Programs Overview

LibForAll plans and executes its programs in cooperation with like-minded Muslim leaders in the fields of religion, education, popular culture, government, business and the media, and is systematically building a global counter-extremism network that unites top Muslim opinion leaders in each of these fields. This, in turn, enables LibForAll to extend its reach to a grassroots level, and helps eliminate the underlying causes of terrorism—by creating and propagating models for a prosperous, moderate and tolerant Islam.

LibForAll Foundation's strategy is based on an "indirect approach," designed to reduce religious extremism and terror by rendering them socially unacceptable, and repugnant, to people and cultures throughout the world. This entails mobilizing support for progressive Muslims in their efforts to reconcile and integrate traditional Muslim societies with the contemporary world.

Promoting the culture of liberty and tolerance also requires an imaginative and dynamic policy, tailored to the needs of each country, while positing local initiatives as a return to the essential truth of Islam. In essence, LibForAll Foundation practices an "inside-out approach," by working with high-profile Muslim leaders to re-enliven local traditions that promote the values of liberty and tolerance, so that these are recognized, and accepted, as indigenous rather than alien. This results in high-impact, cost-effective programs—especially when compared to "outside-in efforts," which are easily perceived as alien and inimical to Islam.

It is also critical to realize that "education" of youth increasingly occurs through non-traditional media such as music, TV/video, internet, etc. Recognizing this, LibForAll is promoting a popular culture of liberty and tolerance, working with cultural icons who have enormous constituencies, and thus the ability to influence tens of millions.

LibForAll is operationalizing its strategy through focused implementation of the following programs, which are at various stages of execution, with numerous high profile achievements to date:

  • Global Counter-Extremism Network:  Brainchild of LibForAll co-founders C. Holland Taylor and President Abdurrahman Wahid (1940 – 2009), this program leverages President Wahid’s historic call for “people of good will of every faith and nation” to unite and defeat Islamist extremism and terror, by assembling a global coalition of opinion-leaders in the fields of religion, education, popular culture, government, business and the mass media. The fundamental "building block" of LibForAll's global expansion, this Rahmatan lil 'Alamin (Blessing for All Creation) Counter-Extremism Network is designed to identify, mobilize, encourage and support powerful Muslim leaders who are opposed to the spread of radical Islam, thus laying a foundation for the expansion of successful LibForAll program templates country-by-country worldwide.

  • Ocean of Revelations Film Series:  This project is breaking new ground by creating a 26-lesson video curriculum that provides a thorough, pluralistic and tolerant answer to the questions "What is Islam?" and "What does Islam teach?" about a wide variety of topics, in the words of world-renowned Muslim theologians, intellectuals and grassroots religious leaders from key Muslim nations/communities worldwide.  Using commercial production standards, this video curriculum is designed for television broadcast—and subsequent packaging/dissemination to tens of thousands of Islamic boarding schools, with millions of students, in Indonesia, Pakistan and elsewhere—so as to promote a pluralistic and tolerant understanding of Islam to Muslim and non-Muslim communities worldwide.  By involving top Muslim leaders from around the world, such as the late Kyai Haji Abdurrahman Wahid and the late Grand Shaykh of al-Azhar, and conveying a unified message of peace and tolerance, this project represents a key component of expanding LibForAll's counter-extremism network.

  • International Institute of Qur'anic Studies (IIQS):  LibForAll established its International Institute of Qur’anic Studies (IIQS) in March of 2008, in order to help lay the foundation for a renaissance of Islamic pluralism, tolerance and objective thinking, and to foster the necessary conditions for the development of stable democracies and the protection of universal human rights throughout the Muslim world. The Institute’s mission is to develop schools of modern Qur’anic interpretation that combine classical exegetical methods with the best of modern scholarship—enabling Muslims to build a bridge between their traditions and the world of freedom, democracy and human rights. Key projects include the development of schools of modern Qur’anic interpretation; the creation of a Qur’anic Commentary; training of preachers and activists; and dissemination of ideas and publications to a global audience. The IIQS operates under the legacy of LibForAll co-founder H.E. Kyai Haji Abdurrahman Wahid and under the guidance of Dr. Syafii Maarif. President Wahid was head of the Nahdlatul Ulama, and Dr. Syafii Maarif was head of the Muhammadiyah. These influential Muslim organizations have a combined total membership of 70 million.

