“The Role of Civil Society in Peace building, Conflict Resolution and Democratization” conference was held on May 26th.
Below are some excerpts from the presentations:

Mohamed Nimer, American University: What do the Arab world can learn from the Gulen Movement? One major thing is that the sophisticated definition of how a social movement relates to the state? How it relates to the power play? Gulen has decided that when you look at the Islamic tradition democracy is the best form of the systems that can meet the requirements of Islamic values. And as such a faith based social movement has to stay above partisan politics, above the contest for power... Arab world wants the Gulen inspired ideas of separating politics from social work...

Marina Ottaway, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace: We, the Carnegie Endowment, and two other organizations, held a conference in April on the role of external actors in promoting change in the Arab world. Participants were other than the usual Western suspects including all the organizations, supporting democratic transformation and civil society in the world and particularly in the Middle East. We had a number of activists from Arab countries. One participant, a very well known scholar from Jordan, said civil society has not playing any role whatsoever in the uprisings. Everybody around the room agreed with him. Here you have tens of thousands of citizens were out on the streets. I thought if this was not civil society what was civil society. What they meant was the NGOs that western countries have been promoting in these countries. Organizations that western countries have been building up, financing and training were not anywhere to be seen. So, civil society did not play any role in the uprising. Citizens did, but not the organizations.

Bilal Wahab, George Mason University: One of the examples of hope in Iraq is the social entrepreneurship; a school that was sponsored by Hizmet (a.k.a the Gulen Movement) in 1994. It was a free high school at first but it has built a reputation for itself, graduated smart students and after that it started charging people for money. They say, ` We can educate your kids. We can teach them English, Turkish, math and science. And these students can participate International Scientific Olympics and they come back with prizes. So they’ve become marketable. Once they become marketable people pay a lot of money to go to that school. But that money is being used to build another school in another town. So, this process of mushrooming without being dependent on anyone has created a positive effect on other Civil Society Organizations.

Catherine Cosman, United States Commission on International Religious Freedom: There are many civil society organizations in Central Asian countries. There have been varying responses. Some of them have something to do with the Soviet legacy of atheism. So many human rights activists are not that interested in religion. They have unfortunately have a lot of other issues they can focus on. While I was in Azerbaijan a couple of years ago for a conference on civil society and I talked about the problems of religious groups in Azerbaijan which have only gotten worse. The other people in the room said: `But are they really part of civil society?` I was very surprised by that kind of response.

Angel Rabasa, Rand Corporation: Once the transition begins can play and have played in consolidation of democracy. According to study by Freedom House civic resistance played a vital role in driving 50 out of 67 modern transitions from authoritarian rule to democracy.

Joshua Foust, American Security Project: Westerners in general tend to assume their own concepts and their own experiences of what civil society or what some kind of doing good group means are the best ones. That’s why you have the military in Afghanistan what it does best which is creating another military. I spent several years as an advisor for the US Army dealing with social and cultural issues inside Afghanistan. They have a lot of problems going on. One of the biggest ones is the assumption about how Afghanistan itself works. And I think this is the feature you will find in a lot of foreigner based NGOs, especially in Central Asia which are in a way orientalist assumptions about how these societies work...... And this gets back to the idea of fundamentally misunderstanding a society that you are working in, making wrong assumptions about how that society works and then going ahead and crafting policies based on that wrong assumption...

Mehmet Kalyoncu, Independent Analyst: In Mardin, a multiethnic city populated by ethnic Turks, Kurds, Arabs and Assyrian Christians on Turkey’s Syrian border, the affiliates of the Hizmet [service] Movement have, through their personal interactions and conversations, first, convinced the local people that the fundamental problem of their community was the lack of education and educational infrastructure in the city; second, promoted multicultural understanding and tolerance; and finally, got these local people personally involved in finding resources through local and outside donors, and making concrete progresses on the ground. In so doing, the Hizmet Movement has been able to create a Mardinian civic consciousness among the Turks, Kurds, Arabs and Assyrians.

