Honoring United Nations Day: An Islamic Call for Justice, Inclusion, and the Common Good

Every year on October 24, the international community observes United Nations Day, marking the entry into force of the Charter establishing the United Nations (UN) in 1945. The occasion invites us to reflect not only on the achievements and challenges of the UN, but also on how its founding purposes can be more fully realized in a changing world.

The UN Charter begins with the words “We the peoples of the United Nations.” This opening reminds us that, although the UN is an intergovernmental organization, its ultimate purpose is to serve people: to prevent war, protect human rights, uphold human dignity, promote justice, and advance social progress. From an Islamic perspective, cooperation among nations and communities can be understood as part of a broader moral responsibility to protect human dignity and contribute to the common good.

From Governments to Peoples: Strengthening the Voice of Civil Society

Governments are the formal representatives of their states within the UN. Yet governmental representation does not always ensure that the experiences, aspirations, and concerns of all people within those states are adequately heard.

According to the V-Dem Institute’s Democracy Report 2026, approximately 74 percent of the world’s population—around six billion people—lived under regimes classified as autocracies at the end of 2025. These figures highlight the importance of considering whose voices reach international institutions and through which channels.

This concern is particularly relevant to people and communities who have limited opportunities to participate in public affairs or communicate their concerns through domestic political institutions. The UN Charter itself recognizes a role for civil society. Article 71 authorizes the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) to establish consultative arrangements with non-governmental organizations.

I.M.A.M., which has held special consultative status with ECOSOC since 2013, values this opportunity to contribute to international dialogue through the perspectives and experiences of Muslim communities and the ethical teachings of Islam.

Strengthening opportunities for meaningful participation—rather than merely marginal or symbolic involvement—by diverse, independent, and accountable NGOs in UN processes can help connect international deliberations more closely with the realities of people’s lives. Civil society organizations do not replace governments or automatically speak for entire populations, but they can bring important knowledge, community experience, and perspectives that might otherwise remain unheard.

Human Diversity and the Quranic Call to Justice

The Quran offers an ethical foundation for engagement across national, cultural, and religious boundaries. God, the Exalted, says, “O humanity! We created you from a male and a female and made you into peoples and tribes so that you may know one another”(49:13). Human diversity is presented here not as an obstacle to cooperation, but as an opportunity for mutual recognition and understanding. The Quran also calls believers to uphold justice, “O you who believe! Stand firmly for justice, as witnesses for God” (4:135). These principles invite Muslim communities to approach international cooperation with an awareness that loyalty to one’s own nation, religion, or community must not diminish concern for the dignity and rights of others.

Cooperation for the Common Good: An Islamic Responsibility

The Quran provides a particularly relevant and guiding principle for considering the responsibilities of governments, civil society, and religious communities in addressing shared human challenges.

God says, “Cooperate with one another in goodness and God-consciousness, and do not cooperate in sin and aggression”(5:2). This verse establishes an important ethical dimension of cooperation. The Quranic invitation is not simply to work together, but to cooperate in endeavors directed toward what is good and right, while refusing cooperation in wrongdoing and aggression.

In the context of contemporary international relations, this principle offers an Islamic framework for understanding cooperation in matters of shared human concern: preventing conflict, protecting human dignity, alleviating poverty, responding to humanitarian crises, safeguarding the environment, and promoting education and well-being.

It also reminds us that cooperation should be guided by moral responsibility rather than institutional interests alone.

For faith-based organizations, participation in international institutions can therefore be more than a matter of representation or visibility. It can be an expression of the religious duty to contribute to the common good while maintaining the independence and moral integrity necessary to speak against injustice.

Bringing the Moral Voice of Faith into Global Dialogue

Religion remains an important dimension of the lives and identities of much of humanity. According to the Pew Research Center’s report How the Global Religious Landscape Changed from 2010 to 2020, published in June 2025, 75.8 percent of the world’s population identified with a religion in 2020.

Religious affiliation does not necessarily indicate the intensity of personal belief or imply agreement with particular religious leaders. Nevertheless, these figures demonstrate the continuing significance of religion in the world’s cultural and social landscape.

Religious communities can contribute important ethical perspectives and practical experience in areas such as peacebuilding, humanitarian assistance, education, environmental responsibility, and the protection of vulnerable populations.

Many religious traditions share commitments to human dignity, compassion, justice, honesty, care for the vulnerable, and responsibility toward future generations. These shared commitments can offer valuable foundations for cooperation without requiring religious communities to abandon their distinctive beliefs.

The Quran also identifies consultation as a characteristic of a responsible community, “And their affairs are conducted through consultation among them” (42:38). While this verse is not a description of contemporary international institutions, its underlying emphasis on consultation offers a meaningful ethical perspective on the importance of listening to different voices in matters of common concern.

Toward More Inclusive Engagement with Religious Communities

The UN already engages, to some extent, with faith-based organizations and religious leaders through mechanisms such as its Inter-Agency Task Force on Religion and Sustainable Development and the Multi-Faith Advisory Council. While these initiatives are valuable, we believe that the current level of engagement remains insufficient. Religious leaders and faith-based institutions possess vast, yet underutilized, potential to advance social justice, promote the common good, and contribute to global peace and security. More meaningful and sustained engagement with these communities could help the UN draw more fully on their ethical insights, grassroots networks, and capacity to mobilize people around shared human values.

Building on such experience, one proposal worthy of further consideration is the development of a more representative and sustained Council of World Religious Leaders, working in an advisory relationship with relevant UN bodies.

Such an initiative could bring together religious representatives from different traditions, regions, and communities, with attention to gender balance, generational diversity, and the inclusion of voices that are often underrepresented.

Its purpose would not be to replace governments, claim to speak for every religious believer, or privilege religious communities over people who do not identify with a religion. Rather, it could offer an additional channel through which the ethical insights, community experience, and practical capacities of religious traditions may contribute to international dialogue, alongside other civil society perspectives and with full respect for freedom of religion or belief.

A Shared Responsibility for Our Common Future

United Nations Day invites governments, international institutions, civil society organizations, and religious communities to reflect on how they can cooperate more effectively in addressing challenges that no nation or institution can resolve alone. For I.M.A.M., engagement with the UN is rooted in the conviction that Islamic teachings on dignity, justice, consultation, and cooperation have a meaningful contribution to make to this shared endeavor. The Quranic call to cooperate in goodness and righteousness provides an enduring ethical foundation for such engagement. The question before us is not only how to strengthen international institutions, but also how to ensure that their work remains genuinely connected to the people they were established to serve—and how each of us can contribute, with integrity and responsibility, to the common good of the human family.

References

1. United Nations, Charter of the United Nations, Preamble and Article 71.
2. United Nations, United Nations Day.
3. V-Dem Institute, Democracy Report 2026: Unraveling the Democratic Era?.
4. Pew Research Center, How the Global Religious Landscape Changed from 2010 to 2020, June 9, 2025.
5. United Nations, ECOSOC Consultative Status: Imam Mahdi Association of Marjaeya, Inc..
6. United Nations, Inter-Agency Task Force on Religion and Sustainable Development and the Multi-Faith Advisory Council: 2024 Report.
7. The Holy Quran, 49:13; 4:135; 5:2; 42:38.