International Union of Muslim Scholars

The International Union of Muslim Scholars (IUMS; Arabic: الاتحاد العالمي لعلماء المسلمين; al-Ittiḥād al-ʻĀlamī li-ʻUlāmāʼ al-Muslimīn) is an independent international body of Islamic theologians, currently headed by Ali al-Qaradaghi since 2022. Founded in 2004, with its headquarters split between Qatar and Dublin, the largely Sunni group works to centralize international Islamic jurisprudence.

IUMS consists of around 95,000 Muslim scholars globally and 67 Islamic organizations; the union claims to bring together Sunni scholars of all four madhabs, along with Shia and Ibadi Muslims. It says it accepts those who attend to the sciences of Shari’ah and Islamic civilization, who have significant writings in the field, or have contributed to some tangible activity thereof. It has worked closely with the Muslim World League, the Malaysian Department of Islamic Development, and the Arab Maghreb Scholars League in the past.

The group participates in extensive diplomacy over Muslim issues internationally. Among its most prominent current and former members include Saudi Islamic scholar Salman al-Ouda, former Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, chief Iranian Sunni cleric Abdolhamid Ismaeelzahi, Malaysian politician and religious leader Ahmad Awang, and Mauritanian scholar Mohammad Al-Hasan Al-Dido.

The union has taken some political stances in the past, including backing Palestinian statehood, opposing Quran burnings in Europe, supporting Qatar during the Qatar diplomatic crisis, and opposing the Assad regime in Syria. It has also helped launch the Qatar-based Center for Islamic Legislation and Ethics.

In 2017, the IUMS was banned and listed as a terrorist organization by a bloc of Arab countries hostile to Qatar, including Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain; the move was received with backlash from Turkiye.