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:
v
Global Counter-Extremism Network:
Brainchild of LibForAll co-founders C. Holland Taylor and
President Abdurrahman Wahid, 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.
v
“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!”
v
International Institute of Qur'anic Studies (IIQS):
Strategic initiative to modernize Qur’anic scholarship, construct a
case for the rejection of Qur’anic literalism and the definitive
discarding of extremist teachings, and help build a bridge between
the traditions of Islam and the modern world. 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 patronage and guidance of
LibForAll co-founder H.E. Kyai Haji Abdurrahman Wahid and Dr.
Syafi'i Ma'arif, former heads of the world's two largest Muslim
organizations, the Nahdlatul Ulama and the Muhammadiyah
respectively, whose total membership numbers 70 million.
v
Grassroots Pluralist Network TV/Video Project:
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 all over the world, such as the
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.
v
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.
v
Nur al-Hikmah ("Light of Wisdom") Think Tank:
Dedicated to promoting the institutions of good governance and a
vibrant civil society, this LibForAll branch a) provides theological justification for rejecting
Islamist calls to religious extremism and terror; b) generates
support for the idea that religion and state can and should be
separate in Islam, and that this does not endanger the faith; c)
creates a cultural, intellectual and theological bulwark to support
pluralistic and tolerant interpretations of Islam; and d) helps
design and execute new pluralist projects, including many of those
described in LibForAll's
achievements.
v
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.
v
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.
v
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 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.