[2] Founded in 2004, with its headquarters split between Qatar and Dublin,[3][4][5] the largely Sunni group works to centralize international Islamic jurisprudence.

It says it accepts those who attend to the sciences of Shari’ah and Islamic civilization, who have significant writings in the field, or have contributed to some tangible activity thereof.

[11] Among its most prominent current and former members include Saudi Islamic scholar Salman al-Ouda, former Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, chief Iranian Sunni cleric Abdolhamid Ismaeelzahi, Malaysian politician and religious leader Ahmad Awang, and Mauritanian scholar Mohammad Al-Hasan Al-Dido.

[22] According to former IUMS president Yusuf al-Qaradawi, the international union plays a political role in Arab and Muslim issues through mediation efforts.

[22]According to one source, the IUMS works to "promote dialogue between Muslim scholars of all stripes and includes prominent Shia figures.

[citation needed] In May 2012, a charity dinner in Qatar raised the equivalent of US$6.5 million for the “Renaissance of a Nation” endowment project of the IUMS.

We stand against oppression, tyranny, displacement and detention tactics that Israeli occupation forces rely on; this is a humanitarian and an international stance.

[23] From a religious legal perspective IUMS says “one must stand with the legitimate government and cannot back a coup.”[23] They used this mentality to disagree with Saudi Arabia on the coup in Egypt and the ousting of Mohamed Morsi.

[33] U.S. National Security Council official Gayle Smith asked for the meeting looking for "new mechanisms to communicate with you and the Association of Muslim Scholars".

"[35] In 2022, the Kurdish prime minister Masrour Barzani congratulated Ali al-Qaradaghi on being elected to serve as Secretary General of IUMS and becoming the first Kurd to do so.

[44] The Union of Good, a charity group headed by Yusuf al-Qaradawi, was formally designated by the US State Department as a "foreign terrorist organization".

[4] British media also reported that al-Qaradawi held shares in al-Taqwa, a bank which was listed as a "specially designated global terrorist" by the US.