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Wall Street Journal, "The State Department vs. Free Speech," by Nina Shea and Paul Marshall. "President Obama should put a stop to this nonsense and declare that in free societies all views and religions are subject to contradiction and critique—and the OIC must learn to tolerate that. The alternative is what the late Indonesian Muslim President Abdurrahman Wahid called "a narrow suffocating chamber of dogmatism."

American Thinker, "A New Model of Islam with Less Bark and More Bite," by Robert Small. "The best solution is to increase the proportion of moderates to extremists; however, Bostom and other proponents of the simple model are quick to 'correct' anyone who dares pair the word 'moderate' with 'Islam' or give moderate Muslims a measure of relevancy. In my last article, Bostom’s targets were the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) and its former head and one-time president of Indonesia, Abdurrahman Wahid. Never mind that Andrew McCarthy, in his excellent book The Grand Jihad, wrote of my 'much ballyhooed' Wahid that 'by any estimation, he is an authentic moderate who urges interfaith tolerance.' "

National Review Online, "Islam or Islamist?," by Andrew McCarthy. "On the international stage, the LibForAll Foundation has just released an English translation of The Illusion of the Islamic State, a compendium edited by the late Islamic scholar Abdurrahman Wahid. Once the president of democratic Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim-majority country by population, the influential Wahid also led Nadlahtul Ulama (NU), the world’s largest Muslim organization, with over 40 million members. NU and other Indonesian moderates are clashing directly with the Muslim Brotherhood, arguing that Islamic scripture does not require the establishment of a caliphate or the imposition of sharia jurisprudence (i.e., fiqh) as governing law. Sharia, they contend, is a matter of private conscience."

San Francisco Sentinel, "American Muslims Speak Out Against Enforcement of Shari'ah Law in America." "A coalition of diverse American Muslim leaders has announced support for a proposed bill in the Michigan State Assembly, HB 4679, that is intended to bar Michigan courts from enforcing any foreign law, if doing so violates any rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution and/or the state of Michigan's constitution."

The Washington Post, "Obama’s feeble counterterrorism efforts lambasted," by Jennifer Rubin. "The [AILC's] response [to the Obama administration's National Strategy on Counterterrorism] is worth reading in full."

de Volkskrant, "Radicalism Flourishes Under Democracy," by Michel Maas. "The [Illusion of an Islamic State] appeared in Indonesia in 2009, and immediately ignited a firestorm in the Muslim world. The authors received death threats and were painted as 'enemies of Islam' by the very people who defend terrorist attacks, and refer to terrorists as 'martyrs' and 'heroes.' This is noteworthy and significant, because the book is directed against precisely these radicals, and against the irredeemable version of Islam they wish to impose on others. The book'’s title is derived from Abdurrahman 'Gus Dur' Wahid's introductory text: 'Their dream of an Islamic state is merely an illusion, for the true islamic state is not to be found in the structure of any government, but rather, in hearts which are open to God and all his creatures.' In other words: God and politics have nothing to do with each other."

Kompasiana, "Gus Mus's Monumental Step: Launching The Illusion of an Islamic State in Europe." "Now [Gus Mus] has translated this distinguished book into English, with the title, The Illusion of an Islamic State. His noble objective is to inspire not only Indonesians, but people throughout the world. In this way he is giving of himself, and sincerely inviting the 'citizens of this earth' to know and understand each another. To recognize that all human beings are truly our brothers and sisters, in spirit. And to realize that although there will always be conflict, this very fact obliges us to invite one another to find solutions together, cooperating in a spirit of brotherhood."

New Europe, "The Illusion of an Islamic State: A book that makes history," by Dionyssios Kefalakos. "There are very few books that can be called 'the book'. Undoubtedly 'The Illusion of an Islamic State' is one of them."

Washington Post, "Muslims speak up, and against radical Islamists," by Jennifer Rubin. "[T]he book is meant to stir debate, undermine misconceptions and shatter the aura of legitimacy that radical Muslim leaders have erected. In that regard, the book and the Heritage event should be considered a roaring success."

Washington Post, "No easy task: Fighting back against radical Islam," by Jennifer Rubin. "It is not hard to appreciate that anti-extremism efforts are critical to winning the war against Islamic terror. It is a daunting task, but Mustofa Bisri and Taylor remind us that a single book with a powerful message had a huge political impact in the largest Muslim-majority democracy in the world. If it can work in Indonesia, why not in the rest of the world?"

