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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.” Click here for the Arabic version of this article.

National Journal, “American Muslims: Reformers v. Revivalists,” by Neil Munro. “Other analysts are more optimistic. ‘Islam is whatever people think it is,’ said C. Holland Taylor, a former telecommunications executive who now helps the LibForAll Foundation, which supports moderate and progressives in Muslim-majority countries worldwide. In the past decade, Taylor has worked with liberal-minded Muslims—including Abdurrahman Wahid, Indonesia's president from 1999 to 2001—to promote a tolerant form of Islam, often in the face of determined opposition from harder-line revivalist groups that are frequently funded by Arab states. The reform message can succeed among ordinary Muslims, Taylor said, because ‘people are longing to do this.’ ”

International Relations and Security Network, “Two Reminders From Indonesia,” by Simon Roughneen. “C Holland Taylor is Chairman and CEO of LibForAll which works to support moderate Muslims in Indonesia . He told ISN Security Watch that ‘what is most alarming is the infiltration of Indonesia’s government by extremist Muslims who share the terrorists’ ideology, if not their use of violence to overthrow the Indonesian state.’ Mr Taylor says that Indonesia’s security forces are aware of the link between radical ideology and terrorism, but that covert operators within Government and civil service work to stymie some reform efforts.”

Reset Dialogues on Civilizations, “Farewell to Zayd, Liberal Islamic Theologian,” by Biancarlo Bosetti. “Should the [victory] of democracy ever be achieved throughout the Muslim world, the history that will be written will have to linger at length on this small man with his frail health, who held open the gates of ijhtihad and the interpretation of the Koran.”

The Jerusalem Report, “Death of a Hero,” by Mona Eltahawy. “The world is a lonelier place when we lose a hero. When I learned of Nasr Hamed Abu Zeid’s passing on July 5, my tears mourned the loss of a man who spent the past 14 years exiled from his beloved Egypt because his courageous work intimidated the lesser minds of fundamentalists.”

Almasryalyoum, “Nasr Hamed Abu Zaid: Islam's scholar,” by Mohamed Shoair. “Nasr Hamed Abu Zaid got his wish: He died in his home country, Egypt, not in exile as he once feared. Abu Zaid passed away in a Cairo hospital on Monday where he was receiving treatment for the past few weeks. The renowned Islamic scholar had contracted an unknown virus last month during a routine visit to Indonesia, where he had recently co-founded the International Institute for Quranic Studies, a project dedicated to promoting tolerance, pluralism and critical thinking in the Islamic world.”

Al-Ahram Weekly, “Thus spoke Nasr Abu-Zayd,” by Mona Anis. “The death of Nasr Abu-Zayd in a Cairo hospital this week has deprived Arab-Islamic culture of a leading voice of rationalism.”

IndUS Business Journal, "LibForAll pushes on after loss of leader," by Martin Desmarais. " '[Wahid] was one of the most remarkable human beings I have ever met … His love for people and humanity shines through in everything he ever did,' [Krishnamurthy] said. 'More than anything his love and his presence not only filled the room it filled the organization,' he added.

"For Krishnamurthy, Wahid has set an example he can only hope to live up to. 'In a very real sense I actually feel more motivated than before. There is a real sense of responsibility,' he said. '[His] is a very unique story. It is a testament to the human spirit … He had a position of power and he really used it to help people and that is a very rare quality today.' "

The Heritage Foundation, "U.S.-Indonesia Relations: Build for Endurance, Not Speed," by Walter Lohman. "The Administration and Congress should support counter-extremism programs in Indonesia. By building and strengthening liberty-minded Muslim networks, media, and school curriculums, organizations like the LibForAll Foundation are working actively to attack Islamism at its ideological roots."

Center for Asymmetric Threat Studies at the Swedish National Defense College: "Preventing Violent Radicalization and Terrorism: The Case of Indonesia," by Magnus Ranstorp.   A year-long study conducted by CATS on behalf of SIDA (the Swedish Foreign Aid Agency) reports that "The LibForAll Foundation (LibForAll) is a particularly interesting non-governmental actor that is able to create networks and promote effective messages and initiatives in various constellations....  LibForAll has been exceptional in a regional context for issues involving innovative forms and communicating the message of anti-extremism. One guiding star in these efforts has been selecting methods with maximum impact and that reach the largest possible audience....

"LibForAll's publication of The Illusion of an Islamic State: The Expansion of Transnational Islamist Movements to Indonesia had a considerable impact on domestic policy. It primarily contributed to neutralizing one candidate's bid for vice president in the 2009 national election campaign, who had ties to the Muslim Brotherhood. It also helped drive a wedge between President Susilo Yudhoyono, who was running for re-election, and the PKS party's candidate, which had been his coalition partner for the previous five years. PKS has played a double role – it has supported the government the past five years on the one hand and continued to promote radicalization on the other. Yudhoyono nominated a strong nationalist candidate as vice president instead.

