“Yesterday we told all of our students that THIS [R20] is the jihad of today”
Students at Pondok Pesantren Pandanaran Islamic boarding school celebrate the conclusion of the G20 Religion Forum (R20)
Short Film: R20 in Java. The permanent secretariat of the G20 Religion Forum (R20) has released the second of two films documenting the inaugural R20 Summit in Bali and a subsequent planning conference held in Yogyakarta, the heartland of Javanese civilization. Created by a team of European filmmakers who have decades of experience producing advertisements for some of world’s major fashion houses and corporate brands, the 10-minute film enables viewers to directly experience the culture that gave birth to Nahdlatul Ulama and the R20.
“Shine Your Light, the great Light, so that we may grasp the beauty of Truth and follow it, and can grasp the consequences of evil and stay away from it.”
~ Prayer composed by KH. A Mustofa Bisri
Bayt ar-Rahmah is incorporated in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, which was established in the mid-18th century by German-speaking immigrants who traveled to the new world in search of religious freedom.
Bayt ar-Rahmah (Home of Divine Grace). On December 9, 2014, Kyai Haji A. Mustofa Bisri, Chairman of the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) Supreme Council and KH. Yahya Cholil Staquf — the NU’s Secretary for International and Political Affairs — joined with American businessmen C. Holland Taylor and F. Borden Hanes, Jr. to establish Home of Divine Grace for Revealing and Nurturing Islam as a Blessing for All Creation (Bayt ar-Rahmah li ad-Da‘wa al-Islamiyah Rahmatan li al-‘Alamin), a U.S.-based religious corporation that will serve as a hub for the expansion of NU operations worldwide. Nahdlatul Ulama is the world’s largest Muslim organization, with over 50 million members and 14,000 Islamic boarding schools, or madrassahs.
Bayt ar-Rahmah is part of a global effort conceived by Indonesia’s first democratically-elected head of state, H.E. Kyai Haji Abdurrahman Wahid (1940 – 2009), to help realize Indonesia’s strategic potential as an engine of civilizational progress for all humanity. In 2003, President Wahid established LibForAll Foundation with his close friend and associate, North Carolina native C. Holland Taylor, to help meet international peace and security needs in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks and the first Bali bombing. Under President Wahid’s and Mr. Taylor’s leadership, LibForAll quickly became “a model of what a competent public diplomacy effort in the Muslim world should look like” (Wall Street Journal), achieving a string of notable successes that would ultimately result in the foundation of Bayt ar-Rahmah.
Bayt ar-Rahmah will facilitate the global expansion of Nahdlatul Ulama operations, and leverage the practical and civilizational experience of the world’s largest Muslim organization to “eliminate the widespread practice of using religion in order to incite hatred and violence towards others.”
“The primary reason we must oppose hardline movements is to restore honor and respect to Islam, which the extremists have desecrated, while at the same time preserving Pancasila and the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia. Victory in the struggle against extremists will restore the majesty of Islamic teachings as rahmatan lil-‘alamin—a blessing for all creation—and this represents a vital key to building a peaceful world.”
~ H.E. Kyai Haji Abdurrahman Wahid, “The Enemy Within”
Editor’s Foreword to The Illusion of an Islamic State
Bayt ar-Rahmah’s inspiration and guiding spirit, H.E. Kyai Haji Abdurrahman Wahid
“Light upon light,
God guides to His Light
whom He will.”
~ al-Quran, 24:35
Historic Nahdlatul Ulama congress a battleground between opposing forces. From the perspective of Muslim extremists, the 33rd NU Congress held in Jombang, East Java from 1 – 5 August 2015 was a disaster. The opportunist/extremist alliance painstakingly assembled by Hasyim Muzadi over the past five years not only failed to secure control of the NU Central Board; its members were completely shut out of any positions of authority. Future selection of the NU’s leadership will be in the hands of senior ulama who are (hopefully) insulated from money politics. The new board has embraced the concept of Islam Nusantara (East Indies Islam), and will seek to promote its values both domestically and internationally, as a living, breathing alternative to radical Islam.
Also of great significance were decisions made by the NU’s Bahtsul Masa‘il Commission, which deliberates major issues from the perspective of Islamic law. In an article entitled “Gus Mus’s Charisma and the Secret Behind the Greatness of the NU’s 33rd National Congress,” a participant describes how the Bahtsul Masa‘il Commission overcame Wahhabi-tinged objections to reaffirm a crucial decision made during KH. Abdurrahman Wahid’s term as NU Chairman: that is, to reopen the doors of ijtihad (“independent reasoning”) and engage in istinbath (“digging into the source—i.e., the Qur’an and Sunnah—so that new interpretations of Islamic law may emerge”).
The importance of this decision, in light of current world developments — including ISIS and al-Qaeda’s use of Islamic law to justify their actions — should not be underestimated. With over 14,000 pesantren (madrasahs) and an enormous network of ulama trained in the classical traditions of Sunni Islam, both formal and spiritual, the NU represents the largest single body of religious scholars in the Muslim world positioned to address this vital issue.
Civilizational Nobility: Nahdlatul Ulama General Secretary issues call to embrace nobility of character as the unifying attribute of an emerging global civilization. On February 11, 2018, KH. Yahya Cholil Staquf received a standing ovation after delivering a keynote address to representatives of think tanks from over 20 nations throughout the Asia Pacific region, who gathered in Jakarta for the 2018 Asia Liberty Forum, co-hosted by the Center for Indonesian Policy Studies and the Atlas Network. The Nahdlatul Ulama General Secretary outlined his vision for establishing a common platform — inspired by the universal, humanitarian principles embedded within the preamble to Indonesia’s 1945 Constitution — to manage ideological, religious, ethnic, cultural and political differences that jeopardize international peace and security, and threaten to rip asunder the very fabric of modern civilization.
TIME magazine has named Ibu Sinta Nuriyah Wahid—widow of Indonesia’s fourth President, H.E. Kyai Haji Abdurrahman Wahid—as one of “The 100 Most Influential People of 2018.”
In a profile of Ibu Sinta written by the Egyptian/American journalist Mona Eltahawy, TIME states that “The self-identified Muslim feminist has degrees in both Shari‘a law and women’s studies; she understands how politicized religion is particularly cruel to women and minorities. She has counseled transgender women, supported a Christian former governor of Jakarta who was convicted of blasphemy and more—choosing to support the vulnerable rather than settle into a risk-free life as a former President’s widow.”
Impact Analysis: NU General Secretary’s historic visit to Jerusalem helped shape public discourse amid the heat of Indonesia’s 2018 regional election campaign. A firestorm of controversy over how the world’s largest Muslim-majority nation and democracy should respond to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict unexpectedly dominated Indonesia’s print, broadcast and social media during the decisive final weeks of that nation’s 2018 regional election campaign, which many experts view as a bellwether for national legislative and presidential elections to follow in 2019.
A long-planned visit to Jerusalem by Kyai Haji Yahya Cholil Staquf — General Secretary of the world’s largest Muslim organization, the Nahdlatul Ulama — triggered the controversy, when the Palestinian ambassador to Jakarta sought (and failed) to block the visit, and leading politicians from the Muslim Brotherhood political party PKS and Gerindra — both staunchly opposed to incumbent President Joko Widodo (“Jokowi”) — seized upon the visit as a de facto campaign issue.
