International Media Coverage
Many of the world's top media
outlets have documented LibForAll Foundation's pioneering
role in developing, and implementing, an effective strategy
to discredit the ideology of religious hatred that underlies and
animates terrorism. We do so by mobilizing support for a
pluralistic and tolerant understanding of Islam, at peace with
itself and the modern world.
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"Right Islam vs. Wrong Islam"
by
Kyai Haji Abdurrahman Wahid.
"Muslims and non-Muslims must unite to defeat
the Wahhabi ideology." This "must-read" op-ed by LibForAll's
co-founder, board member and senior advisor appeared in the year-end
editions of the U.S. and European Wall Street Journal
(Friday, December 30, 2005) labeled "EXTRA! Read all about it!",
and in the first edition of 2006 in the Asian Wall Street
Journal. Subsequently described by the Wall Street
Journal as
"a seminal article for this newspaper" (February 25, 2006),
and praised by the Hudson Institute's Center on Islam, Democracy
and the Muslim World as "a far-ranging and detailed account of
what [Wahid] views as 'the global struggle for the soul of
Islam'... We recommend this article, which we’ve re-published in
this issue of
Current Trends in Islamist Ideology, to very serious
reading and reflection." |
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"The
Last King of Java"
by
Bret Stephens
Bret Stephens, writing in the Wall
Street Journal, calls LibForAll co-founder Abdurrahman Wahid
"the single most influential
religious leader in the Muslim
world" and "easily the most important ally the West has in
the ideological struggle against Islamic radicalism."
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"The
Exorcist"
by
Bret Stephens
Article describes the successful efforts of
LibForAll advisor and senior fellow Dr. Abdul Munir Mulkhan
to help stem the tide of radical Islam in Indonesia.
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"The Evils of
Holocaust Denial"
by Abdurrahman Wahid &
Israel Lau
BALI, Indonesia -- Today, religious leaders
from many faiths and nations will gather here for a landmark
conference in a unique place
~ an island of tolerance, not
terrorism. In a world in which religion is manipulated to
justify the most horrific acts, it is our moral obligation not
only to refute the claims of terrorists and their ideological
enablers but also to defend the rights of others to worship
differently: in freedom, security and dignity....
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"Public Diplomacy for Dummies"
by
Bret Stephens
LibForAll itself is a model of what a competent public diplomacy effort in the Muslim world
should look like.
In its brief life,
LibForAll has helped turn back an attempted Islamist takeover of
the country's second-largest Muslim social organization (with 30
million members), translated anti-Wahhabist books into
Indonesian, sponsored a recent multidenominational conference to
denounce Holocaust-denial, brought Mr. Dhani to Colorado to
speak to U.S. military brass, and launched a well-researched
"extremist exposé" in order, Mr. Taylor says, "to get Indonesian
society to consciously acknowledge that there is an infiltration
occurring of radical ideology, financed by Arab petrodollars,
that is intent on destroying Indonesian Islam.
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"The
Obstacles to Israeli-Palestinian Peace"
by Kyai Haji Abdurrahman
Wahid and Abdul A'la
Palestinians and Israelis need the world's support to create a new
reality, in which the highest values of religion and humanity are
restored to their proper dignity. We must also help Muslim populations –
not only in Palestine, but throughout the Arab world – to rise to
embrace a profoundly spiritual and tolerant understanding of Islam, and
a humanistic attitude toward the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that
acknowledges the legacy of suffering on all sides. Such an attitude is a
necessary precondition for recognizing Israel's unique history and right
to exist, while truly advancing the interests of Palestinians as well.
Last year's LibForAll/Indonesian Peace mission to Israel and
Palestine was designed to initiate such a process. After the religious
leaders who participated returned to Indonesia, they faced intense
condemnation from Muslim extremists, who accused them of having betrayed
their Palestinian brethren and embarrassed Indonesia's Muslim community.
Yet there is nothing shameful about working to realize the highest
values of religion – which God intended to serve as a blessing, and not
a curse, to all of humanity.
Although
the obstacles to peace in the Holy Land may appear
insurmountable, it is the responsibility of religious leaders on
all sides to attempt the impossible, and to accept whatever
threats, slander and stigma may follow.
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"This Muslim Rocker Preaches Tolerance to a
Strong Drumbeat"
"Dhani, the founder of one of Indonesia's
most popular bands, is a very different kind of rock superstar.
