The Islamic Conception of Peacebuilding (Hifz Al-Salam) Under the Auspices of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and the United Nation’s Sustaining Peace Agenda

Preventing conflict and achieving sustainable peace are the fundamental responsibilities of the UN. To discharge these responsibilities the UN, and its organs undertake ‘peace operations’. However, a lack of political will and support may halt UN peace operations. In this situation, a threat to or breach of international peace and security is likely to materialise which can paralyse the UN sustaining peace agenda. As a result, a greater legal-political platform is necessary for the UN peace operations to succeed and achieve its sustaining peace agenda. This is a huge challenge for the UN at the state and international levels. This chapter will show that the UN can overcome this challenge to a great extent by adopting the Islamic conception of peacebuilding (hifz al-salam). It will also show that the Islamic conception of peacebuilding can positively influence the practice of UN peace operations. The chapter will begin with an outline of the Islamic conception of peacebuilding. It will discuss how the Islamic conception of peacebuilding can influence UN peace operations, particularly in Muslim states. It will show that the influence of the Islamic conception of peacebuilding can potentially build a joint peace operations framework between the UN, OIC (Organisation of Islamic Cooperation), and Muslim states. The chapter will conclude by showing that the Islamic conception of peacebuilding and UN peace operations can jointly play a key role in preventing conflict and implementing post-conflict peacebuilding strategies in the Muslim states who are members of the OIC.