Encyclopedia of Islam

Further reading: Geneive Abdo, Mecca on Main Street: 

Muslim Life in American after 9/11 (Oxford: Oxford 

University Press, 2007); Kambiz GhaneaBassiri, Com-

Women members of the Muslim Students Association 

at a campus Ramadan iftar meal 

(Juan E. Campo)

K  510  

Muslim Students Association

---

peting Visions of Islam in the United States: A Study of 

Los Angeles (Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1997); 

Jane Smith, Islam in America (New York: Columbia Uni-

versity Press, 1999).

Muslim World League

 

(Arabic: Rabitat 

al-Alam al-Islami)

The Muslim World League is a pan-Islamic orga-

nization founded in 1962 to promote the unity 

of the 

umma

 (the universal Muslim community). 

Although it describes itself as a “cultural orga-

nization” for Muslims, it was created by a group 

of Muslim political leaders, intellectuals, and 

experts opposed at the time to the widespread 

influence of secular Arab nationalism and the 

spread of 

commUnism

 and socialism in Muslim 

lands during the cold war period after World War 

II. Saudi king F

aysal

 

ibn

 a

bd

 

al

-a

ziz

 (r. 1964–75) 

was instrumental in its formation, it receives a 

substantial amount of its funding from s

aUdi

 a

ra

-

bia

, and its headquarters is in Mecca. Its govern-

ing council, which must be led by a Saudi citizen, 

is composed of Sunni religious authorities reflect-

ing strong Wahhabi and Islamist outlooks, such 

as those espoused by the m

Uslim

  b

rotherhood

and a

bU

 

al

-a

la

 m

aWdUdi

’s J

amaat

-

i

 i

slami

. There 

are no Shii Muslims or liberal Muslims in the 

organization. In contrast to the o

rganization

 

oF

the

  i

slamic

  c

onFerence

, which was founded in 

1969 as a body of Muslim nation-states, the Mus-

lim World League has been primarily concerned 

with promoting the implementation of the 

sharia

and conducting 

daawa

 (religious outreach) activi-

ties. It hosts meetings during the annual 

haJJ

and, to meet its objectives, it has created a Fiqh 

Council, a World Supreme Council for Mosques, 

councils for relief and charitable activities, as well 

as for religious 

edUcation

 and memorization of 

the Quran. The league’s chief publication is the 

Muslim World League Journal, which is issued in 

English.

See also  p

an

-i

slamism

; W

ahhabism

; W

orld

m

Uslim

 c

ongress

.