An international symposium on Prophet Muhammad's life, teachings and legacy concluded in Istanbul with calls to revive principles of mercy and justice in contemporary society, strengthen scholarly research and improve the quality of religious content in the digital sphere.

The Directorate of Religious Affairs (Diyanet) released the final declaration following the symposium, which was held as part of events marking Mawlid al-Nabi Week on Thursday. The meeting was chaired by Diyanet President Safi Arpaguş.

The declaration said the Quranic description of Prophet Muhammad's mission as a "mercy to the worlds" provided a common theme throughout the symposium.

It said the concept of mercy extended beyond the Prophet's personal virtues and was reflected throughout the religion he conveyed. According to the declaration, this principle was expressed through faith and morality during the Mecca period and later took an institutional form in Medina through the social order established there.

The declaration said the resulting model influenced later Muslim societies in areas including law, scholarship, morality and governance, while the Prophet's approach to justice – which did not distinguish between people based on lineage, status or personal ties – remained a standard for Muslim communities.

It called for commemorations marking the 1,500th anniversary of the Prophet's birth to go beyond ceremonies and contribute to bringing the principles of mercy and justice into contemporary life.

The symposium also addressed the Prophet's approach to education, family and young people.

The declaration said worship and morality were inseparable elements of prophetic education and argued that recalling this connection could help address what it described as the modern tendency to reduce religious practice to outward forms while neglecting its moral dimension.

It described Prophet Muhammad's conduct as a husband and father as a model for protecting the family, emphasizing his compassion, sense of justice and willingness to serve his family. It also said domestic violence had no legitimate basis in the Prophet's practices or in Islamic family law.

The declaration said the Prophet's practice of entrusting young companions with responsibility offered guidance for addressing contemporary young people's concerns about the future and their search for meaning.

Contemporary interpretations

The symposium examined Prophet Muhammad's different roles as a human being, head of state and military commander, saying that recognizing both his humanity and prophethood was essential to understanding him.

The declaration cautioned against portraying the Prophet as detached from human experience, as well as interpretations that confine his Sunnah – his teachings and practices – entirely to its historical setting and diminish its broader relevance.

It called for contemporary interpretations of the Prophet to be examined using the accumulated knowledge of traditional Islamic disciplines, particularly hadith methodology and studies of his life.

The declaration also recommended that the understanding of the Prophet conveyed through religious services, including Friday sermons, be assessed according to these principles.

The symposium also discussed the transmission of devotion to Prophet Muhammad across generations in Turkistan and the Balkans through local languages, literature and traditions.

Humanitarian crises in Myanmar, East Turkistan and Gaza were examined in the context of the Prophet's ethics of war, according to the declaration.

It recalled prohibitions attributed to the Prophet against killing women, children and elderly people, mutilation and breaking agreements. It said targeting civilians, obstructing humanitarian assistance and restricting freedom of belief were incompatible with those principles and with the shared conscience of humanity.

The declaration cited the protection of life, property and honor proclaimed in the Prophet's Farewell Sermon as a universal standard against human rights violations.

It also linked the Prophet's view of nature as a trust to contemporary environmental concerns and said principles against waste and in favor of sharing could contribute to addressing economic inequality.

Stronger research, digital content

The declaration highlighted the rapid spread of fabricated narrations and statements of uncertain origin about Prophet Muhammad on social media.

It said digital games and AI applications had become new spaces shaping the values of younger generations.

While AI could facilitate access to information, the declaration stressed that it could not replace scholarly judgment in determining whether reports were authentic, understanding them in context or drawing religious conclusions from them.

The symposium recommended closer cooperation between studies of the Prophet's life and Sunnah and fields including education, psychology, law and economics. It also called for greater support for young researchers and more research based on authentic sources in Western languages.

Other recommendations included strengthening academic cooperation with Muslim scholars abroad, producing reliable digital content about the Prophet and subjecting AI applications in the field to scholarly oversight.

The declaration also called for the symposium's findings on family, youth and education to be reflected in religious services, particularly sermons and other forms of religious guidance.