He's promoting moderate Islam in a lynchpin country in the war
on terror, tucking messages of tolerance beside Western beats
and Arabic rhythms." The Wall Street Journal profiles
LibForAll board member
Ahmad Dhani,
who is "creating his own jihad
~ for moderate Islam."
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"In
Indonesia, Songs Against Terrorism"
by
Abdurrahman Wahid & C. Holland Taylor
Dhani and his group are on the front lines of a
global conflict, defending Islam from its fanatical hijackers.
In a world all too often marred by hatred and violence committed
in the name of religion, they seek to rescue an entire
generation from Wahhabi-financed extremists whose goal is to
transform Muslim youth into holy warriors and suicide bombers.
For every young Indonesian seduced by the ideology of hatred and
fanaticism -- including those responsible for the recent, awful
attacks in Bali -- countless others see through the extremists'
web of lies and hatred, in no small part thanks to the visionary
courage of people like Ahmad Dhani. For as they listen to Dewa's
music, the hearts of millions of young Indonesians have been
inspired to declare: "No to the warriors of jihad! Yes to the
warriors of love!"
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"Rock
Star Rattles Radical Islam"
by
Rebecca Cho
To the millions of Indonesian youths who sell out his
concerts, Ahmad Dhani is a superstar who has commanded the
nation's rock scene for more than a decade. But the charismatic leader of Dewa, one of Indonesia's top
bands, isn't just any entertainer crooning about the heartaches
of romantic love. Dhani is an ambassador for peace, using his
music to lead Indonesia's youth away from radical Islam.
This week, the Muslim rocker was in the United States to
share his message of religious tolerance with an entirely
different audience: top U.S. government and military leaders at
a national conference on homeland defense.
Dhani, 34, says attacking the ideology that motivates
terrorists is the key to suppressing radical Islam. With a longtime acquaintance, former Indonesian president
Abdurraham Wahid, Dhani spoke to the group on Tuesday about a
long-term strategy to combat religious extremism.
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"Extremism Isn't
Islamic Law"
by Kyai Haji Abdurrahman
Wahid
All of humanity, whether Muslim or non-Muslim, is threatened by
the forces of Islamist extremism. It is these extremists,
masquerading as traditional Muslims, who angrily call for the death
of Abdul Rahman or the beheading of Danish cartoonists. Their
objective is raw political power and the eventual radicalization of
all 1.3 billion Muslims worldwide. Western involvement in this
"struggle for the soul of Islam" is a matter of self-preservation
for the West and is critical given the violent tactics and strength
of radical elements in Muslim societies worldwide.
Muslim theologians must revise their understanding of Islamic
law, and recognize that punishment for apostasy is merely the legacy
of historical circumstances and political calculations stretching
back to the early days of Islam. Such punishments run counter to the
clear Koranic injunction "Let there be no compulsion in religion"
(2:256).
People of goodwill of every faith and nation must unite to ensure
the triumph of religious freedom and of the "right" understanding of
Islam, to avert global catastrophe and spare others the fate of
Sudan's great religious and political leader, Mahmoud Muhammad Taha,
who was executed on a false charge of apostasy. The millions of
victims of "jihadist" violence in Sudan -- whose numbers continue to
rise every day -- would have been spared if Taha's vision of Islam
had triumphed instead of that of the extremists.
The greatest challenge facing the contemporary Muslim world is to
bring our limited, human understanding of Islamic law into harmony
with its divine spirit -- in order to reflect God's mercy and
compassion, and to bring the blessings of peace, justice and
tolerance to a suffering world.
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"Waging Jihad Against Violence"
by
Abdul Munir Mulkhan
The question confronting us –
whose answer will be pivotal in
determining the future of
humanity – is whether the Muslim
ummah (community) in the 21st
century is willing to
reinterpret the Qur’an, rather
than remain stuck with an
outmoded understanding of the
sacred text inherited from
Muslim clerics who lived and
wrote their Qur’anic
interpretations a thousand years
ago, at a time of great wars and
chaos.
Only if Muslims and adherents of
other faiths are willing to
reinterpret their respective
scriptures – and thereby renew
their religious doctrines – will
we witness a new era, dominated
by a more humane and truly
spiritual religiosity. Given the
current crisis facing humanity,
leaders of the world’s various
faiths must work together to
ensure full respect for the
rights and dignity of all human
beings, regardless of their
religion or lack thereof. This
is the sacred duty of those who
adhere to all religious faiths,
and the true jihad that the
world still awaits.
