Addressing the opening ceremony of the 40th International Islamic Unity Conference in Tehran on Thursday, the president said differences should not turn Muslims into enemies of each other, and true unity should be formed on the basis of truth, justice, and mutual responsibility.

Organized with the main theme of “Islamic Unity in the Thought of the Martyr Imam”, the international conference has been attended by prominent religious, scholarly and political figures from 40 countries.

Pezeshkian congratulated the birth of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) and Imam Jafar Sadiq (AS), and said this year, under different circumstances, the participants are going to discuss Islamic unity in the thought of martyred Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Hosseini Khamenei, a man who considered Islamic unity not a political tactic and temporary expediency, but a strategic issue for the dignity, independence, and future of the Islamic Ummah.

He said the martyred Imam considered the existence of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) to be the greatest axis of Muslim unity and repeatedly warned that differences are natural, but turning differences into enmity and conflict destroys the power of the Ummah.

Stating that the official theme of this year’s conference is based on this intellectual heritage, the president said, “Today he is not among us. In the war that was imposed on our country, the Leader of the Islamic Revolution and a group of our commanders, scientists, students and innocent people were martyred. The best way to honor him is not to simply repeat his words; rather, we should see what duty those words create for us today.”

He continued, “To find the answer, we must return to the Prophet (PBUH) himself and see what the Messenger of God did. The Prophet did not just invite individuals to faith; he also built an Ummah.”

Pezeshkian added that the Holy Prophet’s (PBUH) job was not to make people with different tribes, backgrounds, and interests into equal individuals; rather, his job was to create a community with a common destiny from people with differences.

Referring to the actions of the Prophet (PBUH) in Medina, he said, “In Medina, the Muhajireen and the Ansar, who had fought each other for years, became brothers. The Medina Pact also defined rights and responsibilities for different groups. Muslims were not forced to be all the same, but they learned how to live under a covenant despite their differences.”

The president considered this issue one of the most important lessons of the Prophet (PBUH) for the Islamic world today and said unity does not mean becoming the same but means that our differences must not turn us into enemies of each other.

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Referring to the vast capacities of the Islamic world, the president stated, “There are 57 member countries of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, and the geography of the Islamic world extends from Southeast Asia to Central Asia, the Middle East, and Africa. The latest estimates of the Muslim population in 2020 show their population to be more than two billion people, equivalent to 25.6 percent of the world's population.”

The Islamic world is located at the heart of some of the most important sea and land routes and has huge energy resources, a young population, a large market, centers of historical civilization, and important industrial, financial, scientific, and technological capacities, he emphasized.

The president also noted that the economy of the 57 member countries of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation was about $9.2 trillion in 2024, but this figure is not worthy of Islamic countries.

Referring to the economic capacity of Islamic countries, Pezeshkian said exports of these countries to each other in the same year were only 19 percent, which shows that more than four-fifths of the exports of Islamic countries are still being made outside their own group.

He added, “These numbers should make us think; more than two billion Muslim people, 57 countries, huge energy resources, vital routes of global trade, capital, markets and a young population, but our joint weight in many major decisions of the world is not commensurate with this capacity.”

The president continued, “Why are Islamic countries more connected to distant economies than to some of their Muslim neighbors? Why do our universities still not have large joint scientific networks? Why is the capital of the Islamic world not being used sufficiently in the development of the Islamic world? Why does every time a crisis arises between two Muslim countries, a power outside the Islamic world often have to mediate peace?”

He added, “And most importantly, why are Islamic lands still among the most important centers of war, occupation, displacement, and insecurity in the world? From Palestine and Gaza to Sudan, Lebanon, Yemen, and other places where Muslim people have been paying the price of conflict, occupation, extremism, and power competition for years.”

The president underlined that the capacities of the Islamic world must be transformed into a common power.

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