Constitution of the International Union for Muslim Scholars

Title, Entity, and Headquarters

Article One:

'The International Union for Muslim Scholars' is an international, Islamic, and popular institution that comprises members of the Muslim world and Muslim minorities in many countries around the world. It is an independent institution that enjoys a fully distinct legal and financial entity. The institution shall be refereed to hereafter as the 'Union'.

Article Two:

The Union’s headquarters shall be in the United Kingdom. Other branches in other countries may be established by virtue of a resolution approved by the Board of Trustees.

Article Three:

The Union will act according to this basic constitution and the laws and regulations effective in the country where the headquarters is located. In addition, the other branches will act according to this basic constitution as well as the laws and regulations effective in their respective countries.

Membership

Article Four:

Membership is open for scholars who graduated from shari`ah universities and Islamic Studies departments at various universities around the Muslim world. It is also open for those who are highly interested in shari`ah sciences and Islamic culture and those who have considerable and tangible production therein. Save the founding members, the Membership Committee must approve the application of those who show interest in joining the Union before the issue is submitted to the Board of Trustees for examination.

Article Five:

The person who participated in the inaugural meeting of the Union is considered a founding member. After the inaugural meeting of the Union, when approving a nomination for new membership, the recommendation of two scholars from the founding members and the Board of Trustees, is to be sought after the Membership Committee makes the nomination.

Article Six:

Membership of the Union is permanent and cannot be cancelled unless there is a resolution by the General Assembly upon the request of the President of the Union that is approved by the Board of Trustees.

Authority & Jurisdiction

Article Seven:

The Union is run by the following authorities:

The General Assembly

The Board of Trustees

The President of the Union

Article Eight:

The member scholars of the Union constitute its General Assembly, which is the highest authority therein. The General Assembly maintains the right to make all necessary decisions to regulate its work. The General Assembly is also the source of all the Union’s regulations and systems. The General Assembly shall hold an Ordinary Session once every two years and the President may call for an Extra-Ordinary Session if there is a need or upon the request of one-third of the members of the Union. The sessions are to be held in the headquarters of the Union, and upon the approval of the General Assembly it may be held in any other country. The meeting is deemed valid if the quorum of more than half the members is present. It is also acceptable - for the meeting to be valid - that some members represent others by a written proxy that is to be posited to the General Secretariat before the date appointed for the session to begin. Nevertheless, if the quorum is not complete, the session is to be postponed for one day only and it will be valid in the new date regardless of the number of members present.

Article Nine:

The General Assembly elects the Board of Trustees from amongst its members, the number of which should not be less than eight or more than fourteen. In addition, the number of members of the Board of Trustees should always be odd, including the President himself.

The Board of Trustees enjoys the same ordinary authorities and jurisdiction enjoyed by any other Board of Directors. It is incumbent upon the Board of Trustees to make the necessary decisions in order to facilitate and run the activities of the Union whether they are scholarly, related to da`wah, culture, or ideology, and so on.

The Board of Trustees shall hold an Ordinary Session at least once every six months. The President may call an Extra-Ordinary session if there is a need, or upon the request of two-thirds of its members. Pertaining to the Board of Trustees’ meetings, the designed relevant regulations should be applied.

Article Ten:

The term of members of the Board of Trustees is 4 years effective from the date of election. This term may be renewed once only. Those whose term has elapsed may be re-elected once again after two years. Except the first Board of Trustees, members who desire to nominate themselves should have spent at least two full years as members of the International Union for Muslim Scholars.

Article Eleven:

The Board of Trustees elects, from amongst its members, two Vice-Presidents, a full-time General Secretary, and a Treasurer. They, in addition to the President of the International Union for Muslim Scholars, constitute the Board which run regular activities during the intervals when the Union is not holding a meeting.

Article Twelve:

The International Union for Muslim Scholars (IUMS) has a General Secretariat headed by the General Secretary and it recruits a sufficient number of employees, technicians, and administrators. This General Secretariat is located in the Union’s headquarters. It is responsible for implementing the resolutions of the General Assembly, the Board of Trustees, and the President of the Union. The General Secretariat can also propose work plans and projects that it deems appropriate for the Union to implement. It is also distinctly responsible for monitoring Muslim affairs all over the world and it should suggest what is deemed appropriate to be done for the President, the Board of Trustees, or the General Assembly according to the authority and appropriateness of each.

