In his closing remarks at the meeting, Prof. Erbaş stated that they had convened to evaluate the services provided by the Presidency of Religious Affairs and to exchange information and experience.

Explaining that comprehensive presentations and negotiations were made on various issues throughout the meeting, Prof. Erbaş shared the final declaration with the public in his closing remarks.

The entire text of the 13-article final declaration is as follows:

1. Recently, it is observed that in some Western countries, hostile behaviours based on hatred and animosity towards Muslims have become more and more widespread. Such reckless behaviours, which disregard respect for faith, morality and law, are a clear violation of rights and a crime against humanity. Safeguarding these heinous acts by certain authorities is nothing but an expression of hypocrisy and a manifestation of Islamophobia. It is inevitable that these outrageous provocations, which make Muslims the target of racist attacks, will cause problems that are more serious unless they are prevented. As members of the Presidency of Religious Affairs, we once again condemn the inhumane attitudes and behaviours against the sacred values of our exalted religion, Islam. We will continue to fight against the diseased mentalities that have made the acts of Islamophobia and hostility against Muslims a habit within the framework of the law and in the strongest way possible.

2. The Holy Qur'an, revealed by Allah Almighty to lead all human beings to peace in this world and salvation in the Hereafter, is a divine guide that embraces humanity with the universal principles it brings, guides humanity in its search for truth and leads them from darkness to light. This infinite source of mercy is, of course, under the protection of our Lord until the Day of Judgement. However, it is a requirement of faith and a duty of servitude for Muslims to embrace, read and understand it, and to carry its life-giving principles, its understanding of right and justice, and its messages of love and peace into life.

On the other hand, it is also a non-negligible responsibility for Muslims to endeavour to eliminate the prejudices about the Qur'an and Islam that have captured Western societies. As a matter of fact, our Institution exerts efforts to convey the truths of Islam and the messages of the Qur'an to all mankind by publishing works introducing our glorious religion, especially the Glorious Qur'an, in more than 50 languages and dialects, distributing them all over the world and sharing them on digital platforms.

3. In our century where international alliances have become prominent, it is essential for all Muslims in the world to act together in order to properly stand against the actual, political, cultural, and economic challenges they are exposed to and global dangers such as Islamophobia. Therefore, we must come together on the basis of belief in oneness and the consciousness of unity, to solve problems with a common consciousness and common sense, and to strive together for the construction of a peaceful and safe life and future with cooperation and joint work in all areas. Our Presidency of Religious Affairs meets with all Muslim countries and communities from Africa to Central Asia, from the Balkans to Latin America, shares its experiences in the field of religious service and education with them and leads the unity of the Ummah.

4. Recently, haphazard publications and contents about our faith and values, especially on digital media platforms, made by unqualified individuals and organisations with biased attitudes and misinformation, have attracted attention.

In the face of this situation, which destroys the spirit and minds of young generations and erodes their national and civilisational belonging, our High Council of Religious Affairs is working to convey the mercy messages of Islam to our youth with an up-to-date language and clear style by reading the spirit of the time correctly in the footsteps of the Qur'an and Sunnah. In addition to this, it follows the allegations against our glorious religion Islam, especially anti-faith movements and denialist ideologies, and puts forward the necessary answers. In addition, it continues to render fatwa services in line with the basic sources of Islam with an approach that takes into account our rich scientific acquaintance and takes into account the changing conditions of the age. It is gratifying that our nation follows and prefers our Presidency in religious matters.

5. The Presidency of Religious Affairs organises in-service trainings in many fields by taking the guidance of the Holy Qur'an and Sunnah al-Saniyyah and the rich scientific heritage of Muslims as reference in order to train its officials in every title and position according to the requirements of the profession and the conditions of the age. With the establishment in 2022 of the Religious Academy, the training activities carried out within the specialisation and training centres have become stronger and more comprehensive. In the Diyanet Academy, where trainings are provided in many fields, especially the Holy Qur'an and Basic Islamic Knowledge, according to the field of duty and service, qualified personnel who can directly refer to religious sources, correctly comprehend the spirit of the time and the issues of the age and produce solutions, and who can provide religious service in the best way in the place where they work will be trained.

In addition, it is aimed to raise our service quality and standard to an ideal point by enabling our personnel to start working in a better-equipped way with pre-service training.

6. In consideration of changing conditions and developing opportunities at the present time, it has become a necessity to reconsider the construction of mosques and the physical condition of our existing mosques. In the planning phase, it is important to take into account the factors such as environment, climate, population, and natural disasters such as earthquakes, fires, and floods, and to build architecturally and structurally in harmony with the environment and in accordance with the spirit of the city. Our mosques should have facilities for women, children, disabled and elderly individuals to worship comfortably and peacefully, and their outbuildings should be enriched with Qur’an courses, family and religious guidance offices, libraries, youth centres, children's playgrounds, art workshops, sports fields, conference halls and similar equipment in line with the need. In accordance with this purpose, “Mosque Planning and Design Guideline” has been prepared by our Presidency. However, in order to implement the procedures and principles determined in the said guideline, both a strong awareness and sensitivity and a legal regulation that will include our Presidency in the construction process of mosques and religious places are needed.

7. In the civilizations established by Muslims in the example of our Beloved Prophet (saw), life and cities are planned around mosques. In Islamic societies, mosques have been a centre of knowledge and guidance where values such as oneness, justice, mercy, and solidarity are taught, and they have become prominent as the most powerful places where the feelings of unity and solidarity reach the highest level and where love, cohesion, and fraternity consciousness develop. With this awareness, our Presidency of Religious Affairs endeavours to ensure that our mosques are intertwined with life as it has been throughout the history of Islam and carries out intensive activities for our young people and children to come to the mosque more and to meet the values of the mosque. Participating in mosque-centred knowledge and guidance activities, especially the congregation of time prayers in mosques, will both bring beauty to our individual lives and our hearts and add value to our social life in the context of unity, solidarity, and fraternity.

