The President of Dagestan Mogamedsalam Mogamedov received in his office in the capital Makhachkala Sheikh Ali Mohyi Al-Deen Al-Qaradaghi the Secretary General of the International Union for Muslim Scholars on top of a delegation that included boh Sheikh Abdel-Rahman Al Mahmoud, member of the IUMS board of trustees, IUMS stewardship officer and member of the executive office, Rasheed Olwi , IUMS Chief Executive Officer, and Dr. Luay Yusuf, IUMS representative in Russia and coordinator of IUMS affairs in the Commonwealth of Independent States.
On the Dagestan side, the meeting saw attendance by the prime minister, the minister of national politics, minister of religious affairs, and the minister foreign relations as well as other officials. The talks discussed ways of enhancing relations between Dagestan and the IUMS in addition to a number of key issues, most apparently religious extremism and the positive role that scholars can play in confronting extremist ideas.
Economy was also present in the discussion as examples of successful Islamic banking were tackled and the possibility of practically applying them in the banking system of Dagestan.
The IUMS Secretary General proposed the establishment of a jurisprudence complex that gathers scholars from inside and outside of Russia to be in charge of qualifying scholars of fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence), Islamic law and fatwa (religious edicts).
At the end of the visit, the Dagestanian president expressed pleasure at the response by the IUMS Secretary General to the invitation to visit Makhachkala and appreciation for the role of the union in resolving many critical issues, the last of them being the racial conflict in Kirgizstan as well as the moderate line of thought adopted by the Union.
President Mogamedsalam Mogamedov was also generous enough to present symbolic presents of traditional crafts to the delegation members. In turn, the IUMS Secretary General, Sheikh Mohyi Al-Deen Al-Qaradaghi presented a copy of the Holy Quran as a gift to the President and a copy of the sheikh’s book "Us and the Other” translated into Russian.