  • The Smiling Face of Islam:  Translation and publication of key works that facilitate the spread of pluralistic and tolerant Ideas between different parts of the Islamic world. Program helps cross-pollinate moderate ideas and create a virtuous cycle of tolerance in place of the vicious cycle of radicalization that currently exists. A key component of this program is introducing progressive Indonesian Muslim thought into the heart of the Middle East by translating books and articles into Arabic, and elsewhere through English translation. On-going program received funding from the Swedish Foreign Ministry in 2008.

  • "Musical Jihad" Against Religious Hatred and Terrorism:  Work with Muslim pop celebrities from linguistic/cultural/commercial music markets that cover the vast majority of the world’s Islamic population to produce and broadcast songs and music videos that celebrate Islam as a religion of divine love and tolerance. Program successes to date include years of saturation media coverage for anti-extremism messages with two best-selling albums, including a “Musical Fatwa” against religious hatred and terrorism—whose lyrics are based on verses from the Qur’an and sayings of the Prophet Muhammad—which soared to the top of the charts in Indonesia and MTV Asia in 2006. Project hailed by Washington Post editors as "…one of the most effective programs to reduce religious extremism since 9/11," inspiring millions of young Muslims to declare: "No to the Warriors of Jihad!  Yes to the Warriors of Love!"

  • Grassroots Pluralist Network:  This program is expanding LibForAll Foundation’s counter-extremism network at the grassroots level. Currently operational in Indonesia—the country with the world’s largest Muslim population and democracy—LibForAll’s Grassroots Pluralist Network/Indonesia project works closely with top leaders in the fields of religion, education, pop culture, government, business and the mass media to delegitimize extremist ideology, spiritually revitalize key sectors of Indonesian society, and export a pluralistic and tolerant understanding of Islam to other key Muslim populations worldwide. Closely linked to the production of the Ocean of Revelations film series, this project is creating a model for similar efforts in other parts of the Muslim world.

  • LibForAll Europe (Stichting LibForAll):  Since late 2006, LibForAll has been advising European governments, policy makers and think tanks on how to effectively engage in the "struggle for the soul of Islam," while laying the groundwork for the expansion of successful LibForAll counter-radicalization programs to Europe and key EU Neighborhood regions. Over the past year, LibForAll’s counter-extremism network has expanded to include associates in Austria, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, Sweden, the UK, France, Spain and Italy, as well as Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Palestine, Iraq, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Pakistan and India.  LibForAll's operations in Europe, North Africa and the Middle East are being conducted largely under the umbrella of Stichting LibForAll, which is incorporated in the Netherlands and enjoys a close relationship with the European Union, the German and Swedish governments, and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which financed and helped to coordinate LibForAll's expansion to Europe.

  • LibForAll USA:  Help U.S. policy-makers, opinion leaders and the general public understand the spectrum of views within Islam, so as to distinguish between the religion of Islam and the extreme agenda of those who use religion as a pretext to achieve their own political objectives—thus assisting in the development of a coherent counter-radicalization strategy.  In this context, LibForAll is educating opinion leaders on the need for a greater focus on—and investment of time and resources in—the war of ideas, which is critical for a lasting solution to current world conflicts. Key elements of this program are: briefing of government officials and key opinion leaders engaged in this arena; bringing top Muslim reformers to the U.S. to address both the policy-making and Muslim communities; cooperating with major think tanks and NGOs as part of policy "working groups," as well as public events; and the authoring of op-eds, and contribution to numerous feature articles, widely disseminated through the mass media and specialized journals.

  • Civil and Economic Liberty:  The developing world is the developing world because of widespread corruption, which severely inhibits ongoing, systematic improvement of people's lives. Our work with government elites and other key figures in Muslim societies is also designed to help overcome poverty, ignorance and disease—by encouraging the growth of just, free and prosperous societies in which universal education, the rule of law and civil and economic liberty combine to raise everyone's standard of living.