Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad recently announced that Kuala Lumpur would host a summit this month focused on figuring out the roots of the malaise suffered by much of the Muslim world, and had invited the heads of state of Indonesia, Pakistan, Qatar and Turkey to attend.
What is unique about this KL Summit is that it is rare for the topic of Muslim revivalism to be front and center at a high-profile political event, as opposed to an academic conference. Also significant is the fact that such an event is taking place outside a typical platform of Muslim discussion, such as the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), which has long since lost its status as a driver of affairs among the Muslim global polity.
The KL Summit hasn’t come out of the blue, though, but is a continuation of the diplomatic overtures by Malaysia, Pakistan and Turkey since the elections of Prime Ministers Mahathir and Imran Khan last year. Mahathir, Khan and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met recently on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly to discuss problems afflicting the broader Muslim civilization. The product of that meeting was an agreement to establish a new international television station dedicated to combating Islamophobia and expressing a more positive view of Islam than found in the mainstream.
https://www.asiatimes.com/2019/12/opinion/muslim-world-faces-potential-geopolitical-shift/
What is unique about this KL Summit is that it is rare for the topic of Muslim revivalism to be front and center at a high-profile political event, as opposed to an academic conference. Also significant is the fact that such an event is taking place outside a typical platform of Muslim discussion, such as the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), which has long since lost its status as a driver of affairs among the Muslim global polity.
The KL Summit hasn’t come out of the blue, though, but is a continuation of the diplomatic overtures by Malaysia, Pakistan and Turkey since the elections of Prime Ministers Mahathir and Imran Khan last year. Mahathir, Khan and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met recently on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly to discuss problems afflicting the broader Muslim civilization. The product of that meeting was an agreement to establish a new international television station dedicated to combating Islamophobia and expressing a more positive view of Islam than found in the mainstream.
https://www.asiatimes.com/2019/12/opinion/muslim-world-faces-potential-geopolitical-shift/