From the President: Engaging Conservative Islam

By Dr. Chris Seiple on 04 February 2010

Last week I returned from a two-week trip to Kyrgyzstan and Pakistan, a part of the world where we have been building relationships for some time. It is also an opaque part of the world, a region that has produced many religiously-motivated terrorists.

The purpose of the trip was to begin one conversation, and deepen another, about how religion can be a part of the solution. The result was two ground-breaking conferences demonstrating that religious freedom—implemented in a way that is sensitive to culture and consistent with the rule of law—can contribute to a preemptive peace that deters terrorism.

Kyrgyzstan

Although travel with IGE is never routine, it was stranger than usual to be spending significant time with the senior advisor to a Central Asian president, a famous Russian news commentator, China’s #1 academic on Russia and Central Asia, and a Kyrgyz analyst who is a devout Muslim, while being surrounded by mountains more beautiful than Lake Tahoe. Stranger still, as we toasted each other with the regional drink, was our divergence in opinion about the practical and legal differences between “normal” and “dangerous” religious practice—and this among “experts,” most of whom were grappling with the policy implications of religion for the first time.

This is the must-have conversation of the 21st century. More than five years after 9/11, governments worldwide, the experts who advise them, and religious leaders have not come to grips with the most basic question of our time: How does the state determine and regulate what kind of religious practice is good for society, and what kind can be dangerous? IGE is helping to get that conversation started with key people in this critical region.

After a series of meetings with Kyrgyz leaders the focus of our time in Kyrgyzstan was the first-ever conference on religion and security in Central Asia that was attended by top scholars and policy-makers from Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, China, Russia, and the U.S.¹ Our informal discussions and the formal conference reinforced three key points about Kyrgyzstan and Central Asia today.

First, conservative Islam is on the rise in Kyrgyzstan (especially among the youth and in the Fergana Valley to the south). In such a context, it is now possible for extremist groups to openly court candidates for parliament.

Second, there are too few theologically-trained imams. The state has little money to help with “seminary,” and, as a result, local mosques are easily susceptible to outside (extremist) money that teaches an intolerant form of Islam.

Third, a holistic and regional approach is needed to deny and defeat the extremist and terrorist networks that sometimes emerge from a conservative base. Because radical Islam does not recognize borders, such an approach would foster a common policy among Central Asian states, as well as China, Russia, and the U.S. This common policy would emphasize that “seminary is security”; that only good theology can overcome bad theology, and that properly educated imams are essential. This cooperative approach would further recognize that “development is security”; that the opportunity for jobs, hand-in-glove with a properly understood faith, can preempt extremism.

Dr. Xing, the Director of the Institute for the Study of the Former Soviet Union at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, captured the essence of the conference when he told me: “I have been to many, many conferences that include representatives from these countries, and never have they addressed religion . . . I now know that to understand Central Asia I must first understand religion.”

And, more to the point, Aman Saliev of the Institute for Strategic Analysis and Prognosis at the Kyrgyz-Russian University said this: “The problem with American policy is that it does not understand how Muslims think with values. The irony is that only good Muslims will stop bad Muslims.”

All participants agreed that we needed to meet again and explore these issues further. In particular, there was a strong desire to convene the same participants in Beijing for a conference on religion and extremism, and to hold a conference on Islamic education in Dushanbe, Tajikistan.²

Pakistan

This was IGE’s third trip in 19 months to Pakistan’s Northwest Frontier Province (NWFP) as we again met with our friends in the government and throughout the minority communities. Our purpose was threefold: deepen our relational diplomacy; co-sponsor a conference on religion and peace; and visit our scholarship program in Bannu.

To remind you, IGE has a written agreement, a memorandum of understanding (MOU), with the Chief Minister of the Northwest Frontier Province to holistically promote religious freedom. The #6 ranking official in Pakistan, the Chief Minister is a member of an Islamist party that was freely elected in 2002 on a pro-shari’a and anti-American platform. While we don't agree with that platform, we have discovered that, as religious people, we are able to come to agreement on many important issues and serve as examples of how Muslims and Christians can respect each other, yielding practical effect.

For example, at Peshawar University, a state school, there is a church that had fallen into disrepair. The Christians wanted to rebuild their church because it is illegal to build new churches in Pakistan. But some Muslim students sued the church, claiming that its very presence at a state-run university was “un-Islamic,” a serious accusation in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan where 97% of the population is Muslim.

While the issue was still tied up in the courts, on 19 December 2006 the Chief Minister made a public point to help lay the cornerstone of the church. To boot, he committed, on the spot, $50,000 from the provincial government to complete the renovation. At the time, Bishop Mano Rumalshah, the Bishop of the Christian community in Northwest Frontier Province, called this a "truly miraculous decision, due to the process of reconciliation between the Muslim and Christian communities begun by IGE's work."

Later, the Peshawar High Court threw the lawsuit out. The Chief Justice of the Court pointed out: “Why did the head of a religious party’s government allocate funds and attend the reconstruction ceremony as a chief guest, if the church’s construction were un-Islamic?" The courts said, basically, “If the Islamists say it’s okay, it must be okay!”³ Bishop Mano told me last week that this decision is a “historic legal precedent.”

