Why do Governments Turn to Dr. Al-Issa when Countering Extremism?

When Western governments look for a credible Muslim religious voice on countering extremism, there are few figures with genuine religious standing across the Muslim world, who have also built a documented record of direct engagement with Western institutions on the subject. Sheikh Dr. Al-Issa has spent the better part of a decade building exactly that record.

The Charter of Makkah: A Framework, Not a Statement

The foundation of Al-Issa's counter-extremism credibility is the Charter of Makkah, a 30-point charter endorsed on May 28, 2019, at the close of an MWL-convened international conference in Makkah. Roughly 1,200 Muslim scholars and religious figures from 139 countries signed it, representing 27 different schools of Islamic thought — a breadth of endorsement that matters more than Al-Issa's individual authorship of the text.

The charter sets out specific commitments and is not just a general statement of goodwill. Signatories agree to:

• ✓ Reject extremism, fundamentalism, and violence across all of Islam's denominations.
• ✓ Treat religious and cultural diversity as "a bridge to dialogue, understanding and cooperation" rather than a source of conflict.
• ✓ Advance laws that deter the promotion of hatred and the incitement of violence and terrorism.
• ✓ Treat attacks on any places of worship as criminal acts regardless of the faith targeted (full text via MWL).

The combination of specific commitments, signed across sectarian lines by scholars from nearly every corner of the Muslim world, is what gives the charter weight as a counter-extremism document rather than a symbolic one.

Al-Issa's authority on counter-extremism work predates the charter. In 2017, Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Defense named him director of a newly launched Ideological War Center, an initiative Reuters reported was intended to counter extremist and terrorist ideology. Al-Issa framed the effort at the time as necessary because such groups "can only be defeated if we defeat their ideology" (Reuters, via Malay Mail).

Standing Against Holocaust Denial and Antisemitism

In January 2020, Al-Issa led a delegation of 62 Muslims, including 25 senior religious leaders from more than two dozen countries, on a visit to the Auschwitz-Birkenau site in Poland, four days ahead of the 75th anniversary of the camp's liberation. Organizers and the American Jewish Committee (AJC) described it as the most senior Islamic leadership delegation ever to visit the site (Al Jazeera).

The visit followed a Memorandum of Understanding that Al-Issa signed with AJC CEO David Harris at AJC headquarters in New York on April 30, 2019, committing the two organizations to cooperation against racism and extremism in all its forms (AJC release, via PR Newswire). That agreement is a rare example of a bilateral partnership between a senior Muslim religious leader and a Western civil-society institution.

A Voice Western Institutions Have Platformed

Al-Issa's counter-extremism standing has also been recognized directly by Western governmental and multilateral institutions, not only by civil-society partners.

On March 14, 2025, Al-Issa delivered the keynote address at UN Headquarters in New York marking the International Day to Combat Islamophobia, an observance the UN General Assembly established by a unanimously adopted resolution in 2022 (UN press release). Dr. Al-Issa spoke at the official invitation of the President of the UN General Assembly (MWL), and held bilateral talks with General Assembly President Philemon Yang on the sidelines, discussing rising anti-Muslim sentiment (Arab News). In the address, Al-Issa warned that the consequences of Islamophobia extend beyond the Muslim community to fuel extremism and social division, according to Arab News.

The clearest example of direct engagement with a named Western government body, however, came in March 2023, when Al-Issa travelled to the United Kingdom for a series of official engagements. King Charles III received him at Buckingham Palace, in fact he was the first Islamic figure the monarch hosted there following his accession to the throne, and separately delivered lectures at the UK's Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office and at the Defence Academy of the United Kingdom, which trains British military officers alongside counterparts from allied nations. At the Defence Academy, in front of British military commanders and officers from allied forces, Al-Issa addressed how to confront the roots of extremist ideology intellectually (Arab News).

The United States has extended similar recognition. The U.S. State Department's Country Reports on Terrorism have credited Al-Issa's countering-violent-extremism work in successive editions, citing his interfaith outreach to religious authorities and his engagement with American Jewish and evangelical Christian leaders, as part of Saudi Arabia's broader counter-extremism efforts (Country Reports on Terrorism 2019, Saudi Arabia chapter; Country Reports on Terrorism 2020, Saudi Arabia chapter).

What Comes Next

Implementation of the Charter of Makkah is ongoing. MWL continues to convene regional and international gatherings built around its 30 points, extending its cross-sectarian, anti-extremism commitments into new regions and forums (MWL, via PR Newswire). Combined with Al-Issa's continued engagement with Western governmental, multilateral, and civil-society institutions — from Buckingham Palace to the UN General Assembly — suggests that there will be many more of these engagements in the future.