The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC; ; ), formerly the Organisation of the Islamic Conference, is an intergovernmental organization founded in 1969, consisting of 57 member states, with 48 being Muslim-majority countries. The organisation states that it is "the collective voice of the Muslim world" and works to "safeguard and protect the interests of the Muslim world in the spirit of promoting international peace and harmony". The OIC has permanent delegations to the United Nations and the European Union. The official languages of the OIC are Arabic, English, and French. It maintains various affiliated, specialized, and subsidiary organs within the framework of OIC Charter. The member states had a collective population of over 1.8 billion as of 2015, accounting for just under a quarter of the world's population. The collective area is 31.66 m km2. History On 21 August 1969, a fire was started in the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. Amin al-Husseini, the former Mufti of Jerusalem, called the arson a "Jewish crime" and called for all Muslim heads of state to convene a summit. The fire, which "destroyed part of the old wooden roof and an 800-year-old pulpit" was blamed on the mental illness of the perpetrator—Australian Christian fundamentalist Denis Michael Rohan—by Israel, and on Zionists and Zionism in general by the Islamic conference. On 25 September 1969, an Islamic Conference, a summit of representatives of 24 Muslim majority countries (most of the representatives being heads of state), was held in Rabat, Morocco. A resolution was passed stating that Muslim governments would consult with a view to promoting among themselves close cooperation and mutual assistance in the economic, scientific, cultural and spiritual fields, inspired by the immortal teachings of Islam. Six months later in March 1970, the First Islamic Conference of Foreign Ministers was held in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. In 1972, the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC, now the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation) was founded. While the al-Aqsa fire is regarded as one of the catalysts for the formation of the OIC, many Muslims have aspired to a pan-Islamic institution that would serve the common political, economic, and social interests of the ummah (Muslim community) since the 19th century. In particular, the collapse of the Ottoman Empire and the Caliphate after World War I left a vacuum. According to its charter, the OIC aims to preserve Islamic social and economic values; promote solidarity amongst member states; increase cooperation