Moving past rhetoric.

Byline: The Register-Guard

In response to legitimate criticism that its previous efforts have been insufficient, the Muslim world has begun taking increasingly strong and meaningful stands to oppose the extremist ideology that often fuels terrorist violence.

Moving from denunciation to concrete actions, leaders at the biggest-ever Muslim summit on terrorism have vowed to reform textbooks, crack down on terror financing and purge extremist ideas from Islamic school curriculums.

These welcome and necessary reforms are outlined in what has been dubbed the "Mecca Declaration." Leaders from more than 50 Muslim nations endorsed a statement in December that said, "The Islamic nation is in a crisis. This crisis does not reflect on the present alone, but also on its future and the future of humanity at large. We need decisive action to fight deviant ideas because they are the justification of terrorism. We are determined to fight terrorism in all its forms."

The declaration represented the culmination of a two-day summit held by the Organization of the Islamic Conference in Islam's holiest city, Mecca. Two significant trends lent greater urgency to this summit: Terrorism arising from Islamic extremism increasingly targets Muslim governments and claims Muslim lives, and the spread of extremist ideology demands more than mere condemnation by the Islamic world.

Acknowledging the importance of legitimate religious authority, the declaration underscores that "fatwas" - or Islamic religious edicts - can be issued only by "those who are authorized." This must be done to rein in edicts by rogue clerics who denounce other Muslims as "apostates" and call for their killing.

Newspapers throughout the Arab world were quick to affirm the significance of the Mecca Declaration. Several got to the heart of the matter by reminding the OIC that it has been criticized for being unresponsive and irrelevant to the needs of Muslims.

"Muslims are watching their summit in Mecca for results which will reflect back on them," said an editorial in Saudi Arabia's Al-Riyadh. "They want to see their leaders overcome the state of weakness, division and backwardness and arrive at conclusions showing that development, shared interests, exchange of information and the opening of markets constitute some of the means of integration between them."

This is an important opportunity to infuse the organization with a sense of urgency and significance within the Muslim world and to raise its credibility elsewhere. It's fair to suggest the OIC's future depends on whether it can break free from the status quo and establish its legitimacy as a unifying force within Islam.

If the OIC is successful in its efforts to combat Islamic extremists, it will rekindle hopes that the organization can spearhead equally vital political, economic and social reforms in Muslim nations around the world.