The morning after regional elections, headlines across Indonesia proclaimed: “All the PKS/Gerindra ‘Roosters’ Quacked Like Ducks in Java’s Gubernatorial Elections.” As another internet meme explained, “PKS elites and cadres brought about their own electoral disaster by attacking leaders of the NU Central Board, including the General Secretary of the NU Supreme Council. If anyone asks you why the NU just beat the living daylights out of PKS, answer them: ‘Don’t insult NU kyais and ulama. Obey them.”
The signed Nusantara Statement
Multi-Faith Vanguard Unites to Adopt Nusantara Statement and Join Global Humanitarian Islam Movement. A coalition of international religious and political figures joined leaders of the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU)—the world’s largest Muslim organization—in signing the Nusantara Statement at the Second Global Unity Forum (GUF II), held on October 25 – 26, 2018 in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. Signatories “call[ed] upon people of goodwill of every faith and nation to join in building a global consensus to prevent the political weaponization of Islam, whether by Muslims or non-Muslims, and to curtail the spread of communal hatred by fostering the emergence of a truly just and harmonious world order, founded upon respect for the equal rights and dignity of every human being.”
The Second Global Unity Forum constitutes another step within a long-term, systematic and institutional effort by key elements of the NU—including its 5-million-member young adults organization, GP Ansor, and its international affiliate, Bayt ar-Rahmah—to address obsolete and problematic tenets within Islamic orthodoxy that threaten international peace and security. The Nusantara Statement also builds upon the legacy of late Indonesian President and NU Chairman H.E. KH. Abdurrahman Wahid. President Wahid’s eldest daughter, Alissa, addressed the Forum and a heavily-attended press conference, stating: “We must unite the world around noble values and prevent religion from being weaponized for political purposes, in ways that denigrate rather than uplift humanity.”
NU spiritual leader KH. A. Mustofa Bisri (center) greets Reverend Johnnie Moore, described by the Washington Post as “the White House’s evangelical gatekeeper”
H. Yaqut Cholil Qoumas, Chairman of the GP Ansor Central Board
H. Yaqut Qoumas’ Pekalongan Address
Speech by H. Yaqut Cholil Qoumas, General Chairman of the Gerakan Pemuda Ansor Central Board, delivered before the President and First Lady of the Republic of Indonesia, assembled Kyais (Nahdlatul Ulama Religious Scholars) and 100,000 Banser (i.e., Ansor Militia) cadres mustered in Pekalongan, Central Java, to commemorate the birth of the Prophet Muhammad (saw.) and National Heroes’ Day
Thursday 22 November 2018
Mr. President, beloved kyais and respected members of our audience:
Exactly four weeks ago — on October 26, 2018 — the epic journey of Gerakan Pemuda Ansor’s Kirab Satu Negeri (“One Nation Parade”) concluded in Yogyakarta. This enormous undertaking lasted a total of 41 days. On September 16, we launched the Kirab at five strategic points at the outermost fringes of the Indonesian Archipelago: Merauke (on the island of Papua); Miangas (Sulawesi); Rote Island (East Nusa Tenggara); Nunukan (Borneo); and Sabang (Sumatra).
At each of these five locations, Ansor raised aloft seventeen (17) Red and White flags [to commemorate the founding of Indonesia as a Pancasila nation state on August 17, 1945]. In all, 85 Red and White banners were raised upon wooden flagstaffs and paraded across each of our nation’s 34 provinces, including 188 [out of 514] regencies and cities, where millions of our Indonesian brothers and sisters — from countless ethnic, cultural, religious and linguistic backgrounds — joined us in celebrating the rich diversity of our nation.
President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) and First Lady Iriana Joko Widodo attended an event commemorating the birth of the Prophet Muhammad (saw.) and National Heroes’ Day at the Great Square of Kajen, Pekalongan Regency, Central Java, on the evening of Thursday the 22nd of November.
The President used the opportunity to express his pleasure to be in the midst of the Gerakan Pemuda Ansor family, because GP Ansor is always in the forefront safeguarding Pancasila; preserving the spirit of Bhinneka Tunggal Ika (“Unity Amid Diversity”); guarding the Republic of Indonesia and its 1945 Constitution; and protecting Indonesia from separatism and terrorist acts.
From right to left: First Lady Iriana Widodo; President Joko Widodo; GP Ansor Chairman H. Yaqut Qoumas; Chairman of the Nahdlatul Ulama Association of Sufi Orders Habib Luthfi bin Yahya; and Cabinet Secretary Pramono Anun
Ansor Chairman H. Yaqut Qoumas presents a copy of the Nusantara Statement to President Jokowi
President Joko Widodo and Gerakan Pemuda Ansor move to block the political weaponization of Islam. One month after Gerakan Pemuda Ansor and its international affiliate, Bayt ar-Rahmah, hosted the Second Global Unity Forum in Yogyakarta, Ansor Chairman H. Yaqut Qoumas announced the adoption of the Nusantara Statement at a mass rally of over 100,000 Ansor members, and presented a commemorative steel plaque engraved with the Statement to Indonesian President Joko Widodo (Jokowi).
100,00 members of Ansor and its militia “Banser” filled the Great Square of Kajen in Pekalongan, Central Java
The Statement conveys the essence of the historic Nusantara Manifesto, through which Gerakan Pemuda Ansor and Bayt ar-Rahmah have officially launched a process of systematically recontextualizing (i.e., reforming) obsolete and problematic tenets within Islamic orthodoxy.
The text of the Nusantara Statement engraved upon a steel plate — accompanied by Indonesia’s Red and White flag and prayer beads blessed by the spiritual leaders of PP (Madrassah) Krapyak in Yogyakarta — as presented to President Jokowi
Panel, from left to right: Aleš Hojs (President, VSO and Former Defense Minister); Boštjan Perne (Former Director of the Intelligence and Security Service); Yahya Cholil Staquf (General Secretary, Nahdlatul Ulama); Security Expert (The Asimetric Group); Janez Janša (Former Prime Minister and Chairman, SDS), Marjan Podobnik (Chairman, SLS)
Muslim Emissary warns Europe from its Balkan Faultline: “Act now to address Islamist extremism, terror, and migration, or face mass upheaval.” On December 17, 2018, Kyai Haji Yahya Cholil Staquf — General Secretary of Nahdlatul Ulama, the world’s largest Muslim organization and Emissary of Indonesia’s largest Islamic political party (PKB) — addressed the Slovenian nation at the invitation of its former Prime Minister, Janez Janša. The address, delivered at a heavily-attended public forum in the capital Ljubljana, on the topic of “Migration, Terrorism [and] Freedom of Speech,” came three years after a mass influx of largely Muslim migrants flooded through Slovenian territory into Central and Western Europe, triggering continent-wide social and political upheaval; a wave of Islamist terrorism; and the resurgence of populism as a potent political force for the first time since the Second World War.
Mr. Staquf’s Ljubljana address is part of a wider effort to build the societal consensus necessary to block the political weaponization of Islam in Europe and worldwide. In 2017 the Rotating Presidency of the EU Council introduced policy recommendations by Mr. Staquf via the EU Council Terrorism Working Party to help reconcile the severe policy differences — triggered by mass migration — that have strained relations between Western European nations led by Germany and the V4 (the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia). Interventions by the NU General Secretary helped shape public discourse amid the heat of Germany’s 2017 national election campaign and helped strip Saudi control of a Brussels terror mosque linked to Islamic State attacks in the Belgian capital as well as Paris.
