General Musharraf urges changes at Islamic Conference

At an Islamabad meeting organised by the World Islamic Economic Forum, Pakistan's president General Pervez Musharraf has called for a radical restructuring of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference so that it will be "able to play a central role in portraying true spirit of Islam as the religion of peace and tolerance".

Giving a holistic view of the problems afflicting the Muslim people worldwide, President Musharraf said extremism was on the rise as opposed to the moderate forces. He regretted the fact that Islamic intellectuals and scholars had abdicated their knowledge of Islam to semi-literate clerics, who held a sway over the masses. These clerics, he added, were reinforcing world's misperception that Islam is a religion that believes in militancy and intolerance.

The President described illiteracy, poor standard of education as another problem area and reason for the Muslim countries to lag behind in this competitive world. He noted that of the top 500 universities in the world, there was not a single institution from the Muslim Ummah. "This is a major failure in the knowledge-driven world," he added.

It sounds good to me.  That the OIC is reformable in the ways General Musharraf suggests, I have no idea.  That the international organisation of the predominantly Muslim countries is erected precisely on the basis of their shared religion seems also problematic: but that may be simply because I have a hard time counting any major nations that would join the Organisation of Christian States.  Liechtenstein, probably, perhaps Paraguay and El Salvador; maybe Brasil, since there are so many evangelicals there these days. Slovenia, Poland and Croatia.