nature of Islam and what it stands for. Millions of people around the world wrongfully confuse Islam with the actions of individuals and outfits like Al-Qaeda. With this summit, the OIC continues its march to tell people how to separate the wheat from the chaff about Islam and true Muslims, who are moderate and peaceful by definition. Beyond all that, the OIC's 11th summit will address inter-Islamic trade and economics. One priority on the agenda is raising intra-OIC trade among member states from 13 percent now to 20 percent by 2015 in accordance with the OIC 10-Year Program. Trade, in addition to global public relations, is one weapon the Muslim nation should use better in fortifying itself in the face of all the aforementioned challenges. All that is well and good. What is needed more than any time before, however, is for all of the OIC's member states and their governments to pull together and work as a single unit. More of everything is needed: more coordination, more dialogue, more understanding, more trade, and more activity. The OIC brings so many diverse nations in all corners of the world, with their various cultures, politics and ideas, under one umbrella: that of Islam – a true, moderate and peaceful Islam. And that is precisely the strength of the OIC. __
