The Muslim World League (MWL) is organizing in Makkah from August 6 to 8, 2005, an international conference that will focus on practical steps to achieve cultural, political and economic unity among Muslim countries and peoples. Some 300 Muslim scholars from all over the world are expected to attend the conference, which comes in response to a resolution by the 2003 Islamic Summit in Malaysia. Coinciding with the Makkah conference, the Supreme Council for Mosques, the Islamic Fiqh Council, and the Higher Commission for Islamic Organizations will also hold meetings.

The conference will highlight the need to strengthen economic and commercial ties among the 57-member Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) by promoting free trade and establishing an Islamic common market, and stress the importance of Islamic solidarity in solving many of the problems facing the Muslim world. Among topics to be discussed are the feasibility of setting up a defense force within the framework of the United Nations Charter with the purpose of confronting foreign aggression; and the setting up of an international Islamic court of justice to settle disputes among Muslim countries and organizations.

The discussions at the conference will be centered on five main topics:
1. the concept of Islamic unity as described by the Qur'an and Sunnah;
2. Islamic unity in history, from the time of the Prophet Muhammad;
3. the significance of unity in protecting identity, confronting challenges and unifying religious edicts; stressing the responsibilities of governments, scholars and Islamic organizations in fostering unity;
4. the obstacles facing Islamic unity and ways to overcome them;
5. practical programs to achieve unity.

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