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"My
Islam, Your Islam, Our Islam, Their Islam"
by
Kyai Haji Abdurrahman Wahid
For me personally, “Their Islam”
is a fair term to describe the
views of those who would
annihilate the great beauty and
diversity of traditional Islam
in the name of an artificial and
enforced conformity to their own
rigid opinions. For such people,
Our Islam is a misnomer, for in
fact they seek to enforce –
through intimidation and
violence – a colorless,
monolithic uniformity that does
not and has never existed in the
long history of Islam.
The desire for Our Islam appears
to be inherent in the nature of
most Muslims. Yet the only
realistic way to establish such
a phenomenon is for My Islam and
Your Islam to peacefully coexist
in mutual respect and
toleration, without trying to
annihilate our differences.
Rather than seek to repress or
destroy the nearly infinite,
beautiful variety of God’s
creation, we would be better
advised to pursue al-jihad al-akbar
and annihilate our own egos, so
that we may unite in a common
spiritual apprehension of the
One – which gives rise to inner
peace and a joyful tolerance of
differences here on earth.
However, those who care about
the future of Our Islam on this
earthly plane would be well
advised to unite in rejecting
the use of Islam as an ideology,
or a weapon to violate the
sanctity of Your Islam and mine.
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"Indonesia's Guitar Warrior"
Rabbis are an uncommon sight in Indonesia, much less at a
performance by the country's top rock star. Yet there they sat,
tapping their feet as Ahmad Dhani performed his song "Warriors
of Love," at a conference in Bali on religion and tolerance. The
35-year-old Sufi Muslim may have a ways to go before reaching
the celebrity-healer heights of Bono, but he is no less
ambitious in aiming for the global stage. " 'Warriors of Love'
is a song about love and tolerance for people of different
faiths," he explains. "We reject the teachings of hate and the
extremists who preach it." Some of his backers hope to widen the
song's appeal by assembling a multilingual Muslim star cast to
render it as a kind of "We Are the World" anthem of global
Islamic moderation.
Dhani's campaign for tolerance, however, begins
at home, where after a decade of conquering the charts with his band, Dewa 19,
he now hopes to wean the hearts of millions of Indonesian Muslims away from
creeping extremism. And if most American music fans have yet to take notice, the
U.S. security establishment appears to understand Dhani's potential
significance. Last October, he addressed U.S. military and government officials
at a Defense Department-sponsored conference at NORAD in Colorado Springs,
explaining how he rejected the path of his father, a former member of the
hardline Dewan Dakwah Islamiyah Indonesia — and also that of his grandfather, a
member of Dar ul-Islam, an outlawed group that once fought for an Islamic state
in Indonesia.
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"Where others falter, Dhani delivers... with
his music. His message for Americans and President Bush?
'Just support moderate Islam, and moderate Muslims.'" |
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"Defeating Islamist Extremism"
by Jeff Jacoby [T]here is no doubting Wahid's commitment to
interfaith harmony. He tells Indonesian Muslims that they can
learn from Christianity and Christian life, and has dispatched
armed members of Nahdlatul Ulama to protect Christian churches
from Islamist violence. Not long ago, one of Wahid's Muslim
adherents was killed when he discovered a bomb in a church and
used his body to shield the Christian worshipers from its blast.
That stunning act of selflessness is a powerful reminder that
Muslims no less than non-Muslims have a great deal riding on the
defeat of the Islamofascists, and that we will not win the war
against radical Islam without Muslim allies like Wahid.
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"Holocaust-Affirming Conference
Opens in
Indonesia"
by
Sebastien Blanc
Chairing the discreetly-organized conference is
former Indonesian president Abdurrahman Wahid, known as Gus Dur,
a moderate Islamic leader known to take courageous positions in
Indonesia.
"Although I am a good friend of Mahmud
Ahmadinejad, I have to say he is wrong," Gus Dur told the
conference, referring to the Iranian president's dismissal of
the Holocaust as a myth. "He falsified history." |
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"Conference in Bali Against Holocaust Liars"
by
Sophie Mühlmann
Indonesia
is making an effort to uphold its tolerant and secular image.
The world's most populous Muslim nation has, for an entire day,
become a showplace for a hitherto unique religious conference:
the gathering on the holiday island of Bali concerned itself
entirely with religious tolerance and recognizing Nazi persecution
of Jews as an historical reality. Indonesia thereby
consciously seeks to distance itself from fundamentalist and radical
spirits.