Dawn.com, "The Indonesian way," by Shada Islam. "Listening to Mr Bisri and reading some chapters of the book, I was convinced, however, that Indonesia’s Muslim scholars have the courage and determination not only to denounce such violence but also to counter it with religious arguments. If true Muslims are to win this battle of ideologies against extremists, they will have to do more to spread their message and work harder to develop counter arguments. Indonesian scholars deserve credit and support and more publicity for embarking on the difficult task. Perhaps one day, Pakistan’s religious scholars will also work as fervently to reclaim Islam from those peddling a distorted version of religion."

Antara News/Kompas, "Gus Mus Launches Book at the European Parliament." "In his address, Dr. Werner Langen... expressed his great pride in being able to sponsor the launch of this important book, in order to expand Europeans' horizon of understanding about Islam."

Terong Gosong, "American Agents," by Yahya Cholil Staquf. "One of America's closest allies is Saudi Arabia. And yet the Saudis' own ideological allies, in Indonesia, spout venom and curse the United States every single day. And because we [of the Nahdlatul Ulama] are firmly committed to the path of moderation and tolerance, these same Wahhabi sympathizers denounce us as American agents. Even though America has no idea who we are!!!"

India Currents, "The Other Way to Fight Terrorism," by Ranjit Souri. "Indonesia is considered by many observers to be the world’s biggest success story with respect to preventing Muslim radicalization and terrorism....And a huge part of that success—and perhaps the key to fighting Islamist extremist terrorism in other parts of the world—lies in the work of LibForAll, an organization The Weekly Standard calls “the world’s most potent and innovative anti-extremist network.” And that work has nothing to do with hunting down and capturing terrorists."

Jakarta Post, "Islamic ideology is 'more dangerous than terrorism'," by Endy M. Bayuni. "Amidst the euphoria over the killing of Osama bin Laden by the United States, a new book on Islam in Indonesia is cautioning Washington that an ideology that preaches hatred and violence is much more dangerous than the terrorist acts that Bin Laden and his al-Qaeda network posed. The Illusion of an Islamic State however makes it clear that Islam itself is "a blessing for all creation" (rahmatan lil-alamin) and that people in the West, as many Indonesians do, must make a clear distinction between Islam as a religion, which preaches peace and tolerance, and Islam as a political ideology, which preaches hatred and intolerance."

Jakarta Post, "Discourse: Islam as an ideology is a threat to Islam itself," by Endy M. Bayuni. "K.H. Mustofa Bisri, an influential Muslim cleric and a respected figure in Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), the country’s largest Islamic organization, visited Brussels and Washington recently to launch the English edition of the book The Illusion of an Islamic State. Gus Mus, as he is popularly known, wrote in the epilogue to the book that he advocated learning as a way of countering the threat of Islamic radicalism. While in Washington, he spoke with The Jakarta Post’s senior editor Endy M. Bayuni about the threat from Islamic political ideology."

Al-Ahram, "The Civil State and its Totalitarian Opponents," by Dr. Ali Mabrook. "Totalitarian systems are based upon the assumption that human beings are mere 'tools,' rather than effective entities. I still recall how—on the night of Mubarak's resignation—a man [in Tahrir Square] lifted a placard that read, 'It was God and God alone who felled Mubarak's regime.' I asked him: 'What have all these people been doing for the past two weeks?' He replied: 'The people were merely tools in the hand of God.'

"This last statement reveals how some political groups may drive Egypt towards a religiously-masked totalitarianism. The statement 'God and God alone felled Mubarak’s regime' expresses a genuinely political, rather than religious, reality. For when some people insist on attributing human actions to God, we should realize that their attributions are merely metaphorical. In reality, they are attributing [the revolution’s success] to those who hide themselves behind God, and claim to speak in His name. Attributing the fall of Mubarak's regime to God thus reveals the attempts of certain religious groups to steal the Egyptian revolution, so that they may dominate post-revolutionary Egypt in the name of God."

Jakarta Globe, "C Java Pesantren Reject Islamic State," by Candra Malik. "Islamic boarding schools across Central Java have vowed to close their doors to a movement advocating the establishment of an Islamic state in Indonesia, says a leading cleric. A. Mustafa Bisri, a well-known religious leader from Rembang popularly known as Gus Mus, told the Jakarta Globe on Sunday that the outlawed movement, also known as the NII, was directly opposed to the Pancasila, the state ideology."

National Review Online, "Toward a Muslim Solzhenitsyn," by Matthew Schaffer. "The essence of Islam—if there is any such thing—is, of course, untestable and debatable. But the religion certainly isn't going away anytime soon. Nurturing its liberal, pluralistic, and non-supremacist strains may be the most important thing the West can do, for the welfare of Islam's millions of followers and for the West's own survival. LibForAll is leading the way."