Stanley Kober, CATO Institute: To address the problem of war, we need to supplement top-down with bottom-up approaches; we have to address not only interests of state, but emotions of people. ......American education offers a culture of questioning. This is the spirit that is the foundation of scientific method and democracy. As Judge Learned Hand put it, “the spirit of liberty is the spirit which is not too sure that it is right.” Itis in that spirit that we can hope to realize Washington’s vision of a peaceful world, built from the bottom up, in which we are all “Citizen[s] of the great republic of humanity at large.”

events/conferences/berkley-center-26may11/gallery

Mohamed Nimer, Assistant Professor of Religion and Politics Worldwide and Islam in World Affairs, American University

Vladimir Fedorenko, Research Director, Rumi Forum

David Korányi, Visiting MOL Fellow, Center for Transatlantic Relations

Ambassador Kurt Volker, Senior Fellow and Managing Director, Center for Transatlantic Relations

Marios Efthymiopoulos, Moderator Visiting Scholar, Center for Transatlantic Relations

As the Arab Spring has made clear, new technologies have made civil society one of – if not the – most important factor in determining the stability and durability of governance around the world. Hear four experts share their perspectives on how the role of civil society has changed, and how its effective mobilization can speed the development of democracy and peace in the 21st century.

events/conferences/sais-02june11/gallery

The Rumi Forum, in collaboration with the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, & World Affairs at Georgetown University, hosts the conference:"The Role of Civil Society in Peacebuilding, Conflict Resolution and Democratization"

Summary

Civil society is not only important; it is an essential part of the proper functioning of the state. Acting as a link, civil society helps to initiate, promote and strengthen comprehensive and objective dialogue between governments and their people. In such a way, civil society fosters conflict resolution, advances human rights and promotes better democratization processes in countries. Moreover, because of its flexible, multidimensional and non-rigid structure, civil society has the capability to constantly adapt to rapid global changes. The purpose of the conference is to gain a better understanding of the role of civil society in the functioning of the state, and advancement of democracy and universal human rights.

Conference Program

Registration & Breakfast ~ 8:30 to 9:00 a.m.

Welcome and Opening Remarks ~ 9:00 a.m.

Katherine Marshall, Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, World Affairs

Emre Celik, Rumi Forum

PANEL I ~ 9:15 to 10:30 a.m.:“Civil Society, Democratization and Conflict Resolution”

Moderator: Jonathan Landay, McClatchy News

Marina Ottaway, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
“Civil Society and Democratization: Which Civil Society?”

Joshua Foust, American Security Project
"Foreign Bias in Local Governance in Central Asia"

Angel Rabasa, RAND Corporation
(To be updated)

PANEL II ~ 10:35 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.: “Civil Society and Peacebuilding and Education”

Moderator: Katherine Marshall, Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, & World Affairs

Mohamed Nimer, American University
"Gulen's Soft Power Approach: Lessons for Arab Political Reform"

Bilal Wahab, George Mason University
“Civil Society in Iraq: Homegrown or Market Response?”

Stanley Kober, Cato Institute
"Building Peace from the Bottom Up"

Break - Light Lunch Refreshments Provided ~ 12:00 to 12:15 p.m.

PANEL III ~ 12:15 to 1:30 p.m.: “Case Studies: The Importance of Civil Society”

Moderator: (To be Updated)

Catherine Cosman, United States Commission on International Religious Freedom
"Religious communities in Post-Soviet States"

Mehmet Kalyoncu, Independent Analyst
“Building Civil Society in Ethno-Religiously Fractured Communities”

Alisher Khamindov, School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University
"International Donors, Civil Society and Peacebuilding: Lessons from Central Asia"

Closing Remarks ~ 1:30 p.m.

Dr. Jennifer L Windsor, Georgetown University

Participants

Catherine Cosman

Title: "Religious communities in Post-Soviet States"
Synopsis: Ms. Cosman's focus will be on how Russia has served as a model for other post-Soviet states in its religion law, official policies towards various religious communities and changing social attitudes towards religion. She will discuss certain aspects of religion law, such as registration requirements and “traditional” religious communities as well as how other laws and official policies embody that official relationship. Finally, she will also examine the role of religious communities in civil society at large. Ms. Cosman will also include references to other post-Soviet states, including the Central Asian states, have adopted these policies in harsher fashion.