Muhaimin Iskandar and César Rosselló at a press conference in Jakarta, displaying a document that welcomes PKB to full membership in CDI. They are flanked by Nahdlatul Ulama General Secretary and Presidential Advisor KH. Yahya Cholil Staquf (wearing a white shirt) and members of PKB’s Central Board.
Nahdlatul Ulama-based PKB joins Centrist Democrat International: Indonesia’s largest Islamic political party to project “soft power” globally. On March 22, 2019, a delegation representing the world’s largest political network—Centrist Democrat International (CDI), with over 100 affiliated parties in more than 70 nations—visited Jakarta, where they met with the Central Board of Indonesia’s largest Islamic political party. H. Muhaimin Iskandar, Chairman of the National Awakening Party (PKB) and Deputy Speaker of the People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR), greeted the delegation, headed by César Rosselló, CDI’s General Coordinator for Asia Pacific and Latin America. CDI—originally, an exclusive coalition of Christian Democrat parties—approved PKB’s accession unanimously and in record time at a meeting of its Executive Committee in Cape Verde on November 27, 2018.
The CDI Executive Committee unanimously approved accession of NU-backed Partai Kebangkitan Bangsa (PKB) in Cape Verde, on November 27, 2018. PKB’s accession provides it with direct access to the largest political network in Europe and the world: EPP (European Peoples’ Party) and Centrist Democrat International.
Indonesia’s print and broadcast media heavily covered the event, providing widespread favorable publicity for PKB in the midst of a national election campaign. The nation’s presidential and legislative elections will be held on April 19, 2019. PKB is allied with President Joko Widodo (“Jokowi”) of Indonesia and the party controls four cabinet posts in the current Jokowi administration. The nation’s leading newspaper, Kompas, reported that PKB—the first Indonesian political party to join an international network—was swiftly granted full membership status by CDI “due to its party ideology, which is based on democracy, moderation and anti-radicalism.”
The Shimbun AKAHATA
Japanese Communist Party showcases Islamic mass movement. On March 22, 2019, Red Flag (Shimbun Akahata)—the official newspaper of the Japanese Communist Party (JCP), with a distribution of 1.2 million copies—published an extensive interview with Kyai Haji Yahya Cholil Staquf, General Secretary of the world’s largest Muslim organization, Nahdlatul Ulama (NU). Entitled “Islam Needs Tenets that Reflect Contemporary Reality,” the article examines the role of the NU in defending Indonesia’s pluralistic, tolerant and multi-religious nation state from Islamist extremists motivated by obsolete and problematic elements of Islamic orthodoxy. The last in a 5-part series on Indonesia’s April 2019 presidential and legislative elections, the interview with Mr. Staquf underscores rising concern among traditional leftist political movements about the weaponization of ethnic, religious and political identities worldwide.
President Jokowi reaching out to voters in the world’s largest Muslim-majority democracy
Calls for U.S. to engage with Nahdlatul Ulama in the wake of Indonesia’s presidential election. United States diplomats, government departments and foreign policy practitioners are being encouraged to engage with Nahdlatul Ulama (NU)—the world’s largest Muslim organization, with over 90 million followers—after NU-oriented voters from the heavily-populated island of Java, which constitutes the geographic, political and economic center of Indonesia, proved “decisive” in re-electing moderate Muslim leader Joko Widodo (Jokowi) to his second and final term in office. Writing in Christian foreign policy journal Providence, A.J. Nolte—assistant professor of politics at Regent University’s Robertson School of Government—noted how “Jokowi’s winning coalition was based almost entirely on support from areas of East and Central Java dominated by the Islamic organization Nahdlatul Ulama.”
President Jokowi and Vice President-elect Kyai Ma’ruf Amin (former Chairman of the NU Supreme Council) with members of their winning coalition, including, to the left of President Jokowi, former President Megawati Sukarnoputri and H. Muhaimin Iskandar, Chairman of the NU-based political party PKB (Photo credit: Reuters/Angie Teo)
“NU. . . represents one of the few genuinely influential, well-organized, and politically powerful voices of moderate Islam.”
~ Professor A.J. Nolte, Policy Expert and Religious Freedom Advocate
African American Muslims welcome Nahdlatul Ulama and Humanitarian Islam. On the evening of Thursday, July 18, 2019, Kyai Haji Yahya Cholil Staquf — General Secretary of Indonesia’s Nahdlatul Ulama, the world’s largest Muslim organization — delivered a sermon that was live-streamed to members of the African American Muslim community gathered in mosques, Islamic centers and homes throughout North America and abroad. Mr. Staquf spoke from the hallowed precincts of Masjid Muhammad, The Nation’s Mosque, home to the oldest Muslim community in Washington, DC. Masjid Muhammad was the first mosque built from the ground up in America’s capital city by its citizens, and also the first in the U.S. built by descendants of enslaved African Americans.
The Nation’s Mosque belongs to the community of Imam Warith Deen Mohammed, whose father Elijah Muhammad led the controversial black separatist movement, Nation of Islam, from 1934 until his death in 1975. W. Deen Mohammed was himself a progressive African American Muslim leader, theologian, philosopher, Muslim revivalist and Islamic thinker, who disbanded the original Nation of Islam in 1976 and transformed it into an orthodox mainstream Islamic movement, which continues his legacy of compassion and forgiveness to this day.
Leaders of the W. Deen Mohammed community visited Indonesia in October of 2018 to participate in the Second Global Unity Forum, where a multi-faith vanguard of international religious and political figures joined Nahdlatul Ulama leaders in signing the Nusantara Statement, and affirming their support for the global Humanitarian Islam movement. These visitors included Imam Talib Shareef and Imam Albert Sabir of The Nation’s Mosque, and Imam Abdul Rahman Shareef, leader of the Tauheed Islamic Center in Wilmington, North Carolina.
Participants at the Second Global Unity Forum, including (from left): Ibu Alissa Wahid (daughter of former Indonesian president Abdurrahman Wahid); Dr. Sri Adiningsih (Chairwoman, Indonesia’s Presidential Advisory Council); Dr. Khwaja Iftikhar Ahmed and Maulana Umer Ahmed Ilyasi of the All-India Organization of Mosque Imams; Dr. Hamdi Murad (Jordan); Imam Talib Shareef (U.S.); Prof. Mohammed Dajani (Palestine); Imam Albert Sabir and Imam Abdul Rahman Shareef (U.S.)
The NU General Secretary delivered his address following the salat al-maghreb, or sunset prayer. The full text of KH. Yahya Cholil Staquf’s sermon, as revised and edited for publication, may be read by here.
Deputy General Secretary of Indonesia’s National Awakening Party (PKB), H. Anggia Ermarini, submitting PKB’s Resolution on ethics and values that should guide the exercise of power to the Executive Committee of Centrist Democrat International in Rome
Christian Democrats and Humanitarian Muslims unite to “shape the geopolitical landscape of the 21st Century.” At a ceremony rich with symbolism, a senior representative of Indonesia’s largest Islamic political party, PKB, hailed the spiritual, philosophical and political achievements of Christian humanism, and pledged to work with exponents of this tradition to defend the precious legacy of a rules-based international order.
