Cairo: 16th Rabie II 1429 Hijri;  22 April 2008

In the Name of God, the compassionate and merciful; the International Union for Muslim Scholars asks all Muslims, individuals, organizations, groups and governments, and all those interested in the human condition, from all religions, nationalities and regions to provide every financial aid they can afford to the Palestinian Universities and its students.

Education in Palestine has always been away from the political conflict, and disputes between the different groups. Universities are not politically or party oriented. But the very difficult economic situation in the whole of Palestine, in the West Bank and in Gaza equally, led to the occurrence of a number of problems in the education, especially in higher education. These problems threaten, if continued, to total collapse of higher education in Palestine.

A crucial problem is brains immigration. Professors, lecturers and scholar in Palestinian Universities will immigrate to other countries in which they can make enough living. Continuity of this immigration will evacuate the educational institutions from the academic force and experience, without which any university cannot carry out its mission or even continue to exist.

Another essential problem is: Financing Students' Education Fees. It is the main source of fund for all Palestinian Universities. All sorts of European aid stopped a while ago, and the Palestinian government is no more capable of funding students nor it is able to finance universities due to the unceasing economic siege, since The Aqsa Uprising until now. This lead to accumulation of financial deficiency and to the existence of about twenty thousand students, men and women, who finished their higher education and are not able to get hold of their graduation certificates because they did not pay the university fees, which ranges between four hundred to eight hundred dollars for each of them.

There are eleven universities in Palestine, four in Gaza Strip and the rest in the West bank including Eastern Qudus. They all suffer extensively from this insolvency. They need about twenty million American dollars annually, to maintain its educational mission.

Since all this information came to the knowledge of the International Union for Muslim Scholars. The Union and the Organization of the Islamic Conference, which works industriously to provide the basic needs for our people in Palestinian, together we opened a bank account, and specified it to receive donations from all over the world, to serve two purposes. First: rescue the Palestinian Universities, And secondly, to pay the students' fees, whose lives shall pass in vain if they do not obtain their graduation certificates, which they have already completed. While the unjust siege imposed on the Palestinian people, causes this sever economic crisis and hinders students from obtaining their well-deserved academic qualifications. 

International Union for Muslim Scholars encourages and calls everyone capable of helping our people in Palestine, to do so immediately, by sending their donations to this bank account:

OIC Fund
Dollar account no. 5600758
Samba Financial Group
Main Branch: Al-Andalus Street, Jeddah
Swift Code: SAMBASARI
Jeddah, Saudia Arabia

And, the Organization of the Islamic Conference shall, through trusted channels, deliver these donations promptly to the Palestinian Universities to cover its financial shortage as far as possible.

To all Muslims, Islam taught us in the Qur'an and in the Sunna of Prophet Mohammed - peace be upon him - that all Muslims are one nation. They shall cooperate and help each other in the same manner a one human body reacts: if one part is deficient, the rest of the organs shall ally with it. Each Muslim shall support his Muslim brother. And, the Muslim community is an integrated one, the strong helps the weak, and the rich shall have mercy for the poor. Also, students and scholars have a share in everyone's Zakat for to help them in: first, overcoming their financial need, and secondly, to enable them to focus on and accomplish their educational goals. This is the responsibility of every Muslim capable of doing the smallest share of it, and it is the responsibility of the whole nation together. All the money spent to fulfil these goals is in the way of God (Allah). And, Allah shall reward the good-doer, as he Said in the Holly Qur'an: (and nothing do ye spend in the least (in His cause) but He replaces it: for He is the Best of those who grant Sustenance) [Saba: 39]. Muslims can donate for this project from their obligatory Zakat, or from voluntary Sadaqat, or from any money they wish to purify themselves from, this money is forbidden for them to use and permissible in this aspect of charity.

May Allah guide us all.

He is always help people as long as they help their brothers. 

Head of the Union Prof. Youssef Al-Qaradawy

General Secretary  Prof. Mohammed Selim El-Awa