The text of the joint declaration of the participants of 10th International Muslim Forum "Mission of religion and the responsibility of its followers before the challenge of modernity" that was passed following three plenary sessions of the Forum on December 10, 2014:

We, the participants of the 10th International Muslim Forum "Mission of religion and the responsibility of its followers before the challenge of modernity" that opened on December 10, 2014 in Moscow, representing Abkhazia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, China, Estonia, Finland, Indonesia, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Lithuania, Mongolia, Poland, Qatar, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan, Turkey and Uzbekistan and sharing the values of justice, humanism, broad public dialogue and mutual understanding, having exchanged opinions in three plenary sessions: "Moral and spiritual values of Abrahamic faiths as a guarantee of the preservation of peace", "Eurasian integration and the Islamic world. Responsibility and the potential of Muslims", "Religion-state relations in the name of the steady development of the society", address the public with the following theses and statements:

1. Many local and regional conflicts, civilian confrontations with the use of arms that many parts of the world have been plunged into, and the easiness with which these conflicts dwindle into bilateral violence and cruel atrocities raise major concerns and must treated as one of the most serious challenges of modernity and threat to humanity as a whole.

2. The extremes observed all around the world that lead to tragic consequences, whichever forms they take—religious fanaticism, aggressive ultraliberalism, far-right nationalism or quasi-religious aggression—are ultimately caused by fundamental processes lying deep within human society.

3. One of the most serious problems, and the one which importance will be only rising is the problem of a man as an individuum, his responsibility for, so to say, forming his own ethos and mentality. Civilization, in the Western sense of this word, gives man a recipe for material prosperity and an illusion of social well-being in exchange for his religious and national identity as well as his ability to perceive the world around him critically. But the main thing that the modern civilization deprives a man of is a Purpose, a God-given Mission that manifests itself in abidance by His laws in the name of whole humankind. Instead, people are offered in-house comfort, individual social well-being, relief from moral liability.

4. The attempt to create "global humanity", a universal cosmopolite not overburdened with the norms of religious and social ethics or moral limitations, without any regional or local ties has not just utterly failed but led to such severe social deviations as the "Islamic State" in the Middle East and the phenomena of Anders Breivik in the West.

5. One of the key philosophical problems of modernity is the search of ways to retain one's national, cultural, religious identity and traditional social institutions without drifting into isolationism and besieged fortress mentality.

6. We are sure that living in accordance with one's culture and spiritual tradition, no matter how backwards it may seem to others, is a natural and unalienable right of every man and all humanity.

7. Freedom of conscience, the diversity of cultures and approaches, political multipolarity of our world must be considered the true design of God and a factor of stable and harmonious development of human society.

8. Religious ethics, religious values, spiritual motivation can become the key to solving many social, demographic, ecological problems, military and civilian conflicts.

9. The role of spiritual leaders in the overcoming of future challenges will be rising, and they must take on the mission to return people their unalienable right to live their lives consciously, fulfilling their predestination before the society and the Creator.

10. The sermon of modern spiritual leader must be the one of peace and justice, kindness and compassion; it must give due answers to the most complex of today's issues and serve the values of broad public dialogue, reconciliation and concord.

December 10, 2014, Moscow