In response, the Executive Committee of Centrist Democrat International (CDI) unanimously adopted a resolution stating that “Humanitarian Islam and the diverse strands of humanist philosophy that historically emerged in the West are kindred traditions, whose spiritual and philosophical values are consonant with—and, in the case of Western humanism, helped to shape and secure the adoption of—the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR).”
From right to left: CDI/EPP Secretary General Antonio López-Istúriz White; NU General Secretary, KH. Yahya Cholil Staquf; CDI Regional (Asia) Director, César Rosselló; and CDI Chef de Cabinet, Luis Fernando Blanco, share a light moment while discussing concrete avenues for cooperation between CDI, PKB and Nahdlatul Ulama
Two weeks before the Executive Committee meeting in Rome, PKB’s Emissary to CDI—NU General Secretary KH. Yahya Cholil Staquf—visited Brussels, where he discussed a wide range of issues with Antonio López-Istúriz White, General Secretary of CDI and of its European affiliate, EPP (the European People’s Party), which has enormous influence in the European Union. Mr. Staquf was accompanied by C. Holland Taylor, Deputy Chairman & COO of Bayt ar-Rahmah and Gerakan Pemuda Ansor’s Emissary to the Americas and Europe.
Rising tide of international recognition for the Humanitarian Islam Movement. On November 11, 2019, Dr. Giora Eliraz — a prominent author and scholar who specializes in Middle Eastern and Indonesian Islam — added his voice to a rapidly growing array of policy experts, journalists, government figures and other opinion leaders highlighting the significance of the global Humanitarian Islam movement and its campaign to recontextualize (i.e., reform) obsolete and problematic tenets of Islamic orthodoxy that enjoin religious hatred, supremacy, and violence.
Dr. Eliraz’s analysis, detailed in an article titled “A distinctive Islamic voice against extremism”, constitutes the latest in a series of high-profile commentaries from across the world’s political and religious divides that have begun to acknowledge the potentially historic significance of the Humanitarian Islam movement. These diverse voices include key figures from within the Roman Catholic, Evangelical Protestant, and Jewish communities worldwide; prominent African American Muslims; Nobel Laurate and East Timor independence leader H.E. José Ramos-Horta; Vice President of the United States, Michael R. Pence; Indonesian President Joko Widodo; leaders of the European Parliament’s two largest political groupings (EPP and S&D); and veteran foreign correspondent, Middle East expert and Senior Fellow at Singapore’s S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Dr. James M. Dorsey.
Top EU figures welcome leaders of the Humanitarian Islam Movement to political summit in Zagreb. On 20 and 21 November, 2019, leaders of the global Humanitarian Islam movement joined nearly 2,500 members of Europe’s largest and most successful political group—the European People’s Party (EPP)—who gathered in the Western Balkans nation of Croatia to elect new leaders for the 2019 to 2022 period, and to discuss EPP priorities for the new Parliamentary term in Brussels.
Senior Indonesian political and religious figures attended the European People’s Party Congress as guests of EPP Secretary General Antonio López-Istúriz White. Their participation signifies an unexpected and potentially momentous geopolitical development, as European and Indonesian leaders have begun to articulate, and adopt, key elements of a shared humanitarian agenda rooted in universal values, as well as spiritual and philosophical principles derived from the Christian and Islamic faith traditions.
This “values-driven” alliance between Indonesian and European political parties—facilitated by leaders of the Humanitarian Islam movement and prominent statesmen from across the continent—has the potential to significantly expand political, economic, cultural, religious and security cooperation between the world’s largest Muslim-majority democracy, the EU and its Member States. In addition, members of this alliance explicitly seek to “foster the emergence of a global consensus regarding key ethics and values that should guide the exercise of power, so that the geopolitical landscape of the 21st century may be characterized by a truly just and harmonious world order founded upon respect for the equal rights and dignity of every human being.” (CDI Resolution on ethics and values that should guide the exercise of power, dated October 11, 2019).
Ursula von der Leyen greets NU General Secretary and PKB Emissary to CDI/EPP, KH. Yahya Cholil Staquf
H. Muhaimin Iskandar (second from left) with Indonesian Vice President KH. Ma‘ruf Amin; Yogyakarta Governor Sri Sultan Hamengkubuono X; CDI President Andrés Pastrana Arango and Centrist Democrat International/European People’s Party Secretary General Antonio López-Istúriz White, strolling to the venue where Mr. Iskandar delivered his keynote speech, Indonesia’s Contribution to the Future of Civilization
Note: Founded in 1998 by the spiritual leadership of Nahdlatul Ulama, PKB is the largest Islamic political party in Indonesia and a coalition partner within the government of President Joko Widodo.
“Indonesia’s contribution to the future of civilization.” Ladies and gentlemen, distinguished guests, brothers and sisters, many of whom have travelled thousands of miles to be here today: may the peace, mercy and blessings of God be with you.
When preparing for the establishment of Indonesia as an independent nation state, our founding fathers did not concern themselves merely with the fate of Indonesia, while ignoring the rest of the world. The profound religious, philosophical, ethical and political principles upon which they established our nation were not designed to promote the interests of Indonesia alone. Our founders contemplated the future of the entire world — proffering a set of noble aspirations that others could embrace, while striving to create a more dignified and auspicious future for all human beings, and for civilization as a whole.
Indonesia is emerging as a major force within the geopolitical arena for the first time since the 1950s, as the Humanitarian Islam movement forges religious, socio-cultural and political alliances globally (photo of Indonesia’s State Palace in Jakarta, courtesy of the government of Hungary)
Western Humanism, Christian Democracy and Humanitarian Islam: An Alliance for the 21st Century. From 22 – 25 January 2020, political leaders from across the world’s cultural, geographic and religious divides gathered to address the profound ethical and strategic implications of a long-term shift in the global economic and geopolitical center of gravity away from the North Atlantic and towards Eurasia. Hosted by Indonesia’s largest Islamic political party (PKB), the world’s most extensive political network—Centrist Democrat International, or CDI—held its Executive Committee meeting in Asia for the first time in 15 years.
Members of the CDI Executive Committee unanimously adopted a two-page document submitted by PKB, titled Resolution on promoting a rules-based international order founded upon universal ethics and humanitarian values (below).
Following the Executive Committee meeting, PKB and CDI hosted a 2-day “CDI Eurasia Forum” — attended by senior Indonesian government officials, religious leaders and public intellectuals — to socialize the humanitarian vision and geopolitical strategy that lie at the heart of three distinct PKB resolutions unanimously adopted by CDI’s Executive Committee on April 10, 2019 in Brussels; October 11, 2019 in Rome; and January 23, 2020 in Yogyakarta.
PKB Chairman H. Muhaimin Iskandar accompanies CDI/EPP Secretary General Antonio López-Istúriz White and CDI President Andrés Pastrana Arango as they enter the assembly hall of Pondok Pesantren Sunan Pandanaran, amid students waving Indonesian, PKB and IDC/CDI flags
Short film documents political breakthrough, establishing “a concrete basis for cooperation between Islamic countries and Western, Christian democratic nations.” The Vienna-based World Security Forum has released a short film (09’38”) that documents the transformative impact of “Humanitarian Islam” upon European perceptions of the Islamic faith, and its potential to reshape political and socio-cultural relations between the Muslim world and the West.
The film was shot on location in and around Yogyakarta, Indonesia—the heartland of traditional Javanese culture—during a gathering of the world’s largest political network, Centrist Democrat International (CDI).