Concord Consulting, "Time for the worm to turn," by Keith Loveard. "Holland Taylor, head of the LibForAll Foundation, which works to promote a peaceful image of Islam on the international arena, says the NU leader's statements represent a positive sign in the emergence of NU as a force for stability and an opponent of the posturing of radical groups."

Washington Post, "Will Muslim Brotherhood control Egyptian religious institutions?," by Jennifer Rubin. "The battle, [LibForAll Foundation Chairman C. Holland] Taylor observed, is only beginning. He told me, 'People in Muslim countries are fully aware of the strategic nature of the positions we're talking about, and there will be a battle royale in Egypt in coming years, as the Muslim Brotherhood seeks to gain control of the nation's religious institutions.' "

New York Times, "Indonesia's Political Landscape Offers Path for Egypt," by Aubrey Belford. "With its tight internal organization, the PKS is as much a social movement as a political party, said C. Holland Taylor, the Jakarta-based chairman of LibForAll Foundation, which promotes moderate Islam worldwide. As such, Mr. Taylor said, the party has been a key factor in the rise of a more austere, intolerant form of Islam in Indonesia. This has already been reflected in legislation.... 'If you’re a citizen of a country and your government is promulgating laws that deny you freedom and is using the repressive apparatus of the state to enforce those laws, the government is more dangerous than some random terrorist that’s never going to reach you personally,' Mr. Taylor said."

Casper-Star Tribune, "Anathematizing the assassins," by David Wendt. "Our best contribution to the process of 'anathematizing' religious extremism, as [C. Holland] Taylor suggests, is the patient engagement of moderates in the region and the cultivation of attitudes of tolerance within communities from which potential terrorists are likely to draw their support. Then, instead of sheltering and nurturing terrorists, these communities can discourage and deter them through the force of community norms."

Qantara.de, "Indonesian Television Series “Ocean of Revelations” Opposes the Political Instrumentalization (of Islam)," by Ulrike Hummel. "Rauf Ceylan, professor of Religious Studies at the University of Osnabrück, thought highly of the first episode of Ocean of Revelations to be screened in Germany. 'It was very impressive to see the rich diversity of Islam conveyed in word and image, and especially (to hear) the voices from Indonesia,' explained Ceylan.... What impressed the Islamic scholar more than anything else was the film’s depiction of Islam’s spiritual depths, which were accentuated again and again, along with its mystical components. 'And it is tragic that precisely this Islam, this stream of Islam, which represents over 90% of Muslims, is completely overlooked in public debates (about Islam).' "

Swedish National Defence College, "Islam and terrorism" seminar. The largest lecture theatre at the Swedish National Defence College was nearly filled to capacity when LibForAll advisor, Kyai Haji Mustofa Bisri, addressed the audience on the topic of "Islam and terrorism." You can watch a video of the seminar here.

Aftonbladet, "A firewall against terror in Islam's name," by Wolfgang Hansson. In this Swedish language article, Wolfgang Hansson describes LibForall Advisor, Kyai Haji Mustofa Bisri, as a "firewall against terror in Islam's name." The problem is not Islam, says Mustofa Bisri, but religion when it is used to suppress human rights and freedoms.

Weekly Standard, “In Defense of Moderation," by Jennifer Rubin. “C. Holland Taylor doesn’t look like a man radical Muslims should fear.... He possesses no arsenal of weapons, holds no government post, and operates no intelligence service. Yet he runs the world’s most potent and innovative anti-extremist network and may hold a key to defusing the ticking bomb of Islamic terrorism.”

Al-Ahram, “The Classical Roots of Abu-Zayd’s Thought,” by Dr. Ali Mabrook. “The essence of Abu-Zayd’s work was to establish a kind of interactive relationship between the text (i.e., the Qur’an) and human understanding, in which the text is not positioned as an authority that subjugates or enslaves the human mind. In other words, Nasr sought to establish an arena of interactive communication between human understanding and the texts in question.

“By framing the issue this way, we may quickly realize that the “interactive relationship” proposed by Abu-Zayd has extremely deep roots, which stretch all the way back to a central event in the history of Islam. I am referring to conflict between the Fourth Caliph, ‘Ali bin Abi Talib, and Mu’awiyah, founder of the Ummayad dynasty – whose parents Hind and Abu Sufyan had sought to kill the Prophet Muhammad and exterminate the early Muslim community, until the Muslims’ triumph led them to embrace Islam and seek power within the newly victorious community. The outcome of this bloody struggle between ‘Ali and Mu’awiyah helped determine the entire subsequent political and cultural history of Islam.”

 

 

 

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