"LibforAll's demonstration of strength involves creating a cross-sector network that is based on a five-level integration of the following: religious leaders (ulama) who have garnered widespread public support and who can address radical backlash; religious scholars and teachers who can garner the requisite intellectual and theological support for a pluralistic and tolerant interpretation of Islam; pop idols who have massive support from young people; government leaders who are able to address social factors as an underlying factor of extremism; as well as business leadership that can offer requisite financial support.

"LibForAll constitutes... an interesting phenomenon in terms of bridging the gap against extremism both within and between regions. The organization has also, in an experimental manner, used various means and forums to reach out to as large a segment of society as possible by using credible messengers and new technological platforms. LibForAll's coordinated media strategy has had a decisive political effect in terms of curbing political parties with an extremist agenda. Exposing the true nature of the parties has enabled marginalization of corrosive, subversive forces."

Newsweek, "The Jihad Against the Jihadis," by Fareed Zakaria, cites the CATS study and, without naming LibForAll, refers to its decisive role in helping to counter radicalization: "Perhaps the most successful country to combat jihadism has been the world's most populous Muslim nation, Indonesia. In 2002 that country seemed destined for a long and painful struggle with the forces of radical Islam. The nation was rocked by terror attacks, and a local Qaeda affiliate, Jemaah Islamiah, appeared to be gaining strength. But eight years later, JI has been marginalized and main-stream political parties have gained ground, all while a young democracy has flowered after the collapse of the Suharto dictatorship.

"Magnus Ranstorp of Stockholm's Center for Asymmetric Threat Studies recently published a careful study examining Indonesia's success in beating back extremism. The main lesson, he writes, is to involve not just government but civil society as a whole, including media and cultural figures who can act as counterforces to terrorism."

The Washington Post, "Indonesia steps up pressure on Islamist militants," by Andrew Higgins, demonstrates the influence of LibForAll's extremist exposé, Illusion of an Islamic State, in turning the tide against hard-line, extremist ideology by exposing the origins and agenda of radical movements to the harsh glare of public scrutiny. "[In 2004], Indonesia's best-selling magazine was an Islamic weekly called Sibili, which offered a mix of wild anti-American conspiracy theories and cheerleading for jihad.... Today the tide seems to have turned.... Sibili, meanwhile, has toned down its anti-Western rhetoric. 'We now see bigger potential for sales among moderate Muslims,' said Lufti Tamimi, the magazine's director and part-owner. In January, Tamimi ditched Sibili's hard-line editor and commissioned a series of articles denouncing Salafism, a purist strain of Islam that underpins extremist ideology."

Sabili, "Ideological Warfare is More Powerful, and Dangerous, Than Bombs." In the wake of the July 17, 2009 terrorist bombings of the Marriott and Ritz-Carlton Hotels in Jakarta, an enormous wave of publicity swept Indonesia, linking the terrorists to the transnational ideology of Wahhabism identified months earlier in Illusion of an Islamic State. The extremist magazine Sabili dedicated an entire issue in August of 2009 to defending Wahhabism and denying its alleged role in terrorism, including a 4-page article about Illusion of an Islamic State, excerpts of which appear below:

"Like the change of seasons, heavy rain always begins with an initial shower. The enemies of Islam never cease in their efforts to destroy the Muslim community. They use not only physical methods, but ideological warfare as well. They regard this methodology as more inexpensive and effective. Just look at what happened before the bombing of the J.W. Marriott and Ritz Carlton hotels. The previous month we were “treated” to the book Illusion of an Islamic State, which attacks political Islam.

"The afore-mentioned book was published jointly by the Bhinneka Tunngal Ika [Oneness Amid Diversity: Indonesia’s national slogan] Movement, the Wahid Institute and the Maarif Institute. The book represents the result of more than two years’ research by LibForAll Foundation.... History tells the world that radicalism is constantly nurtured, to serve colonial interests that always alternate players. Thus, loud statements about [an alleged] Wahhabi [threat] are truly more powerful and dangerous than bombs."

Hidayatullah, "It’s the West that Benefits Most from Stigmatizing Wahhabism." Another major extremist magazine, Hidayatullah, also devoted an August cover story and several articles to the subject of Wahhabism, and Illusion of an Islamic State’s role in generating massive public rejection of Wahhabi/radical ideology, as seen below:

“Since the explosion of the bombs in Kuningan [Jakarta] in July of 2009, the terms Wahhabism and transnationalism have suddenly been on everyone’s lips.  Many national television stations and other mass media outlets have been quoting a number of leading national figures about the relationship between terrorist bombs and Wahhabism.

“Whether this is intentional or not, one thing is certain: the assistance of media (especially TV) has caused the term Wahhabi to become a new stigma that is terrorizing many [extremist] Muslim organizations.  It may be that those behind the spread of this stigma hope to divide Indonesian Muslims and turn them against each other….

“The people behind this are identical to those who were behind the book The Illusion of an Islamic State….  I can’t stop thinking about LibForAll (which financed and published this project) and how it claims to be liberal and promoting liberalism, but in reality is extremely conservative, sectarian and exclusive, unwilling to tolerate differences [i.e., extremist interpretations of Islam].”

 

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