Our Story

The story of our blessed Council begins in early 2007 following the collapse of Saddam Hussein’s tyrannical government, which fueled sectarianism between Sunni and Shi’a Muslims. As the power vacuum in Iraq widened, many violent movements competed for control over our country’s future. Daily bombings and bitter sectarian battles besieged a once-stable Iraq. As chaos devolved between Sunni and Shi’a factions, ISIS arose around 2006, conducting massacres and other atrocities cloaked in the name of Islam.

For more than ten years prior to the rise of ISIS, senior Islamic leaders and honorable Imams gathered regularly at the ancient Supreme Islamic Seminary in Baghdad, Iraq, to discuss the affairs of their respective Muslim communities. These gatherings included numerous Islamic authorities, muftis, and countless prominent figures. As a result, tens of mosques, Islamic centers, educational institutes and charitable organizations were established. In the wake of the tragic events of 2014 and the occupation of Iraqi cities by ISIS terrorists, the Iraqi government invited peace-loving and patriotic Imams to combat the spread of ISIS’s ideological terrorism and Islamist propaganda, and to encourage the many brave, civilian Iraqi men and women who took it upon themselves to liberate their cities from terrorism.

The Prophet Mohammad (SAWS) wrote, “If heresy and corruption arise, it is the duty of the scholar to reveal his knowledge.” With this teaching in our hearts—and the fabric of Iraq’s society quickly dissolving amidst devastating Sunni and Shi’a militia clashes—a group of 100 Sunni, Shi’a, and Sufi clerics quickly organized to resist ISIS’s rise to power and its promulgation of fatwas, which have no basis in Islam but which, nevertheless, were beginning to corrupt many Muslims throughout Iraq and the Middle East.

Realizing the looming dangers of ISIS-influenced Islam, this group of courageous Imams, led by our Council’s current members, worked diligently to eradicate and supplant ISIS extremism with mainstream Islamic doctrine. This doctrine fosters peaceful coexistence between Sunni, Shi’a, Christian, Sabean, and Jewish communities. For example, with many vulnerable Iraqis beginning to accept ISIS as the legitimate restorers of the Caliphate, our Imams tirelessly traversed Iraq providing provisions and services which motivated the Iraqi army and local citizens to continue resisting radical ISIS ideology.

By 2015, this diverse group of Imams were combatting extremism on a daily basis, as well as advocating for peaceful coexistence amongst all religious groups. These inexhaustible efforts continued and expanded until 2017, when the Iraqi government determined that the courageous Imams had achieved their mission of preventing ISIS’s corrupt ideology from penetrating mainstream society and Islamic seminaries. By the official military defeat of ISIS in 2018, our coalition of faithful Imams had grown to more than 400. Instead of dismantling the group, our Imams and other senior Islamic leaders began collaborating with Imams from around the world during their pilgrimages to the holy cities within Iraq.

By the end of 2018, nearly 500 Imams officially consolidated to form the world’s first and largest international non-governmental body of Muslim religious leaders from all Islamic denominations and schools of thought. The resulting group, The Global Imams Council, today comprises more than 1,400 Imams worldwide. Each of them promotes a message of peaceful coexistence, tolerance, mutual respect, and bridge-building with all religious communities.

Shortly after its formation, the Council launched its Interfaith Network, composed of scores of influential leaders. The first to join the Network was His Holiness Ganzevra Sattar Jabbar Hilo al-Zahrony, the worldwide head of The Sabean Mandeans, followed by numerous other prominent voices in the interfaith world, including HRH Prince Gharios El Chemor, the Hon. Archbishop Dr Thomas Schirrmacher, the Hon. Archbishop Malkhaz Songulashvili, and His Excellency Rabbi Elie Abadie of the United Arab Emirates.