World Evangelical Alliance and Humanitarian Islam leaders sit beneath a painting that depicts Indonesia’s founding father, Sukarno, cradling a barefoot independence martyr slain by Dutch colonial forces in late-1940s Java. A crucifix dangles from the young man’s neck. Sri Ayati’s Legacy hangs in the Jakarta headquarters of Nahdlatul Ulama’s young adults organization, GP Ansor, and has become a potent symbol of the Humanitarian Islam movement.
Global Evangelical and Muslim organizations launch major joint religious freedom project. Leading figures in the world’s largest Muslim organization and the world’s largest Evangelical Christian organization have announced that they are undertaking an ambitious joint effort to reshape how the world thinks about religion and to counter two threats to religious freedom and to society more broadly: religious extremism and secular extremism.
Indonesia’s top foreign affairs journal spotlights Humanitarian Islam: “A movement is underway to change the face of Islam, whose base is shifting from the Middle East to Asia.” The largest Muslim organization on earth is spearheading a mass, grassroots, multi-faith campaign to revitalize the post-WWII rules-based international order and forge a positive role for Islam upon the world stage, where a harsh, repressive and all-too-often violent understanding of the faith has been promulgated by Middle Eastern autocrats for decades.
Acknowledging this momentous shift, Strategic Review: The Indonesian Journal of Leadership, Policy and World Affairs published on July 2nd two lead stories about the Humanitarian Islam movement. The movement seeks to “recontextualize (i.e., reform) obsolete and problematic tenets of Islamic orthodoxy” and “foster shared civilizational values to revitalize a rules-based international order.”
Humanitarian Islam: Renewing the Spirit of the Non-Aligned Movement for the 21st-Century
The future of civilization: Indonesia’s contribution
by H. Muhaimin Iskandar
“When preparing for the establishment of Indonesia as an independent nation state, our founding fathers did not concern themselves merely with the fate of Indonesia, while ignoring the rest of the world. The profound religious, philosophical, ethical and political principles upon which they established our nation were not designed to promote the interests of Indonesia alone. Our founding fathers contemplated the future of the entire world—proffering a set of noble aspirations that others could embrace, while striving to create a more dignified and auspicious future for all human beings, and for civilization as a whole.” Read the full article (PDF).
Humanitarian Islam: Fostering shared civilizational values to revitalize a rules-based international order
by Timothy Shah and Thomas Dinham
“The post-World War II rules-based international order is under severe stress, challenged by the emergence of “authoritarian, civilizationist states that do not accept [this] order, whether in terms of human rights, rule of law, democracy or respect for international borders and the sovereignty of other nations.” What also distinguishes “civilizationist” states—including Communist China and Putin’s Russia—is the weaponization of ethnic, religious and/or cultural identities, including their history and symbols, in order to consolidate and wield power vis-à-vis both internal and external enemies.” Read the full article (PDF).
Indonesia Religious Freedom Landscape Report 2020. On August 14, 2020, the U.S.-based Religious Freedom Institute (RFI) published a groundbreaking study titled Indonesia Religious Freedom Landscape Report 2020, which employs a revolutionary analytical framework based on the principle of “positive deviance.”
One of the report’s key findings is that “Indonesia provides the most striking example of ‘positive deviance’ in an otherwise discouraging neighborhood. . . Significantly, Indonesia is the only Muslim-majority country in the modern world that has witnessed a dramatic increase in the size and influence of its Christian population since it became an independent nation state. This is in sharp and dramatic contrast to the near collapse of Christian minority populations in most of the Muslim-majority countries of the Middle East, North Africa, and even South Asia, Pakistan foremost among them. . . Though many factors are at work, one crucial reason that Indonesia is a relative bright spot within the religious freedom landscape of South and Southeast Asia and the Muslim world is a single civil society organization: the Nahdlatul Ulama [NU].” Read the full report.
“Bayt ar-Rahmah’s devout Muslim leaders represent the most theologically potent and operationally effective actors promoting religious liberty in the Islamic world today.”
~ Religious Freedom Institute
NU General Secretary KH. Yahya Cholil Staquf addressed UN delegates at two events broadcast live by the U.S. Department of State during High Level Week of the 75th UN General Assembly
Nahdlatul Ulama General Secretary hailed at the 75th United Nations General Assembly as a key partner in an emerging values-driven alliance to “foster respect for the equal rights and dignity of every human being.” There are growing indications that the U.S. Department of State has begun to mobilize its extensive diplomatic capacity to foster awareness of Nahdlatul Ulama General Secretary KH. Yahya Cholil Staquf and the Humanitarian Islam movement he co-founded. The Indonesian religious leader is increasingly viewed in Western political circles as a potential lynchpin in an effort to forge a global, values-driven alliance dedicated to strengthening the rules-based international order and Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) at a time of increased geopolitical uncertainty and rising human rights abuse.
CDI President Andrés Pastrana Arango
World’s largest political network promotes global solidarity in response to COVID-19 crisis. Gathering virtually for the first time in its 59-year history, Centrist Democrat International’s (CDI) Executive Committee has unanimously adopted a resolution to address “the widespread social isolation, economic hardship, despair, fear and anger triggered by the COVID-19 crisis in societies across the globe.”
The full text of the resolution may be viewed by clicking the image below:
Secretary Pompeo with members of Gerakan Pemuda Ansor’s Central Board, including General Chairman Yaqut Cholil Qoumas and General Secretary Abdul Rochman (to the Secretary’s left and right) and C. Holland Taylor, Ansor’s Emissary to the UN, Americas and Europe (far right)
U.S. Secretary of State Praises Nahdlatul Ulama, Gerakan Pemuda Ansor, Humanitarian Islam and the Movement for Shared Civilizational Values. U.S. Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo delivered a major speech in the world’s largest Muslim-majority nation and democracy, at an event hosted by Nahdlatul Ulama’s 5-million-member young adults movement, Gerakan Pemuda Ansor, and Bayt ar-Rahmah, which coordinates the global expansion of NU and Ansor activities.
Titled “Nurturing the Shared Civilizational Aspirations of Islam Rahmatan li al-‘Alamin, the Republic of Indonesia and the United States of America,” the event took place at the Four Seasons Hotel in the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, and was part of a two-day forum attended by top leaders of Nahdlatul Ulama, Ansor, the Government of Indonesia, the U.S. Department of State and all six of Indonesia’s major religions.
Addressing NU spiritual leaders who established Bayt ar-Rahmah, Humanitarian Islam and the Movement for Shared Civilizational Values in order to restore universal love and compassion (rahmah) as the primary message of Islam, Secretary Pompeo said:
Your remarkable organizations, all of you sitting here today, have been powerful forces in the defense of unalienable rights. NU helped spur independence. You provided a voice and a conscience for the nation during more than three decades of authoritarian rule.
Your very own Gus Dur (Abdurrahman Wahid, 1940 – 2009) helped to lead Indonesia’s transition to democracy. His profoundly humane vision and teachings inspired the birth of the Humanitarian Islam movement. His legacy lives on today in the current generation of leaders who, in 2014, launched the Islam Nusantara campaign to repudiate ISIS’ hateful and violent brand of Islam. And it lives on in the Movement for Shared Civilizational Values as well.
