A two-day international conference on “Girls’ Education in Muslim Communities: Challenges and Opportunities” was held in Islamabad last week to focus on the critical issues facing girls’ education in Muslim countries.

The event brought together about 150 educators and policy makers from 47 countries, as well as representatives from international organisations including Unesco, Unicef and the World Bank, to identify actionable solutions to the barriers hindering education for girls in the Muslim world and suggest concrete and concerted efforts to improve quality education and women empowerment. Among the many international representatives attending the conference, an important one was Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai.

During the inaugural session, the speakers emphasized the vital role of education in improving the socio-economic conditions of Muslim communities. They also highlighted the many challenges, including cultural constraints, poverty, and limited access to quality education, which continue to impede progress in the Muslim communities. Addressing the conference, PM Shehbaz Sharif said the Muslim world faces significant challenges in ensuring equitable access to education for girls. He said that millions of young girls will enter the job market over the next decade and emphasised that they “have the potential not just to lift themselves, their families and nations out of poverty but also to enrich the global economy.”

Expressing concern over the fact that the female literacy rate was only 49 per cent in Pakistan he said: “Alarmingly, around 22.8 million children in the age bracket of 5 to 16 years are out of school, with a disproportionate number being girls. Denying education to girls is tantamount to denying them their voice and choice while depriving them of their right to a bright future.” PM Shehbaz Sharif stressed that they should assure the women that their rights would be respected, their ambitions would be met, and that no cultural or social impediment would stand in the way of their dreams. He said that despite their rich legacy, the Muslim world, including Pakistan, was facing numerous challenges in ensuring equitable access to education for girls. The premier said inadequate infrastructure, safety concerns, as well as deeply entre­nched societal norms further exacerbated this problem, creating a cycle of deprivation, affecting generation after generation.

Secretary General Muhammad Bin Abdul Karim Al-Issa of the Musim World League, which organised the summit, stressed the need to counter misconceptions propagated by certain groups regarding girls’ education as per Islam. He said that misconceptions existed in some Islamic societies, but this conference had brought together scholars to refute these beliefs and publish a unified declaration. “We aim to spread this message globally, particularly in Islamic countries, to counter the misinterpretation propagated by certain groups,” he explained. Dr Al-Issa stated that this conference was part of an initiative by the Muslim World League to promote women’s education and underline its importance. Sheikh Dr Nazir Muham­mad Ayad, Mufti of the Arab Republic of Egypt, stressed the Quranic and prophetic emphasis on education as a universal right: “Educating women is not a privilege; it is an obligation deeply rooted in Islamic jurisprudence and essential for the advancem­ent of society.”

At the end of the conclave, a joint statement called the Islamabad Declaration was issued which emphasized that girls’ education is not only a religious obligation but also an urgent societal necessity. According to the declaration, girls’ education is a fundamental right safeguarded by divine laws, mandated by Islamic teachings, reinforced by international charters, and well-established by national constitutions. The document called for unified efforts to safeguard girls’ right to education and ensure their empowerment.

The Islamabad Declaration has come out strongly against the extremist forces and misguided elements who issue decrees and opinions, rooted in cultural norms and patterns, that discourage girls’ education. This, according to the declaration, was a grave misuse of religious principles to legitimize policies of deprivation and exclusion. In the words of the declaration, “Declaring that anyone who rejects or opposes these well-grounded Islamic religious principles is, by the consensus of this gathering as referenced in the preamble of this Declaration, considered outside the framework of the Islamic Ummah’s concepts and cannot be regarded as part of it, it is essential to disavow such an ideology, whether they are an individual, an institution, or an entity, public or private.”

An important decision taken at the conference was to authorise the Muslim World League to communicate all resolutions of the conference to the UN as a collective aspiration of the Ummah and its commitment to empower girls through education. It has also been decided that a permanent secretariat will be set up to oversee the implementation of the outcomes of the event.

In the larger perspective, the conference was an indirect admission that the Muslim countries lagged behind the rest of the world in the education field, especially girls education. Although a little late, this harsh truth has now been realised and Muslim leaders have vowed to overcome the gap in the days ahead. But the real test of the success of the event will be how quickly the Muslim communities move to translate the conference decisions into action on the ground.