First Presidency Meets with Prominent Muslim Leader to Build Interfaith Friendship
Contributed By Sydney Walker, Church News staff writer
President Russell M. Nelson of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints greets His Excellency Dr. Mohammad Al-Issa, secretary-general of the Muslim World League, on November 5, 2019.
Article Highlights
- The First Presidency and Elder Bednar met with Dr. Al-Issa, where he commended the Church for its humanitarian efforts.
“What I’ve seen here is a great example of the true meaning of mercy and love to humanity.” —Dr. Mohammad Al-Issa
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The First Presidency met with His Excellency Dr. Mohammad Abdulkarim Al-Issa, secretary-general of the Muslim World League and president of the International Organization for Muslim Scholars, on Tuesday, November 5.
Dr. Al-Issa also met with Elder David A. Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and toured Welfare Square.
“What I’ve seen here is a great example of the true meaning of mercy and love to humanity,” Dr. Al-Issa said after visiting Welfare Square. “We all around the world need to follow this humanitarian [approach] exactly. Also, the whole world needs to get exposed to and learn from these efforts and projects.”
“We can convey the message to the Islamic world and tell them there are people in some parts of the world where they [dedicate] their lives especially to serve their brothers and sisters and humanity. I do want to congratulate you. I am really surprised to see that level of work you are offering here. You are inspiring to others.”
Dr. Al-Issa wrote an op-ed published in the Deseret News on Sunday, November 3, in which he noted Joseph Smith’s tolerance of other faiths and said Latter-day Saints and Muslims should be leaders in the campaign toward peaceful coexistence.
”While the centers of Islam and the Church of Jesus Christ sit on opposite sides of the world, the values that bring our communities together could not be closer,“ he wrote.
His Excellency Dr. Mohammad Al-Issa, secretary-general of the Muslim World League, tours Temple Square in Salt Lake City on November 5, 2019, with Elder Kent F. Richards, director of Church Hosting and emeritus General Authority Seventy.
Dr. Al-Issa received a medallion and a copy of The Niche of Lights from the First Presidency on November 5. The Niche of Lights is an ancient text by 11th-century Islamic thinker Abu Hamid Muhammad al-Ghazali, a book that is part of the Islamic Translation Series published by Brigham Young University Press.
Abdulwahab Al-Shehri, the Muslim World League’s director of media affairs, and Raad Fanary, an interpreter, joined Dr. Al-Issa during his visit to Salt Lake City to meet with Church leaders and state politicians.
As part of President Russell M. Nelson’s ministry to the Pacific in May, he met with Muslim leaders in New Zealand and donated $100,000 from the Church to help rebuild the mosques attacked in Christchurch on March 15.
In October, Sister Sharon Eubank, president of Latter-day Saint Charities and First Counselor in the Relief Society General Presidency, and Sister Becky Craven, Second Counselor in the Young Women General Presidency, visited the Al Noor Mosque in Christchurch.
President Russell M. Nelson of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints greets His Excellency Dr. Mohammad Al-Issa, secretary-general of the Muslim World League, on November 5, 2019.
Members of the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints meet His Excellency Dr. Mohammad Al-Issa, secretary-general of the Muslim World League, on November 5, 2019.
Members of the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints meet His Excellency Dr. Mohammad Al-Issa, secretary-general of the Muslim World League, on November 5, 2019.
Elder David A. Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, second from the right, and Elder Anthony D. Perkins, General Authority Seventy, far right, greet His Excellency Dr. Mohammad Al-Issa, secretary-general of the Muslim World League, on November 5, 2019.
His Excellency Dr. Mohammad Al-Issa, secretary-general of the Muslim World League, tours Welfare Square in Salt Lake City on November 5, 2019, with Elder Kent F. Richards, director of Church Hosting and emeritus General Authority Seventy.
His Excellency Dr. Mohammad Al-Issa, secretary-general of the Muslim World League, tours the Bishops’ Central Storehouse in Salt Lake City on November 5, 2019, with Elder Kent F. Richards, director of Church Hosting and emeritus General Authority Seventy.
His Excellency Dr. Mohammad Al-Issa, secretary-general of the Muslim World League, tastes chocolate milk made on Welfare Square in Salt Lake City during a visit there on November 5, 2019, with Elder Kent F. Richards, director of Church Hosting and emeritus General Authority Seventy.
