DAVAO CITY (PNA) — Proliferation of arms, warlordism, poverty, peace process, corruption, vote-buying and the recent attack on Malaysian churches are just some of the issues confronting the Muslims in the country.

Coming together to tackle them are the most influential sector in Muslim society, the religious leaders, Ulama (aleema for women). They are religious leaders learned in Arabic and Islam. Most are graduates of Middle Eastern Islamic universities.

The largest gathering of independent Muslim religious leaders will be held on Jan. 25-29 at the Waterfront Insular Hotel in Davao City, for the 3rd National Ulama Summit and Regional Conference of Aleemat, or women Islamic scholars.

Organized by the Philippine Council for Islam and Democracy (PCID) for the National Ulama Conference of the Philippines (NUCP), the gathering will be attended by around 500 independent ulama and aleemat representing over 200 ulama-led organizations, an unprecedented assembly of Muslim religious leaders rarely seen in the country.

The NUCP is a broad coalition that includes the majority of all independent ulama organization and federations throughout the country. Its members include some of the most respected Muslim religious leaders and imminent Islamic scholars coming from the five Muslim provinces and the various Muslim communities throughout the nation.

Muslim Democrat awardee Amina Rasul, PCID lead convenor, said: “In today’s world, society demands a wider and more participative role of the ulama that they get involved directly in the transformation or reformation process.”

Dr. Aboulkhair Tarason, an imminent religious leader and NUCP interim chairman, said the summit is a culmination of the NUCP’s organizational evolution into a national network of independent ulama leaders and organizations.

The NUCP interim vice chairman, Dr. Hamid Barra, a respected Islamic scholar, said the ulama have a traditional and religious ascendant role of continuing to be the moral beacon for the Muslim faithful.

Muslim Mindanao has been in the media eye following the Maguindanao massacre and the spate of kidnappings attributed to the Abu Sayyaf Group in Basilan and Sulu and still reels from a decades-old secessionist conflict between the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and government troops. The conflict has displaced hundreds of thousands of civilians and has killed thousands since it started in the 70s.