Co-founder of the Humanitarian Islam Movement Appointed as Indonesia’s Minister of Religious Affairs. On December 22, 2020, Indonesian President Joko Widodo (“Jokowi”) appointed H. Yaqut Cholil Qoumas (“Gus Yaqut”) — Chairman of Nahdlatul Ulama’s 5-million-member young adults organization, Gerakan Pemuda Ansor, and co-founder of the global Humanitarian Islam movement — as Indonesia’s Minister of Religious Affairs. The appointment, which received viral coverage across Indonesian print, broadcast and social media, signals the Jokowi administration’s determination to block the political weaponization of Islam and neutralize its potentially destabilizing effects in the run-up to Indonesia’s 2024 national elections.
The appointment also signals a growing awareness among Indonesia’s political elites of Humanitarian Islam’s ability to project strategic influence worldwide, as demonstrated by the October 2020 visit of U.S. Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo to Jakarta, at the invitation of GP Ansor; the January 2020 meeting of the world’s largest political network, Centrist Democrat International (CDI), in Yogyakarta, Indonesia; and the Humanitarian Islam movement’s engagement with Pope Francis and the Vatican.
“Yaqut is an active leader of GP Ansor, and has an extensive network stretching from the very center of power all the way to Indonesia’s grass roots.”
~ Antara New, Indonesia’s national wire service
Last month, the head of the world’s largest independent Muslim organization sent Secretary of State Mike Pompeo a gracious letter thanking him for his recent visit to Indonesia — home to the world’s largest Muslim population — to discuss the report of the Commission on Unalienable Rights.
The visit and the letter vindicate Secretary Pompeo’s decision in the summer of 2019 to establish the commission to review the principles of freedom that inform America’s founding commitment to the rights inherent in all persons. By recounting the history of those universal principles and of the United States’ struggle to honor them at home and champion them abroad, the commission aimed to call Americans to what is best in our country’s traditions and to invite other peoples and nations to draw on their own heritages to renew a shared dedication to human rights. The secretary’s Jakarta visit and the letter from the general secretary of Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) furnish an inspiring example of the exciting opportunities for which the commission’s work has laid the foundations. Read the full article.
World’s largest political network commends Indonesia for appointing Humanitarian Islam co-founder as its Minister of Religious Affairs. The Executive Committee of the world’s largest political network, Centrist Democrat International (CDI), has unanimously adopted a formal statement praising the appointment of Humanitarian Islam co-founder H. Yaqut Cholil Qoumas (“Gus Yaqut”) as Indonesia’s Minister of Religious Affairs. The appointment has been widely hailed by analysts as evidence of a growing determination by the government of Indonesian President Joko Widodo to combat Islamist extremism, uphold the Constitution and defend Indonesia’s ancient traditions of religious pluralism and tolerance.
Since his appointment on December 22, 2020, Gus Yaqut has spearheaded a coordinated effort to reign in Islamist groups and defend women and religious minorities from persistent attempts by Islamists and their political allies to deprive them of equal rights. Key steps taken in this regard include dissolution of the extremist vigilante group “Front for Defenders of Islam” (FPI) on December 30, 2020, and subsequent issuance of a joint ministerial decree banning compulsory religious dress in state schools across the nation, an unconstitutional practice often used to coerce both Muslim and non-Muslim girls into wearing a so-called Islamic head covering.
The Spectator (est. 1828) published an article headlined “Indonesia’s mandatory hijab ban is a triumph for women.” The article’s Pakistan-based author analyzed the global significance of this development, concluding that Islamist regimes’ “hypocrisy has been laid bare by Indonesia’s mandatory hijab ban. It’s a step that will go a long way in creating a world where wearing Islamic symbols does not lead to anti-Muslim backlash [in the West] or Islamist subjugation.”
Dr. Thomas Schirrmacher, Secretary General of the World Evangelical Alliance, stands with Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) General Secretary Yahya Cholil Staquf beside the Indonesian and NU flags (Jakarta, 2019)
World Evangelical Alliance Secretary General. Bishop Thomas Schirrmacher — co-founder of an initiative that unites evangelical Christians and the Humanitarian Islam movement in promoting religious freedom across the globe — has been appointed Secretary General & CEO of the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA). Founded in 1846, WEA is the largest international organization of evangelical churches, representing over 600 million Protestants and national evangelical alliances in 140 countries.
In April of 2020, Reverend Dr. Thomas K. Johnson, Bishop Schirrmacher and his wife, the noted scholar of Islam Dr. Christine Schirrmacher, co-founded the Humanitarian Islam/WEA Joint Working Group with spiritual leaders of Indonesia’s 90-million-member Nahdlatul Ulama — whose 16th century ancestors’ deft use of soft and hard power defeated Muslim extremists, and guaranteed freedom of religion for all Javanese, two centuries before the Virginia Statute of Religious Freedom and the Bill of Rights led to the separation of state and religion in the U.S.
Shifting Youth Attitudes Threaten State-controlled Interpretations of Islam. Nahdlatul Ulama spiritual leaders are at the vanguard of a grassroots, global trend — especially prevalent among Muslim youth — to reject the political weaponization of Islam by Middle East autocrats and Islamist movements. This dramatic shift in Muslim attitudes was recently detailed by Dr. James M. Dorsey, a veteran foreign correspondent and Senior Fellow at National University of Singapore’s Middle East Institute.
In an 18-page article titled “Battle for the Soul of Islam: Spotlight on the Gap Between Regimes and Populations,” Dr. Dorsey writes that “[s]hifting youth attitudes towards religion and religiosity threaten to undermine the rival efforts of Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Iran and, to a lesser degree, the United Arab Emirates, to cement their individual state-controlled interpretations of Islam as the Muslim world’s dominant religious narrative. Each of the rivals see their efforts as key to securing their autocratic or authoritarian rule as well as advancing their endeavors to carve out a place for themselves in a new world order in which power is being rebalanced. Read the full article.
From left to right, Rev. Thomas L. Bowen, Minister of Social Justice at Shiloh Baptist Church; Rev. Christopher Zacharias of John Wesley A.M.E. Zion Church; Imam Talib Shareef of The Nation’s Mosque; KH. Yahya Cholil Staquf, Nahdlatul Ulama General Secretary; Bishop Thomas Schirrmacher, WEA Secretary General & CEO; and Ibrahim Mumin of The Nation’s Mosque
Leaders of the world’s largest Islamic and Evangelical organizations establish alliance with African American Muslims to promote human dignity and equality worldwide. Major faith leaders from around the world gathered at Masjid Muhammad, known as “The Nation’s Mosque,” to announce the establishment of a global alliance that aims to promote human dignity and equality.
In a signed statement, Muslim, Christian and Jewish leaders said their alliance “seeks to prevent the political weaponization of identity; curtail the spread of communal hatred; promote solidarity and respect among the diverse people, cultures and nations of the world; and foster the emergence of a truly just and harmonious world order, founded upon respect for the equal rights and dignity of every human being.”
Participants in the unlikely religious summit included Kyai Haji Yahya Cholil Staquf, General Secretary of the Supreme Council of Indonesia’s Nahdlatul Ulama, the world’s largest Muslim organization with 90 million followers; Bishop Thomas Schirrmacher, Secretary General of the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA), which represents 600 million Protestants in 140 countries; Imam Talib Shareef of The Nation’s Mosque; Rabbi David Saperstein, former U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom; prominent U.S. evangelical figure, Reverend Johnnie Moore; and HRH Prince Gharios El Chemor of Ghassan Al-Nu’man VIII.