8. Our Qur’an courses have a special place in terms of carrying the faith, worship, knowledge, and good morality-centred values of our exalted religion Islam to individual and social life. Our Qur’an courses, which serve in every corner of our country in order to bring our people together with authentic religious knowledge, are distinguished places that contribute to the construction of our present and future with the guidance of revelation, the example of Sunnah, and the universal values of our civilization. Our Qur’an courses, with their programs organized in accordance with all ages and works, bring our nation and generations together with the depth, guidance, and true path of the Qur’an with the recitation of the Qur’an by our teachers, each of whom is a graduate and has received the necessary formation training in his field. Within this context, the kindness shown by our nation to our 4-6 years, hafiz, need-oriented, and summer Qur’an courses is admirable. Our Presidency endeavours to the maximum extent with all its facilities and members to develop, strengthen and further expand our educational activities in every aspect, from physical equipment to curriculum, from human resources to course materials.

9. Zakat, which is one of the fundamental worships of the Islam, is an occasion of gratitude to the numerous blessings which the Almighty Allah (swt) bestowed. Zakat, which encourages people to help each other and gives them the peace of sharing, has a purifying, restorative, and healing function for both the giver and the receiver. On the other hand, every stage of the zakat, which is a financial worship, from its calculation to its payment, needs to be handled meticulously. With the establishment of the Department of Zakat Services within the General Directorate of Religious Services and the Directorate of Zakat in the Turkiye Diyanet Foundation, our services for strengthening the awareness of zakat and guiding our nation in the performance of zakat worship have been made more effective and comprehensive. Together with the Turkiye Diyanet Foundation, our Presidency of Religious Affairs gives a helping hand to needy people everywhere in the world regardless of language, religion, race, sect, or disposition, and delivers the trusts such as zakat, al-fitr, qurbani, and sadaqah to those in need with great care. The fact that the zakat trusts and donations entrusted to our foundation are increasing every year shows that our nation has great confidence in this service, which we carry out with devotion, transparency, and sensitivity.

10. One of the important fields of activity of our Presidency of Religious Affairs is Hajj and Umrah services. There is no doubt that performing the hajj and umrah worship and visiting the holy places where Islam was born and where our Beloved Prophet (saw) lived is a great longing and indescribable excitement for every believer.

It is obvious that our dear nation, which has been blessed with its devotion to its faith and its service and affection to the Ḥaramayn throughout history, has shown a great interest in hajj and umrah worship today.

Our Presidency also makes great efforts for our citizens to perform their hajj and umrah worship in the best way and attaches great importance to the visits to Al-Quds organized to strengthen the awareness of Al-Quds. In addition, it sees hajj and umrah prayers and visits to Al-Quds as an opportunity for education and guidance and strives for this to be an occasion for awareness and renewal. On the other hand, with the infrastructure developed, registrations for Hajj, Umrah, and Al-Quds visits, hajj organization preference, and final registration procedures can be made through e-Government as of 2022.

11. We live in an information age where life is spent in digital media to a significant extent. Today, billions of internet users read, write, make commercial transactions, and communicate and interact through social media via digital tools that have become a part of daily life. All these developments require producing services in the field of religion and religious services by considering the current realities as in all areas of life. Being aware of this process that surrounds humanity, Presidency of Religious Affairs endeavours to use all the opportunities of technology in religious services and produces content that appeals to users of all ages in order to promote the universal values of Islam through digital channels. Our Presidency especially works to bring them together with qualified publications and content that can attract the attention of the new generation and appeal to their needs and hearts.

In this context, the importance of delivering the digital content produced by the Presidency to our nation and especially to our young people more effectively is exempted from an explanation.

12. Digitalization, which has increased its effectiveness in the world since the last quarter of the twentieth century, has created an impressive and transformative new media culture on individuals and society. Although it offers many opportunities for information to be quickly accessible and easily shared, the digital environment has become the most exploited area today since it is open to false and fictional information, misleading and perception operations. In this context, the unrealistic random posts of people who do not have sufficient knowledge and equipment on issues related to religion and religious affairs, or who are prejudiced and purposeful, in addition to being sad, cause serious damage to the vision of religion and civilization, especially in the young generations. This uncontrolled and chaotic situation, which essentially concerns all persons, subjects, and institutions, points to a legal and moral gap in terms of ensuring information security in digital media.

13. We are approaching the holy month of Ramadan, when our exalted book, the Holy Qur’an, begins to be revealed. This blessed time is a unique climate of spirituality that opens to us the doors of the Almighty Allah's (swt) infinite mercy, immense forgiveness, and eternal salvation. The month of Ramadan, in which the consciousness of worship is revived and benevolence surrounds life, reinforces our stance on faith, good deeds, rights and perseverance from an individual point of view, and further strengthens our unity, solidarity and fraternity from a social point of view. Our Presidency imprints the messages of peace of the Holy Qur’an into our minds and sees the month of Ramadan as an important opportunity and valuable opportunity to bring together the superior moral qualities of our Prophet Muhammad (saw) with our people and to beautify our lives with the universal principles, measures, and values of Islam. For this reason, under the guidance of our mufti, all our officials have started the necessary preparations for our nation to revive the month of Ramadan in the best way. In addition, it is significant that the programs, broadcasts, and activities to be held on the occasion of Ramadan are in accordance with the spiritual atmosphere of this month, the spirit of Islam, faith, worship, and moral principles.

Respectfully announced to the public