MWL Secretary General Syekh Mohammed Al-Issa (right) held a media briefing along with Chief of the NU Central Executive Board K.H. Yahya Cholil Staquf ahead of the G20 Religion Forum in Nusa Dua, Bali, on Tuesday. ANTARA/Genta Tenri Mawangi
Our common task is to build harmony among different groups. The R20 forum is very important, so that we can realize various ideas to create real peace. So far, many dialogs have been held, but they all ended up at the concept level.The Muslim World League (MWL) has agreed to establish permanent cooperation with the G20 Religion Forum (R20) and the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) Central Executive Board as the R20 initiator.
R20 was an important forum for global religious leaders to discuss solutions to a wide range of global issues, so the MWL deemed it necessary to be part of the forum, MWL Secretary General Syekh Mohammed Al-Issa stated during a media briefing along with Chief of the NU Central Executive Board K.H. Yahya Cholil Staquf in Nusa Dua, Bali, on Tuesday.
MWL is an international non-governmental Islamic organization based in the Holy City of Makkah. Its goal is to clarify the true message of Islam.
"Our common task is to build harmony among different groups. The R20 forum is very important, so that we can realize various ideas to create real peace. So far, many dialogs have been held, but they all ended up at the concept level," he said.
Related news: World religious figures expected to attend Bali R20 Forum: PBNU
Al-Issa further lauded the NU Central Executive Board's initiative to benefit from Indonesia's G20 Presidency to set up the G20 Religion Forum (R20).
"K.H. Yahya Cholil Staquf is the figure behind the success of this agenda, and he professionally realized this event to the best he can. The Muslim World League feels respected to cooperate with NU as the largest Muslim organization in Indonesia," he stated.
Meanwhile, Staquf said the idea of creating R20 emerged after the NU Central Executive Board held a congress in December 2021.
"The idea is to gather international religious leaders to hold a dialog in an honest and modest way about two fundamental topics, with the first being, how to respond to the question of different inter-religious groups, and second, how religious figures can serve as a source of solutions to a wide range of global issues," he noted.
He expressed hope that R20 would not merely serve as a conference but also as a global movement.
Related news: President Jokowi scheduled to open R20 Meeting in Bali
To that end, the NU Central Executive Board teams up with the Muslim World League as an organization that protects Islamic organizations and Muslims at the global level, he affirmed.
"We believe that through cooperation with the World Muslim League, the vision to turn this movement into a global movement will come true," he stated.
The G20 Religion Forum will be held at the Grand Hyatt Nusa Dua, Badung, Bali, on November 2-3, 2022.
The forum will bring together 400 delegates, 160 of whom are inter-faith figures from various organizations at national, regional, and international levels.
President Joko Widodo is scheduled to open the forum on Wednesday.
Related news: MWL Secretary General hopes R20 positively affects world peace: PBNU
Related news: R20 seeks major religions' involvement in addressing global issues