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"Leaders Take on Tsunami of Religious Hate"
by
Abraham Cooper & Dr. Fred Balitzer
Dispensing with the usual Orwellian political correctness, Wahid
publicly condemned the Iranian leader: “President Ahmadinejad is
a friend, but when he lies about the Holocaust he is wrong and I
say so publicly.”
Some
crucial milestones were achieved that day in the world’s largest
Muslim nation. Members of the Jewish religion, including a rabbi
from Israel, were invited to the table as equals. They and
religious figures of four other faiths openly interfaced with
young Indonesians and the media.
We
heard Muslim leaders explicitly condemn suicide terror and
Holocaust denial while openly weeping with survivors of suicide
bombings in Indonesia and Israel and embracing a Jewish survivor
of the Nazi Holocaust. |
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Special Report:
Top Stories of 2007
"In Bali, Indonesia, a gathering of religious leaders and
victims of terrorist attacks, sponsored by the US Libforall
Foundation, denounced Iran's president for claiming the
Holocaust was a myth."
~ Arabian Business |
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"Dalai Lama Defends
Islam at Anti-terror Religious Meeting"
by
Gary Chapman
SAN FRANCISCO-- The Dalai Lama has defended Islam at an
historic religious gathering in San Francisco today, saying
suicide bombings were tragic “mischief” that could plague any
religion. The Dalai Lama took centre stage at an
unprecedented anti-terror summit with Muslim clerics and other
religious leaders from around the world.
Among the supporters of the religious solidarity movement
was former Indonesian president Abdurrahman Wahid, leader of
that country's largest Muslim organization Nahdlatul Ulama,
which has 40 million members. Holland Taylor delivered a
letter from Mr. Wahid praising the gathering and offering to
align himself with the Dalai Lama in future meetings of the
newly established group.
What is going on is a struggle for the soul of Islam,” Mr.
Taylor said. He said Mr. Wahid and other top Muslim
leaders were on the Dalai Lama's side in the “tug-of-war”
against religious extremism. Mr. Taylor referred to Sunni
and Shiite leaders forming a public alliance with the Dalai Lama
as “ideological jujitsu” to deflect the power of radicals and
unite moderates that represent “the true heart of Islam”
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"Step Up the Fight Against Islamism"
by
Sadanand Dhume
The former president and cleric, Abdurrahman
Wahid, of the 40-million-strong Nahdlatul Ulama, stands out as
the world's pre-eminent Islamic humanist, a rare figure who is
liberal by any standard, not merely the lowered ones usually
applied to Muslim clerics. |
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"Former Telecom
Executive Battling Extremism in Indonesia"
by Tim
Whitmire
LibForAll co-founder C. Holland
Taylor is linking moderate Muslim leaders “in a network of
lighthouses within the Islamic world that will promote tolerance
and freedom of thought and worship.” |
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Al-Ahram (est. 1875), one of the oldest and
most widely-read newspapers in the Arab world |
Extremism is Alien to Islam
LibForAll Foundation, an NGO which cares deeply
about Islam and Muslims... strives to express, clarify and
widely disseminate a true understanding of Islam not only to
non-Muslims, but also to Muslims in general. LibForAll aims to
present the moderate and tolerant face of Islam, and explain the
importance of [Muslims] returning to the essence of Islamic
teachings which, until now, have been poorly understood by many
groups [both in Islam and the West].
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A Tradition of Tolerance in Indonesia
Offers Hope
by
Kyai Haji Abdurrahman Wahid
and C.
Holland Taylor
"With its traditions of religious pluralism and
tolerance, Indonesia and its civil society are ideally
positioned to serve as mediators, helping to remove the poison
of religious hatred that has long afflicted the Middle East. By
integrating its rich spiritual traditions with the best of
modern practices, Indonesian Islam can serve as a model for
Islamic civilization worldwide and help inspire a similar
renaissance of Islamic spirituality and tolerance in other parts
of our troubled world." |
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Former Indonesian President Calls
Upon Muslims to Speak Out Against Extremism During U.S. Visit.
"President
Wahid has assumed the mantle of leadership of an international
movement dedicated to stemming the tide of radical Islam and
reclaiming authentic Islam from those who have corrupted its
teachings and used them to promote a repressive political
ideology, religious intolerance and terrorism.
The lynchpin of this movement is the
LibForAll Foundation, an Indonesian- U.S.- and Netherlands-based
organization that President Wahid co-founded to propagate models
of a prosperous, moderate and tolerant Islam, and to support
moderate and progressive Muslims in their efforts to promote a
culture of liberty and tolerance." |
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