Bio: Catherine Cosman joined the staff of the Commission as Senior Policy Analyst in November 2003. Her areas of responsibility include the countries of the former Soviet Union, East and Central Europe, and Western Europe. She served on the staff of the U.S. Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe as senior analyst on Soviet dissent (1976-1989). Cosman was also a commentator on Soviet society for a nationally syndicated U.S. radio program. She then joined Human Rights Watch (1989-1992) where she wrote several studies on ethnic conflicts in Central Asia and the Caucasus and the human rights in the then-USSR. Working with emerging independent labor unions for the Free Trade Union Institute (1992-1996), she focused on Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan. She lived in Estonia where she was the Senior Expert of the OSCE Mission, working on the integration of the Russian minority into Estonian society (1996-1998.) She managed the Central Asian and Caucasus grants program at the National Endowment for Democracy, before joining the Communications Division at RFE/RL in 1999 where she edited "Media Matters" and "(Un)Civil Societies." She received a BA in History from Grinnell College and a MA and an ABD in Slavic Languages and Literatures from Brown University.

Joshua Foust

Title: "Foreign Bias in Local Governance in Central Asia"
Synopsis: Civil society is a great thing, but it's prone to abuse. When we in the West tent to think about how to build and support civil society, we often impose our ideas of what that means and how it is expressed onto a culture that may or may not be welcoming. This isn't just true in a high-profile case like Afghanistan; in other areas of Central Asia, for example, you can see this same thing happening as NGOs try to support what they think are good groups but which may not have any appeal in the host country. When the development of civil society is then elevated to an essential component of peace-building and conflict resolution, this clash between western ideals and local preferences becomes terribly damaging to any sort of peace process. By exploring one example, the arbakai in eastern Afghanistan, I'll highlight how mistaken concepts of culture can actually lead to an ostensibly peace-oriented program fomenting more violence.

Bio: Joshua Foust is a fellow at The American Security Project, where he studies national security strategy and post-conflict reconstruction. He is also editor of Registan.net, which is devoted to Central Asia, and is a columnist for PBS "Need to Know." His writing has been featured in The New York Times, The Atlantic, Reuters, and the Columbian Journalism Review.

Mehmet Kalyoncu

Title: “Building Civil Society in Ethno-Religiously Fractured Communities”
Synopsis: Civil society is generally associated with the presence of voluntary, non-governmental civic and social organizations, which are run by informed citizens and assume responsibility for monitoring state bodies and operations, as well as mobilizing available resources to maintain order and efficiency in the functioning of both state and society. But, what if the local conditions prevent the formation of such voluntary organizations - if the social landscape is characterized by communal conflicts stemming from deeply entrenched ethno-religious prejudices. The analysis of the Gulen-inspired civil society initiatives both in southeast Turkey and abroad suggests that such initiatives have to a certain degree been successful in bringing different ethno-religious communities together as a necessary first step towards civil society: common problems facing the different ethno-religious groups are identified, and then solid serviced to address those problems are provided through collaborative efforts of those groups. In this way, the social potential of those groups is mobilized and channeled to achieving shared goals, which in turn enriches the society as a whole, and consolidates peace.

Bio: Mehmet Kalyoncu is an independent political analyst. He has published articles in academic journals and op-ed pieces in newspapers and online publications. His writing has appeared in Foreign Policy Magazine, Balkanalysis, Caspian Business News, Zaman US Daily, Today’s Zaman, Zinda Magazine, PINR, American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences, Journal of Central Asia and the Caucasus, and Centro Argentino de Estudios Internacionales. His research interests include Turkish foreign policy, ethno-religious politics, civil society, and social development in countries rich in natural resources. Kalyoncu authored A Civilian Response to Ethno-Religious Conflict: Gulen Movement in Southeast Turkey (The Light, 2008). He holds a M.S. in Management & Administrative Sciences from University of Texas at Dallas and a M.A. in Eurasian, Russian, and East European Studies from Georgetown University.

Alisher Khamidov

Title: "International Donors, Civil Society and Peacebuilding: Lessons from Central Asia"
Synopsis: Over the past decade and a half, the theme of conflict in Central Asia has drawn significant attention from Western and Central Asian government and civil society representatives. The Western donor community and Central Asian conflict prevention organizations have invested extensive resources to reduce conflict potential in this region. Despite these efforts, however, the tumultuous developments of last year in Kyrgyzstan, which claimed the lives of more than 400 people, have raised the question of whether the financial investments and existing peace-building approaches were adequate. Western donors and regional NGOs would do well to reflect on lessons of what are now called the “June Events.” Though it is tempting to attribute the violence to long-standing ethnic hostilities, political repression and economic inequalities, international aid agencies and local NGOs made their own share of faulty assumptions and missteps leading up to the conflict. The presentation will first examine the nature of these faulty assumptions and missteps. It will then offer a set of recommendations to address the existing flaws in peacebuilding approaches in Central Asia.

