ABU DHABI, 16th May, 2025 (WAM) - The Muslim Council of Elders emphasised the urgent need to strengthen international efforts to promote the values of coexistence, tolerance, and peace. It called for an end to the wars and conflicts afflicting the world today and urged the adoption of a clear, united strategy to combat hate speech, violence, and Islamophobia-core challenges that must be addressed to ensure the progress and prosperity of nations and societies.

In a statement issued on the occasion of the International Day of Living Together in Peace on 16 May, the Council affirmed that the teachings of Islam call for respect for others and the preservation of human dignity, regardless of race, colour, or religion. God Almighty says: "O humanity! Indeed, We created you from a male and a female, and made you into peoples and tribes so that you may [get to] know one another" [Qur'an, 49: 13].

Promoting peace, the Council noted, is a deeply rooted Islamic principle-established as a foundational ethic of the Muslim Ummah and intimately tied to the spiritual and social fabric of Islamic life.

The Secretary-General of the Muslim Council of Elders, Judge Mohamed Abdelsalam, stressed that the world today is in dire need of prioritizing reason, dialogue, tolerance, coexistence, and peace in the face of escalating wars, growing polarization, and the alarming rise in hate speech, fanaticism, and Islamophobia.

He stated that on the International Day of Living Together in Peace, we must reaffirm our collective commitment to justice, coexistence, equality, and respect for diversity, recognising human dignity as the cornerstone of all development and progress. Peace, he said, is the best and only path to building a promising future for the coming generations-one marked by dignity, stability, and free from sectarian, racial, or cultural divisions.