High-level Muslim World League delegation pays interfaith visit to Auschwitz

The Secretary General of the Muslim World League (MWL), Dr. Mohammed al-Issa, led a high delegation interfaith visit of Muslim religious leaders to the site of the Auschwitz Nazi German death camp.

The delegation also visited on Thursday the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews, which documents the history of the Jews, with the aim of expressing a religious feeling towards the crimes committed by the Nazis.

“The delegation affirms the messages of the Muslim World League against violence, hatred, and extremism,” the group said in a statement.

Speaking to Al Arabiya during the visit, al-Issa said that Islamic principals denounce all forms of violence and crimes.

“Islamic principals are not double-standard. It condemns and denounces every crime and every evil. We are advocates for peace. We believe in peace. This high-level delegation of Muslim scholars from different countries and from different sects has come to say that our religion is one of peace, one of mercy and one which fights evil,” al-Issa said during the visit.

The high-level delegation to Auschwitz comprised of 62 Muslims, including 25 prominent religious leaders, from some 28 countries.

A high-level delegation of Muslim religious leaders visited Auschwitz on Thursday along with a Jewish group in what organizers called “the most senior Islamic leadership delegation” to visit the site of a Nazi German death camp.

The interfaith visit came four days before the 75th anniversary of the Jan. 27, 1945, liberation of the camp by Soviet forces, and as world leaders gathered in Jerusalem on Thursday to commemorate the Holocaust.

The visit also included the CEO of the American Jewish Committee, David Harris. The AJC delegation included members of the organization, among them some children of Holocaust survivors.