From left to right, Rabbi David Saperstein, former Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom under President Obama; KH. Yahya Cholil Staquf; Imam Talib Shareef; Bishop Thomas Schirrmacher; and Dr. Paul Marshall.
Samuel D. Brownback former U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom— discusses the book God Needs No Defense while introducing Mr. Staquf, whose keynote address may be viewed in the above video
Nahdlatul Ulama leader on “The Rise of Religious Nationalism”: “We need to address obsolete values within our own traditions, which prevent peaceful coexistence.” Nahdlatul Ulama General Secretary Yahya Cholil Staquf delivered a keynote address to nearly 1,000 civil society and government leaders at the 2021 International Religious Freedom Summit, during a five day visit to the United States. His topic was the complex and often controversial subject of religious nationalism.
Mr. Staquf’s DC agenda included both public and private discussions with Members of Congress, State Department officials, senior statesmen, representatives of foreign governments and religious leaders, as well as a book launch and signing of The Nation’s Mosque Statement. This Statement cemented an alliance with African American members of the Imam W. Deen Mohammed Community, and the 600-million-member World Evangelical Alliance (WEA), to promote shared civilizational values amidst widespread polarization in the United States and weakening of the post-WWII rules-based international order.
Mr. Staquf and WEA Secretary General Dr. Thomas Schirrmacher held a number meetings on Capitol Hill to discuss issues related to international peace and security, and religious freedom, with U.S. senators including Ben Sasse of Nebraska (above, center)
Below, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, former Secretary of State Michael Pompeo, and current Secretary of State Antony Blinken address the 2021 International Religious Freedom Summit in Washington
“Remembering Indonesia’s Declaration of Independence 76 years ago: Live broadcast on Tuesday, 17 August, 2021 at 09:00 a.m.”
Indonesians reaffirm shared moral and spiritual values in nationwide ceremony. During a ceremony broadcast throughout the Indonesian Archipelago, Minister of Religious Affairs H. Yaqut Cholil Qoumas read a prayer composed by Nahdlatul Ulama spiritual leader and Humanitarian Islam co-founder Kyai Haji A. Mustofa Bisri.
In the midst of the COVID pandemic, tens of millions of Indonesian school children, parents and other adults stood to attention in their homes as they watched an elaborately staged celebration of the nation’s independence broadcast from Istana Merdeka (Independence Palace) in downtown Jakarta. President Joko Widodo and his cabinet ministers, wearing traditional attire, solemnly presided over the ceremonial raising of Indonesia’s red-and-white flag. From 1945 – 1949, Indonesian Muslims, Christians, Hindus and Buddhists alike waged a bloody four-year struggle to prevent the re-imposition of Dutch colonialism following Imperial Japan’s surrender at the end of World War II.
“Grateful for the Blessings of Freedom”
H. Yaqut Cholil Qoumas, the Republic of Indonesia’s Minister of Religious Affairs, recites a prayer to commemorate the 76th anniversary of the nation’s independence
Muslim–Christian Relations: Becoming Good Neighbors. In July of 2021, U.S. evangelical leader John Morehead introduced his audience to the Humanitarian Islam movement in conjunction with the launch of a book published in honor of Bishop Thomas Schirrmacher, Secretary General of the World Evangelical Alliance, which represents 600 million Protestants in 140 countries.
Over the course of a one-hour discussion with Reverend Dr. Thomas K. Johnson and C. Holland Taylor — who co-edited the book God Needs No Defense: Reimagining Muslim–Christian Relations in the 21st Century — Reverend Morehead and his guests discussed the nature and ramifications of an unprecedented alliance that has emerged between the world’s largest Protestant and Muslim organizations.
“You have some of the seminal texts from the development of Nahdlatul Ulama, which they now present publicly as Humanitarian Islam, going back all the way to the 1920s and up through the beginning of the 21st century. You can read those sources and get, directly from them, what they have to say that is so different from ISIS or al-Qaeda or Boko Haram, or any of the other extremist groups.
“And that is what makes it possible for me as a Christian to say, okay, these are people who have a religious and ethical basis for being very good neighbors. And that’s extremely important in our time.”
~ Reverend Dr. Thomas K. Johnson
Indonesia’s Minister of Religious Affairs sets agenda for the G20 Interfaith Forum to be held in 2022. Indonesia’s Minister of Religious Affairs, H. Yaqut Cholil Qoumas, has delivered a landmark address setting the agenda of the world’s largest Muslim majority nation and democracy for its chairmanship of the G20 Interfaith Forum (IF20), to be held in 2022.
The video address — delivered to political and religious leaders gathered from around the globe at the historic Salone del Podestà in Bologna’s 13th-century Palazzo Re Enzo — outlined Indonesia’s strategy to mobilize the world’s great faith traditions to preserve and strengthen the post-WWII rules-based international order at a time of increasingly unimpeded violations of international law and rising human rights abuse.
Minister Qoumas’s speech was delivered at the closing ceremony of the IF20 — chaired by former President of the European Commission, Romano Prodi — and was preceded by addresses from the Chief Rabbi of Rome, Riccardo Di Segni; confidant of Egyptian President Abdul Fatah al-Sisi and Representative of the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, Mohamed Abdel-Salam; Cardinal Archbishop of Bologna, Matteo Maria Zuppi; and Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi, among others.
View Indonesia’s Minister of Religious Affairs’ address to the closing ceremony of the G20 Interfaith Forum in Bologna, Italy:
Read a transcript of Minister Qoumas’s address to the closing ceremony of the G20 Interfaith Forum
Read a transcript of Minister Qoumas’s address to the 3rd Ministerial Session of the G20 Interfaith Forum
Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Janša addresses a hybrid (online and in-person) CDI Executive Committee meeting in Brussels on October 28, 2021. His nation currently holds the Rotating Presidency of the EU Council.
Centrist Democrat International appoints PKB Chairman as Vice President. The world’s largest political network has resolved to support the agenda set by Indonesia’s Minister of Religious Affairs & Humanitarian Islam co-founder H. Yaqut Cholil Qoumas for his nation’s G20 Interfaith Forum — a move likely to bolster Indonesia’s Presidency of the G20 and increase its global impact.
In a strong demonstration of support for the global Humanitarian Islam movement, the Honorable H. Muhaimin Iskandar, Chairman of PKB — Indonesia’s largest Islamic political party, which Nahdlatul Ulama spiritual leaders founded in 1998 — was appointed CDI Vice President and joined CDI’s Executive Committee, the organization’s highest decision-making body. Centrist Democrat International (CDI) has over 100 member parties in more than 70 nations, including the largest political group within the European Union, the European People’s Party (EPP).
At its General Assembly held in Brussels on October 29, 2021, Centrist Democrat International unanimously adopted a Resolution on Indonesia’s vital contribution to a rules-based international order submitted by PKB. The resolution states “that Christian democracy and Humanitarian Islam are kindred traditions”; acknowledges “that the Humanitarian Islam movement embodies the collective wisdom of Indonesia’s multi-religious and multi-ethnic civilization and the noble values of Islam, including rahmah (universal love and compassion)”; lauds “the address delivered by Indonesia’s Minister of Religious Affairs, the Honorable Yaqut Cholil Qoumas, at the closing ceremony of the G20 Interfaith Forum in Bologna, Italy on September 14, 2021”; supports “the agenda described by Minister Qoumas in that address”; and “[c]alls upon governments and civil society institutions to join the Republic of Indonesia and the Humanitarian Islam movement in preserving and strengthening a rules-based international order founded upon shared civilizational values.”
