The Malaysian government invited the heads of state from 57 members of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, but only about 20 countries sent leaders or delegations to the summit. In Riyadh, the move was seen as an attempt to rival the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) because the kingdom often appears to behave as if it exclusively holds the trademark rights to the Muslim leadership. If that was not enough, the appearance of Saudi Arabia’s regional rivals Iran, Qatar, and Turkey, all of whom attended the summit in Kuala Lumpur, irked the kingdom further. During the summit, the OIC, which has for decades acted as the collective Islamic voice, received veiled criticism for its failure to take firm action in support of Muslim causes all over the world. Perhaps, Middle east rivalries emerged stronger than the Muslim causes during the upstart summit. And they were bound to plague the fledgling summit. Many nations, including Indonesia, only sent a delegation of ministers to attend the event, and their leaders decided to stay away. After all, it is not easy to offend the world’s leading oil producer and the figurehead of the Muslim world. While such events highlight the greater internal divisions, they also suggest that Saudi Arabia still commands the Muslim world. Many countries that decided to stay away from the divisive summit are either waiting or have already received a financial bailout from Riyadh. But while the summit may not have achieved its ultimate purpose of uniting leaders of a certain type to counter Riyadh’s authority, it surely has exposed how divided the Muslim world is.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 23rd, 2019.
Like Opinion & Editorial on Facebook, follow @ETOpEd on Twitter to receive all updates on all our daily pieces.
COMMENTS
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