Article Thirteen:

The General Assembly shall elect the President of the Union. The term of President is 6 years effective from the date of election. This term may be renewed no more than once.

Article Fourteen:

The President of the Union is the highest authority within the Union and is the supervisor over all its activities. He is the one who legally represents the Union before all other organizations and authorities. He is also the one to chair the General Assembly, the Board of Trustees, and Boards of the branches if he is present at that time. He also chairs the meetings of any of the Union’s committees if he is present at the time they are held..

Article Fifteen:

The President of the Union assumes all his responsibilities in accordance with this constitution and the effective laws of the country where the headquarters is located. He enjoys all the authorities and responsibilities assigned to the head of the Board of Directors of societies of public interest and the like.

Article Sixteen:

The Board of Trustees shall define the responsibilities of the two deputies of the President so that one of them will be responsible for helping the President in scholarly issues, while the second will be in charge of assisting him in administrative tasks. In the absence of the President, the one deputy he chooses from them shall take over his responsibilities. Each of them shall carry out – alongside their basic and original tasks – whatever is entrusted to him by the President.

Article Seventeen:

In the event that the position of President is vacant, the Board of Trustees shall choose one of the two deputies until the General Assembly elects a new President for the Union within a period of six months effective from the date the President’s post is vacated.

Article Eighteen:

The Board of Trustees shall form committees required for running the Union. These committees may comprise members of the Board of Trustees or other members of the Union. All committees shall carry out tasks as defined and assigned to each of them in their forming resolution.

Article Nineteen:

The General Secretariat runs the daily work of the Union. The General Secretary shall be the official spokesperson of the Union through whom declarations and announcements related to current events are released.

Article Twenty:

The General Secretary is responsible for making appropriate preparations for the General Assembly’s meetings and the Board of Trustees’. He is also responsible for preparing the Agenda and all necessary documentation for each item on the Agenda. He is to send these documents to all members of the Union prior to the session with sufficient time. He is also responsible for taking minutes of the sessions along with carrying out the resolutions made by the General Assembly and the Board of Trustees.

Article Twenty-One:

The Treasurer is the one responsible for the financial issues of the Union. He shall prepare the annual budget and shall monitor the spending process after the Board of Trustees – in accordance with the Union’s financial and administrative procedures – approves it.

Objectives

Article Twenty-Two:

The Union endeavors to preserve the Islamic identity of the Muslim Ummah so it retains the stance of moderation and the lofty goals of enjoining what is good and forbidding what is evil.

Article Twenty-Three:

The Union uses all available legal means to stand up to internal and external destructive trends and promote Muslims’ public awareness of their Ummah’s role and noble goals. This will be done through spreading straightforward Islamic thought and dispersing knowledge through making it easy for Muslims to seek some sort of shari`ah-based knowledge.

Article Twenty-Four:

The Union stands against bigotry in matters of religion as well as misinterpreting its texts as taught by Islam's moderation, tolerance, and comprehensiveness in terms of faith, shari`ah-law, worship, transaction, thought, and conduct.

Article Twenty-Five:

The Union endeavors to strengthen the Islamic spirit in the soul of both individuals and groups in a way that paves the way for the Ummah to play its original role and carry out its mission of disseminating monotheism on earth. This is in addition to spreading welfare on earth and helping humanity to achieve all its desired goals. The result of all these is nothing but producing well-prepared beneficial work, straightforward morals and ethics, logical and rational thinking, nobility in manners, and a good example for all humanity to emulate.

Article Twenty-Six:

The Union aims at paving the way for the application of the Islamic Shari`ah system through encouraging contemporary authentic ijtihad resulting from authorized organizations or knowledgable and trustworthy scholars. It also aims at displaying the validity and applicability of Islam for every time and place; and a way towards confirming the ability of its tenets, rulings, and principles to meet the ever-increasing and new needs of individuals, families, and societies.

Article Twenty-Seven:

The Union aims at streamlining the positions of eminent scholars on issues of concern to Muslims worldwide as well as joining the Ummah's various ranks in a way that defies constant and continuous challenges.