Can you imagine? An Islamist leader from the border region of Pakistan-Afghanistan going out of his way to make a visible statement about the rights of a minority faith?

Needless to say, the Christian community—just 100,000 among 20 million in the NWFP—was overjoyed.

The tangible impact of relational diplomacy has also played out in our partnership with Faith Friends, an interfaith initiative that, from the beginning, has been integral to the implementation of our October 2005 MOU.⁴ Led by Bishop Mano and Dr. Qibla Ayaz, dean of theology and Islamic studies at Peshawar University (and now a contributing editor for The Review of Faith & International Affairs), Faith Friends convened a conference of NWFP Muslims and Christians to discuss interfaith relations. In August 2006, the Chief Minister delivered the keynote address to 800 attendees. This event set the stage for the May 2007 international conference.

Last month Josh White and I were invited to speak at Faith Friends’ first international conference, “Peace & Religion,” in Peshawar. (Josh, a Graduate Fellow at IGE, previously spent ten months living in the NWFP.) Prior to the conference, we were very pleased to join the Chief Minister in his official residence for dinner with the Muslim and Christian leaders of Faith Friends. We were surprised, however, to be joined by the leaders of the Sikh, Shi’a, and Hindu faith traditions, and were told that they would also be joining us at the conference. The press in attendance noted again this very public commitment by the Chief Minister to all minority faith communities.

With the participation of these additional minority faiths, this conference marked the first time in NWFP history where there has been a space, literally and spiritually, for Sunni, Shi’a, Christian, Hindu, and Sikh to speak together publicly about how their faiths contribute to each other, and to peace.

Also in attendance were students from throughout the NWFP (the next generation of leaders), as well as 40 prominent imams. Josh White spoke to the conference in Urdu, the ultimate demonstration of respect and relational diplomacy. He had the place laughing and agreeing with him (Read Josh White's speech).

It was truly a remarkable moment in the history of the province, and the history of IGE.

As one Muslim leader from Faith Friends said to me: “You know, when we first started this, we thought that everyone would be against us . . . and now they join us.” Faith Friends is now exploring how it can institutionalize its organization among university students, and serve as a conflict mediation mechanism.

The need for such mediation is urgent. For example, we also visited with the tiny Christian minority in Charsadda, who have been told by extremists that they must leave town or be blown up (which is exactly what happened to local shops that had sold such “un-Islamic” goods as pop music CDs).

While these Christians expressed to IGE their gratitude for the ongoing love and support of their Muslim neighbors, as well as their appreciation for the Chief Minister’s police force providing help, they remain scared. One idea that we discussed with them—as well as Faith Friends and the Chief Minister—was the possibility of holding a Faith Friends dialogue in Charsadda to discuss practical measures that could be taken and public statements that could be made against these extremist threats.

Finally, IGE also visited, for the first time, the 16 students in its Global Engagement Fellows Program at the University of Science and Technology in Bannu, an ancient trading post located on the border of lawless North Waziristan in Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). Established in 2006, the Fellows Program uses a holistic approach to education, rooted in religious tolerance training, to provide an alternative option for young people amidst the sectarian violence, poverty, and illiteracy that permeate the region. Each of the 16 students are the first in their families to attend college. 7 are women and 3 are from FATA.

What an encouragement it was to spend time with these conservative Muslim youths in Bannu—many of whom are from Taliban- and al Qaeda-controlled areas—as they shared their thoughts and opinions about this program, its emerging curriculum on tolerance and respect, their career aspirations (mostly business!), and their views on global issues. The cohort’s faculty mentor and three of the students made the long drive from Bannu to attend the "Peace & Religion" conference in Peshawar.

Meanwhile, these students and the university are eager for us to fund another cohort of students for four years, and other universities in the province want us to replicate this model there.

Conclusion

Conservative Islam is on the rise in Central and South Asia, especially among young people. Conservative Christians and Jews have many practical principles in common with conservative Muslims: we worship a sovereign God who cares about His creation, and expects his followers to walk in justice and peace.

But we also need to be aware that conservatives of any belief—especially in the absence of properly trained theology teachers—have the potential to turn their humble faith into an arrogant religion. We know too well that there are those who allow their belief in the Absolute to validate the imposition of their own absolutes through violence.

Our sacred texts teach us to respect and love our minority neighbor, precisely because we are God’s common creation and therefore share a common humanity. We also recognize and daily remember that while our faith group is a majority in some countries, it is a clear minority in others. If we as a majority do not do the right thing with the minority in our midst, someone in the majority somewhere else might do the wrong thing to our own minority in their midst.

Without this fundamental value of religious freedom—of genuinely respecting the other among us—we end up with only stereotypes and a “clash of ignorances” that further enables violence against the minority.

But if we truly believe that God is our creator, then we cannot help but conclude—in spite of our real differences of belief—that there is only one civilization, a global civilization defined by our common humanity, created by a global God.

Such an understanding is the beginning of the end of terrorism.

Thank you for standing with us. Please take time to pray for the people and partners who make these efforts possible. They are living in difficult places amidst difficult times. 

Last updated 04 February 2010