His Majesty King Abdullah on Wednesday said the absence of consensus on who is a Muslim and on the conditions of ifta (the issuing of religious edicts) had led to divisions and differences within the Islamic community and to accusations of apostasy and internecine fighting among Muslims.

“It is not plausible for us to talk about cooperation and complementarity among Muslims or about uniting our ranks and stances in facing the challenges of our age, or our relations with other nations and peoples, before we agree among ourselves that an adherent to any madhab (school of thought) is a Muslim. Nor, he said, were these goals achievable without agreeing on the conditions of ifta, which “regulate relations among us and unifies our stances towards the issues and challenges of this age,” the King said in a speech delivered on his behalf by His Royal Highness Prince Ali at an extraordinary summit of the Organization of the Islamic Conference.

“The convening of this extraordinary summit… comes at a time when the Muslim ummah [nation] is facing several challenges that cannot be confronted or overwhelmed except by casting aside the differences within the ummah, by enhancing cooperation and complementarity among Muslims and by unifying [Muslim] ranks and stances towards these different issues and challenges, with a unified vision and rules based on the essence of Islam.”

King Abdullah attended the opening session before leaving for Japan on the first leg of an Asian tour during which he will also travel to China and Thailand.