Bio: Alisher Khamidov is a Professorial Lecturer at the School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) at Johns Hopkins University. He is an expert on Central Asia and Russia. He began his career as Director of the Osh Media Resource Center (OMRC), a non-profit, independent media association in southern Kyrgyzstan. He has also acted as the regional coordinator of the Central Asian Media Support Project. Before his Doctorate, he worked at Notre Dame University's Sanctions and Security Project, the NEH Summer Institute on Eurasian Civilizations at Harvard University and at the Foreign Policy Studies Program of the Brookings Institution. Khamidov has written a series of articles on religious and ethnic conflict in the Ferghana Valley and political developments in Kyrgyzstan and in Central Asia, and is a frequent contributor to Eurasianet and IRIN. He is published in a number of academic journals in Central Asia and North America. He received his Ph.D in Russian and Eurasian Studies from SAIS, Johns Hopkins University, an M.A. in International Peace Studies from the University of Notre Dame, and a B.A. from Osh State University, Kyrgyzstan.

Mohamed Nimer

Title: "Gulen's Soft Power Approach: Lessons for Arab Political Reform"
Synopsis: This presentation is based on field observations and readings of Gulen. The goal is to draw lessons from the ideas and practices of the Gulen movement that can inform political reform in the Arab world. One important character of the Gulen is the movement's refusal to engage in partisan politics. I will show that this position neither removed the group form public discourse nor meant that the movement lacks political clout. Its focus on hizmet (service), dialogue and inter-cultural understanding has allowed Gulen to connect different constituencies to institutions of power, and therefore establishing the movement as a crucial social base for Turkish democracy. I will argue that this practice of soft power by Gulen is an appropriate model to follow to ensure the emergence of a moderate, sophisticated Arab polity able to contribute significantly to the promotion of democracy.

Bio: Dr. Mohamed Nimer is an assistant professor at the School of International Service at American University in Washington, D.C. His research and teaching interests include religion and politics, cross cultural communication, Muslims in the West, and contemporary Islamic thought. He has also taught courses on Islamic reform movements at the International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT). Among his recent publications is an edited volume titled: Islamophobia and Anti-Americanism: Causes and Remedies (Amana publications, 2007). He is also the author of The North American Muslim Resource Guide: Muslim Community Life in the United States and Canada (Routledge, 2002). In May 2008, he presented a paper titled "Middle East Peacebuilding: Engaging the Islamists" at the Center for Global Peace at American University.

Marina Ottoway

Title: “Civil Society and Democratization: Which Civil Society?”
Synopsis: At a meeting of Arab activists discussing recent protests, a participant declared that “Civil society has not played any role in the uprisings.” Everybody agreed. Yet, we know that tens of thousands of citizens have participated in protests and demonstrations throughout the region, and that it is their courage and persistence that is bringing about change. The paradox calls for reflection on civil society and its role in democratization.

Bio: Marina Ottaway works on issues of political transformation in the Middle East and Gulf security. A long-time analyst of the formation and transformation of political systems, she has also written on political reconstruction in Iraq, Afghanistan, the Balkans, and African countries. Before joining the Endowment, Ottaway carried out research in Africa and in the Middle East for many years and taught at the University of Addis Ababa, the University of Zambia, the American University in Cairo, and the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa. Ottaway is an expert in civil society, democracy, political reform, non-governmental actors, foreign and humanitarian aid, human rights, Islamist movements, the Middle East, Iraq, and Africa. She received her Ph.D. from Columbia University and undergraduate degree from the University of Pavia, Italy.

Angel Rabasa

Angel M. Rabasa is a senior political scientist at the RAND Corporation. He has written extensively about extremism, terrorism, and insurgency. He is the lead author of The Lessons of Mumbai (2009); Radical Islam in East Africa (2009); The Rise of Political Islam in Turkey (2008); Ungoverned Territories: Understanding and Reducing Terrorism Risks (2007); Building Moderate Muslim Networks (2007); Beyond al-Qaeda, Part 1: The Global Jihadist Movement and Part 2: The Outer Rings of the Terrorist Universe (2006); and The Muslim World After 9/11 (2004). He has completed research on patterns of Islamist radicalization and terrorism in Europe, and is currently working on a project on deradicalization of Islamist extremists. Other works include the International Institute for Strategic Studies Adelphi Paper No. 358, Political Islam in Southeast Asia: Moderates, Radicals, and Terrorists (2003); The Military and Democracy in Indonesia: Challenges, Politics, and Power (2002), with John Haseman; and Indonesia's Transformation and the Stability of Southeast Asia (2001), with Peter Chalk. He is a member of the International Institute for Strategic Studies, the International Studies Association, and the American Foreign Service Association. Rabasa has a B.A. and Ph.D. in history from Harvard University and was a Knox Fellow at St. Antony's College, Oxford University.