Means of Action:

Article Twenty-Eight:

The International Union for Muslim Scholars shall follow all possible and legal means to achieve its own goals. All these means should be under the umbrella of calling to Allah with wisdom and righteous advice, dialogue and constructive debate –whenever needed- and the Union focuses on the following means:

a. Direct educational discourse for Muslims in a way that corrects their misconceptions and rectifies their stands in accordance to pure Islamic tenets. This shall be done through using all relevant mass media including radios, T.V. channels, the Internet, and international telecommunications.

b. Endeavoring to give advice –with wisdom and leniency- to Muslim leaders, political decision-makers, influential figures, and those who have the power to move and direct public opinion; in a way that makes all factors mentioned here join the mainstream Islamic rank. The Union will also endeavor to show them the dangers that may affect the Ummah's identity and various interests if they are reluctant to realize the truth.

c. Cooperating with various organizations and institutions to achieve what is best for Islam and the Muslims regardless of those bodies' interests and their legal means.

d. Raising constant awareness about the crucial issues and events that are relative to Islam and the Muslims whatever their nature might be. The Union shall declare its own stand towards these issues and events in the proper time after studying them well. This is so as to prevent some sort of presuppositions or a kind of delay that may cause the benefit to escape or disappear.

e. Conducting dialogue with cultural trends, ideological schools of thought, and political bodies existing in the Islamic arena –regardless of their thought. This dialogue aims at clarifying Islam's stance on the area of interest of each one of these bodies and its own jurisdiction.

f. Maintaining cooperation with international organizations and NGOs working in different fields so as to raise awareness regarding issues related to Islam and Muslims all over the world. This is especially so when an individual, a group, or a body is subject to violation of their human rights or persecution due to their faith, or social and political stances.

g. Holding conferences and popular and scholarly seminars to discuss issues related to Islam and the Muslims in order to reach and crystallize a unified public Islamic opinion regarding them.

Fiscal Year and Resources of the Union

Article Twenty-Nine:

The Union's fiscal year comprises twenty-four Gregorian months and begins on January 1 and ends on December 31 of the following year. As an exception to this, the first fiscal year begins on the date of establishing the Union and ends on December 31 of the next Gregorian year after its establishment .

Article Thirty:

The financial resources of the Union include:

Annual subscriptions paid by members which are decided by the Board of Trustees.

Donations, gifts, wills, and endowments that are accepted by the Board of Trustees whether they are directed to a given purpose or for the general support of the Union and its activities.

Any other legal and lawful resources that are accepted by the Board of Trustees.

Article Thirty-One:

The Board of Trustees shall prepare a financial regulation to be approved by the General Assembly and it is to be effective from the date of its ratification. 

Article Thirty-Two:

The General Assembly shall ratify the general budget of the Union and the closing account of incoming funds and expenses at the end of each fiscal year.

Article Thirty-Three:

The Union's member scholars who are in the General Assembly, the Board of Trustees, and other formations of the Union and its committees, are all volunteers. As an exceptional case, suitable salaries may be determined for the full-time General Secretary and for those whose responsibilities require them to work as full-timers for a month or more unless they continue to receive their salaries from their original employers. In all cases, the Union is responsible for all expenses of implementing tasks or missions outside the residential area of the member assigned to do them.

Article Thirty-Four:

The General Assembly shall appoint an auditor from among the legal accountants employed by the Union in the country where the headquarters is located. The auditor has the same authorities and facilities that are assigned to auditors working for other international organizations.

 Concluding Regulations

Article Thirty-Five:

Any amendment to this Constitution shall not be deemed legal unless approved by two thirds of the present members of the General Assembly and upon the request of the Board of Trustees.

Article Thirty-Six:

If it is in any way necessary to dissolve the Union, the General Assembly should approve this with a minimum of two-thirds of its members. This resolution should also include the manner of handling the properties owned by the Union at the time it is dissolved.

Article Thirty-Seven:

The Union's first President shall be elected for a term of 6 years, while the term for the first Board of Trustees shall be 4 years. This shall be done by the General Assembly in the Union's inaugural founding meeting.

 All praise is due to Allah, lord of all the worlds!