Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC)
Intergovernmental organisations · The collective voice of the Muslim world
The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation is the largest intergovernmental body in the Muslim world and, with 57 member states, the second-largest such organisation on earth after the United Nations.
At a glance
| Founded | 1969 (first summit, Rabat) |
|---|---|
| Members | 57 states, across four continents |
| Headquarters | Jeddah, Saudi Arabia |
| Renamed | 2011 (from “Organisation of the Islamic Conference”) |
The OIC was founded in 1969, when leaders of Muslim-majority states gathered at Rabat in the wake of an arson attack on the al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem; the shock of that event gave the long-discussed idea of a pan-Islamic body its decisive impetus. Its members span four continents — from West Africa to Southeast Asia, with outliers in Europe and South America — and its stated purposes are to safeguard the interests of the Muslim world, promote solidarity among members, and coordinate on political, economic, cultural and scientific matters. In 2011 it changed its name from the Organisation of the Islamic Conference to the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation.
The organisation works through a summit of kings and heads of state, a council of foreign ministers, and a permanent General Secretariat based in Jeddah, and it oversees a wide network of specialised agencies, subsidiary organs and standing committees — among them the Islamic Development Bank, the research centre SESRIC, the cultural body ICESCO, and committees on science (COMSTECH), trade (COMCEC) and information (COMIAC). The question of Palestine and the status of Jerusalem has been a defining concern from its founding.
Because its members range widely in wealth, size, sect and political system, the OIC operates by consensus and its resolutions are typically non-binding, and observers often note the gap between its declarations and its capacity to act. Yet it remains the principal forum in which the Muslim-majority states speak collectively, and the hub of a broader institutional ecosystem of banks, research centres and forums that this section describes.
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Curated reference on Islamic belief and thought. On matters where traditions differ, positions are attributed rather than adjudicated; verify points of doctrine with qualified scholars.