Synopsis

To be updated...

Bilal Wahab

Title: “Civil Society in Iraq: Homegrown or Market Response?”
Synopsis: Under the former Iraqi regime, the state and the ruling Baath party controlled many aspects of people’s lives and banned any forms of popular organization. After 2003 and with the availability of international funding, civil society and nongovernmental organizations mushroomed in Iraq, mainly as a market response rather than grassroots efforts. With the withdrawal of international aid and the windfall of Iraqi petrodollars, however, the state and especially ruling parties are ready to jump in to the scene as alternative donors. Deriving from his experience with USAID civil society programs, the presenter addresses the rise, development and future roles of civil society in Iraq and Iraqi Kurdistan as able voices of the people, checks on the government and contributors to peace and stability.

Bio: Bilal Wahab is currently a doctoral student at George Mason University where he studies economic and political transition in the petroleum-rich Middle Eastern states. He is affiliated with the university’s Terrorism, Transnational Crime and Corruption Center (TraCCC). He received his Master's Degree from American University on a Fulbright Scholarship. In Iraq, he served as a governance advisor for citizen participation in public decision-making at USAID's Local Governance Program. He worked with local authorities and civil society organizations in five northern Iraqi provinces to promote transparency and accountability toward democratic governance. Prior to that, he worked for the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization. In the run up to Iraq's first democratic elections, he worked for the International Republican Institute, where he trained election candidates and monitored the elections. He also lectured at Salahaddin University's College of Law and Political Science. He has made frequent media appearances on Aljazeera, National Public Radio, News Hour with Jim Lehrer and other media outlets. He also consulted at the World Bank's Institutional Integrity Vice Presidency. His most-cited article appeared in Middle East Quarterly, entitled "How Oil Smuggling Greases Violence in Iraq.”

Stanley Kober

Title: "Building Peace from the Bottom Up"
Synopsis: The big divide in the world today is between those who don't want education (Taliban) and those who do. What is also important is how the education is focused: whether it fosters critical thinking or memorization, and whether it encourages openness to different ideas (e.g., encouraging international study to learn from others). This affects what I call the emotional level of war and peace, to supplement the considerations of interests that dominate international relations.

Bio: Stanley Kober is a Research Fellow in Foreign Policy Studies. He is a graduate of Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service and received his Ph.D. from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. His areas of expertise include the relationship between democracy and peace, with a focus on control over the war power, and American grand strategy. He has lectured in the United States and abroad, and his work has appeared in Foreign Policy, International Affairs (London), the New York Times, Washington Post, and Wall Street Journal. Kober previously worked on Soviet and defense issues at SRI International (where he was managing editor of the journal, Comparative Strategy), the Center for Naval Analyses, and the Hudson Institute.

The conference is co-sponsored by Dept. of Anthropology ,The Rumi Club, Graduate Student Government at the University of Maryland, College Park. Several distinguished speakers including former ambassador, US State Department official, academicians talked about the contributions of the Gulen Movement to the World Peace.

The conference opened with a keynote speech by Dr. Ori Z. Soltes from Georgetown University, titled, “Socrates, Violence, Education, the Gulen Movement, and Peace”. This talk compared Socrates’ aims to those of the Gulen Movement. Dr. Soltes noted that like Fethullah Gulen, Socrates emphasized importance of ethics and the process of dialogue for brining morality into all facets of life. Gulen emphasizes that education is the ultimate means through which we can deduce Divine will and thus improve the world. He noted that unlike Socrates, the Gulen Movement has been able to put Gulen’s ideas into action through its varied educational programs, media, cable, and internet programming. Moreover, the Gulen movement seeks peace through constant effort and struggle, and this is a “fullness of peace” that not merely tolerates, but embraces diversity, and it cannot be described as merely the absence of war.

