A new Muslim think-tank has been launched today with the aim of helping to create a Muslim world that is united, independent, strong, prosperous, free of wars and conflict and capable of resolving its own issues.
The Ayaan Institute, based in London, says its mission is to stimulate thinking among Muslims to develop and formulate new and creative ideas and policy proposals to solve the complex problems facing Muslims and their states globally.
In a report on its launch date, the institute argues that the Muslim world appears to be in crisis. Divided into 53 Muslim majority nation-states, it is seemingly powerless, economically under-developed, dependent on the West, Russia, or China, in conflict and facing oppression.
How did Muslims and their countries arrive at this situation and how can they change it? These are the central questions raised in the Ayaan Institute’s flagship founding discussion paper Creating a New civilisation of Islam.
Many Muslim majority states are fragmenting and struggling to provide stability and prosperity for their people. Poverty, racial, ethnic, and sectarian strife are all too common. Faced with even greater external and internal threats and challenges, the think tank argues that fresh perspectives and insights into global issues and their solutions are required.
The report calls for greater unification of the Muslim world to create independence and prosperity and offers approaches that may lead to that.
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Jahangir Mohammed, a founding director of the Ayaan Institute, said: “Muslim unity is very much the forgotten obligation of Islam. Practically we do not see a Muslim Ummah, unity or brotherhood. Economically and politically, we are more in brotherhood with the non-Muslim world than each other.
“Muslims now constitute a quarter of the world’s population (1.8 billion) and face unprecedented challenges for economic, political and military survival. The governance, organisation and unification of the Muslim world will be by its nature different to the time of the Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ).”
Saqib Sattar, co-founder of the Institute added: “The paper and Institute represents the start of a discussion and journey on a long road. We invite people to work with us towards our vision of a unified Muslim world, free from oppression, independent, prosperous and capable of solving our own problems.”
