Indonesia and the Netherlands serve as the Institute’s initial centers of gravity, with Muslim scholars from other regions traveling to participate in IIQS activities on an ongoing basis. 

The Institute’s first intensive tafsir (“exegesis”) course was held during the summer of 2008 at the Muhammadiyah University of Magelang (UMM) in Central Java – part of a network of 187 Muhammadiyah colleges and universities nationwide. Held over a period of six weeks, this course was facilitated by Dr. Abu Zayd and Dr. Ali Mabrook, and included over 150 hours of intensive training and practice in modern and classical methods of Qur’anic interpretation.

Participants in this course included scholars/lecturers from various universities, young leaders from mass organizations – the Nahdlatul Ulama and the Muhammadiyah – and NGO activists, forming a core network of alumni capable of propagating this knowledge to other key audiences.

Prominent radicals exerted heavy pressure on the university to cancel the course, with controversy extending nationwide in Muhammadiyah and extremist circles. However, the IIQS also received an outpouring of support from top Muslim leaders including: Dr. Syafi’i Ma’arif, former Chairman of the Muhammadiyah; Dr. Amien Rais, former Chairman of the Muhammadiyah and former speaker of Indonesia’s National Assembly; Dr. Haeder Nashir, current Muhammadiyah Vice Chairman; and Dr. Amin Abdullah, Rector of the prestigious Sunan Kalijaga Islamic State University, Yogyakarta. These and other Muhammadiyah leaders encouraged participants to continue their work with IIQS, and enabled UMM/IIQS to complete the course despite vigorous opposition from radical elements. In addition, other major Indonesian universities expressed interest in hosting future IIQS courses.

These results demonstrate that it is possible to initiate systematic reform of Qur’anic studies in the Muslim world, utilizing the proper strategy and support. However, enormous systemic obstacles exist – including social, cultural and political barriers – which the IIQS is preparing to systematically address in the coming years.

By building a global network of Muslim opinion leaders associated with the IIQS, and utilizing mass media – including audio/video, internet and mobile technologies – to widely disseminate their views, the IIQS is harnessing the critical success factors required to precipitate a renaissance of Islamic pluralism, tolerance and objective thinking, and applying these to secure freedom of expression, conscience and religion throughout the Muslim world.

 

IIQS Faculty, Dr. Abu-Zayd and Dr. Ali Mabrook, at Parangkusumo beach,
where 16th-century Javanese derived inspiration to defeat Islamist radicals and establish
freedom of worship, two centuries before the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom and
Bill of Rights separated church and state in America

 

 IIQS Exegesis Course Description >

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