The conference featured two panels, one titled “Preventing Violence and Achieving World Peace” and the other, “The Contributions of the Gulen Movement to World Peace.” Dr. John Davies from University of Maryland, College Park opened the first panel by sharing findings from a comprehensive research program that has identified societal factors which strongly correlate with the likelihood or absence of violence and wars within and among nations. The single best indicator of a nation-state’s likelihood of creating a climate for war is the Infant Mortality Rate. Peter Kovach, from the U.S. Department of State said that Rumi Forum in Washington DC and Pacifica Institute at Los Angeles are one of the most effective peace organizations that build bridges between people from diverse backgrounds. Kovach shared with the audience the Department of State’s recent success in collaboration with the Egyptian delegation in resolving issues stemming from the Organization of Islamic Conference regarding defamation of religions. Kovach presented the issue as a free speech issue, noting that “One man’s truth is another’s defamation,” and that suppressing ideas never succeeds in making them go away. Ambassador David Newton shared his experience with Radio Free Iraq. He noted that the internet has weakened control of authoritarian regimes; they can no longer totally dominate the media. He stated that the media is an empty vessel, and it can be filled with tolerance or intolerance and incite violence or peace. Dr. Imad-ad Dean Ahmad of the Minaret of Freedom Institute wrapped up the session by emphasizing the critical importance of education (as opposed to merely schooling) for fomenting tolerance and peace. He observed that historically Muslims went to madrasses to learn and understand the Qu’ran (education). Today, madrasses teach memorization and correct pronunciation (schooling). We need to move more towards being educated about other cultures and about ways of thinking in order to achieve greater tolerance.

The second panel shifted focus to a more complete understanding of how the Gulen movement conceptualizes peace and ways to achieve it. Dr Eileen Eppig of the College of Notre Dame identified how Gulen’s ideas regarding peace are inspired by Sufism and the Holy Qu’ran. Human beings are God’s highest level of creation and He manifests His qualities, His “names” through His creations. When we recognize God’s love within ourselves, then we can see it in others and all of creation. This recognition brings about actions that respect God’s love in all of His creations and leads to a state of compassion. Dr. Heon C. Kim of Temple University continued with Dr. Eppig’s themes by emphasizing the Islamic perspective that places the highest value on humanity, as opposed to fundamentalist beliefs which tend to devalue humanity. Kim demonstrated that dialogic humanism is the heart of Gulen’s thought and gives the reason for the existence of the Gulen movement – hizmet, service to humanity as a solution to individual and collective problems. Dr. William Taft Stuart of the University of Maryland, College Park discussed the social capital that the Gulen Movement brings to peace building, including its educational activities, forum activities, and media outlets, especially Zaman Newspaper. Dr. Pim Valkenberg was positioned excellently as the final speaker. He emphasized how the notion of peace is connected to religion. He stated that Gulen’s notion of peace is based on an analysis of three roots of violence – ignorance, disunity, and poverty. The Gulen movement activities address these three areas through its schools, dialogue groups, and charity organizations, such as Kimse Yok Mu. According to Gulen, for a Muslim, peace cannot be separated from religion as a Muslim desires, in his or her daily life to be at peace with all of creation. For Gulen, it is not enough that Muslims should feel safe, but that all humanity should feel safe. Since passages of violence and peace can be found in all fundamental scriptures (e.g. Judaic, Christian, Muslim), what is important is the mindset that interprets the scripture. Since Islam values peace above violence, then peace is the key to understanding the Qu’ran. If we believe that peace is better than violence, then we must be on the side of peace. From this viewpoint, violence in religious texts are interpreted as corresponding to specific circumstances, and cannot be seen as a fundamental, underlying premise.

events/conferences/rf-md-conference-29oct09/gallery

The conference focused on linking theological and religious interpretations of peace and nonviolence with tangible practices at the community level as well as policy making. Given the common representation of Islam, in the Western media in particular, Islam and nonviolence might not seem to be compatible. Indeed, Islamic tradition of nonviolence is deep rooted, and interest in the Islamic tradition of nonviolence has been revived over the last few years with various Islamic movements and leaders now searching for ways to employ nonviolence as a means of social transformation. In this context a dialogue and exchange among Muslim scholars, religious authorities, and practitioners regarding the traditions of peace and nonviolence and how they can be applied in the contemporary world, would contribute significantly to constructively address the issues facing Muslims in our current world.

events/conferences/american-university-05may08/gallery