KL Summit 2019, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

From December 18th to 21st, the KL Summit is held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to which the Seville Mosque Foundation has been invited, and is represented by its Director of Public Relations, Muhsin Sierra and Hafith Bashir Castiñeira, who had the honour to greet personally Tun Dr. Mahathir and Recep Tayib Erdogan.

The event, organized by Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, Prime Minister of Malaysia, is attended by Recep Tayib Erdogan, President of Turkey, His Highness Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, Emir of Qatar and Dr. Hassan Rouhani, President of Iran among many other authorities, intellectuals and academics from 53 countries.

In the words of Tun Dr. Mahathir Bin Mohamad, Prime Minister of Malaysia and President of the KL Summit:

¨The KL Summit which gathers Muslim leaders, intellectuals and scholars was conceived with the noble objectives of identifying the problems afflicting the Muslim world and finding solutions to them.

We have heard the oft-repeated quote attributed to the 19th century Egyptian scholar and jurist, Muhammad ‘Abduh, who once said: “l went to the West and saw Islam, but no Muslims; I got back to the East and saw Muslims, but no Islam.”

It is but a stark reminder of our failings, our inability to live by the basic tenets of Islam, of making Islam ad-deen, our way of life.

Muslims nations are in the extremes — we have rich nations far richer than the richest and poor ones that are poorer than the poorest.

We proclaim that all Muslims are brothers and yet, our nations are involved in endless civil wars, sectarian wars, wars with our Muslim neighbours and inviting non-Muslim nations to assist us in our wars with fellow Muslims.

For far too long we have been associated with bad governance, endemic corruption and a breeding place for terrorism.

We can keep on shouting that such labels, especially being breeders of terrorism as callous anti-Islam propaganda. We know that it is really true but our weakness and disunity have given credence to this propaganda.

Such is the state of affairs among our nations that Muslims end up in the shores of nations Governed by those from other faiths and our brethren’s fate rest solely at their mercy.

It is against these backdrops that the KL Summit was hatched and it is earnest in wanting to contribute in the improvement of the state of affairs among Muslims and the Muslim nations.

But no matter how many brilliant ideas the KL Summit hatch, without the support of leaders and Governments of the Muslim nations, these ideas will remain ideas.

It is my fervent hope that participants at this KL Summit will take this challenge of turning all our declarations and decisions into realities.

Featuring regional and international leaders from various playing fields, the KL Summit will be guided by a comprehensive contemporary understanding towards the achievement of the highest values of Islam and the sovereignty of Ummah.

At the KL Summit we need to frankly deliberate these issues and find new and workable solutions to problems afflicting Muslims. It is in the exchanging of our knowledge and experience that we will be able to pick and choose what is best for our own case, for our own countries.

I look forward to a lively dialogue and I hope it will become another step towards achieving something so needed by our countries.

We have always reflected on how great, enriching and powerful the Islamic civilisation was. It is a chapter in history and we yearn for its return. It will remain a yearning unless we do something about it.

Thank you.¨

Tun Dr Mahathir Bin Mohamad
Prime Minister of Malaysia and Chairman of KL Summit