Imam Talib Shareef of The Nation’s Mosque and the Honorable H. Muhaimin Iskandar in Washington, DC
Deepening ties between Indonesian and African American Muslims. On November 16, 2021 a delegation of senior Indonesian politicians affiliated with Nahdlatul Ulama visited the first mosque in the United States built by descendants of enslaved African Americans, and paid their respects to leaders of the Imam W. Deen Mohammed Community, which operates hundreds of mosques and Islamic centers nationwide.
The delegation was led by the Honorable H. Muhaimin Iskandar (“Gus Imin”), who is Chairman of Indonesia’s largest Islamic political party, PKB; Deputy Speaker of the People’s Representative Assembly in Indonesia (DPR); and Vice President of the world’s largest political network, Centrist Democrat International (CDI), whose headquarters are in Brussels at the heart of the European Union.
“The Nation’s Mosque is an example of the ‘indigenization of Islam’ in the world’s most powerful nation.”
~ H. Muhaimin Iskandar
KH. Yahya Cholil Staquf addresses leaders of NU provincial and regional chapters who gathered to support his candidacy as Chairman of the Nahdlatul Ulama Executive Board (December 21, 2021)
Humanitarian Islam Co-founder Elected General Chairman of Nahdlatul Ulama. On December 24, 2021 Kyai Haji Yahya Cholil Staquf was elected General Chairman of the world’s largest Muslim organization, Nahdlatul Ulama, with a mandate to promote Humanitarian Islam on the global stage — in order to foster the emergence of a truly just and harmonious world order, founded upon respect for the equal rights and dignity of every human being.
In a fiercely contested election whose complex maneuvering dominated Indonesian media coverage for weeks prior to NU’s 34th National Congress — held from December 22 – 24, 2021 in Lampung province on the island of Sumatra — Mr. Staquf received 337 votes to 210 votes cast in favor of the incumbent Dr. KH. Said Aqil Siradj, who served two terms as General Chairman of the NU Executive Board from 2010 – 2021.
Surrounded by enthusiastic supporters, Mr. Staquf enters the plenary arena shortly after the election results were announced
In a speech delivered shortly after his election (video below), Mr. Staquf outlined two primary agendas he will pursue as Chairman of the 90-million-member organization: “The first is to develop self-sufficiency and autonomy for all Indonesian citizens, and the second is to heighten Nahdlatul Ulama’s role in the struggle to foster world peace.”
Regarding efforts to promote world peace, Nahdlatul Ulama has already proven successful in conducting a number of initiatives that are increasingly acknowledged, and valued, by key elements of the global community.
What needs to be done now is to accelerate our international engagement and develop synergy with initiatives conducted by the Indonesian government. For if we examine the international landscape and current geopolitical dynamics, it is clear that no single nation is better positioned to contribute to world peace than the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia (NKRI).
“Humanitarian Islam”: New Nahdlatul Ulama Chairman and the Global Initiative to Promote Religious Moderation
Alexander Raymond Arifianto | 26 January 2022
Humanitarian Islam at work: teaching the children. Photo by Andri Helmansyah on Unsplash.
SYNOPSIS
Nahdlatul Ulama — Indonesia’s largest Islamic organisation — recently elected Yahya Cholil Staquf as its new chairman. A close analysis of his background and past accomplishments reveals that Yahya has a potential agenda to transform the organisation into a global voice on religious moderation through his promotion of “humanitarian Islam”. Read the full article.
Inauguration of Nahdlatul Ulama Central Board. On January 31, 2022, Indonesian political leaders gathered to witness the inauguration of the newly elected Nahdlatul Ulama Central Board, which will govern the world’s largest Muslim organization from 2022 – 2027 under the Chairmanship of Kyai Haji Yahya Cholil Staquf.
Held on the island of Borneo, at the city of Balikpapan’s Sport and Convention Center, the event was attended by Indonesian President Joko Widodo (“Jokowi”); Vice President KH. Ma’ruf Amin; former Vice President Jusuf Kalla; Puan Maharani, the granddaughter of Indonesia’s first president Sukarno and currently Speaker of Indonesia’s National Assembly; nine cabinet ministers; and Indonesia’s chief of police.
The event was broadcast nationally on TVNU and widely covered by Indonesia’s print and broadcast media.
“NU’s contribution to our religious and national life has transformed Indonesia into a nation united by the principle of ‘Oneness Amid Diversity.’ This achievement may serve as a model and an inspiration to other nations.”
~ President Joko Widodo of Indonesia
Borobudur
Indonesian Government restores Hindu and Buddhist worship at UNESCO World Heritage Sites. On February 11, 2022, senior Indonesian government officials and religious leaders met to sign a Memorandum of Understanding on the Use of Prambanan Temple and Borobudur Temple for the Religious Interests of Hindus and Buddhists in Indonesia and the World. As a result, two of Asia’s most renowned sacred sites, which in recent decades had been largely closed to ritual worship, are now available for the performance of Hindu and Buddhist religious rituals on a regular basis.
This development comes amid a dramatic rise in the destruction of religious and cultural sites, not only in the Middle East and Africa, where Muslim extremists seek to destroy the world’s diverse cultural and religious heritage, but also regions such as Europe and North America. In Canada alone, at least 56 churches were set aflame or vandalized in the summer of 2021, many of them burned completely to the ground, while over the past decade thousands of churches were desecrated, vandalized and/or set ablaze in Europe. In recent years, synagogues, churches, mosques, and other houses of worship have been the target of deadly attacks in many Western nations, including Canada, the United States, France, and New Zealand.
Prambanan
“Prambanan Temple will no longer be simply a tourist destination, but rather a center of active worship for Hindus from Indonesia and throughout the world.”
~ Indonesia’s Minister of Religious Affairs, the Honorable Yaqut Cholil Qoumas
Sri Ram Madhav addressing the Centrist Democrat International (CDI) Eurasia Forum in Yogyakarta, Indonesia on January 24, 2020. Others (left to right) are: C. Holland Taylor, co-founder, Humanitarian Islam movement; Dr. Teresita Cruz-del Rosario, National University of Singapore; Antonio López-Istúriz White, Secretary General, CDI and European People’s Party; and Dr. James M. Dorsey, geopolitical analyst.
Leading Hindu Nationalist Endorses Humanitarian Islam. An influential Indian politician, author, public intellectual and member of the National Executive of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the group that gave birth to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), has called on Indian Muslims to emulate Indonesia’s concept of Humanitarian Islam.
Writing in Open, an Indian current affairs weekly magazine, former BJP General Secretary Sri Ram Madhav Varanasi advocated that India and Indonesia “join hands as nations with the world’s largest and second largest Muslim populations, respectively, to steadfastly promote the concept of the ‘Humanitarian Islam of the East’.”
COVER STORY | OPEN ESSAY
Indian Muslims Need to Emulate the Indonesian Model
The humanitarianism of eastern Islam
Ram Madhav, 18 February 2022
WOKES ARE THE greatest enemy of classical liberalism. Their championing of the hijab cause is a great disservice to women of Islam who fought countless battles for centuries to unshackle themselves from the harsh Islamic patriarchal yoke. By deploying deceptive vocabulary like choice and freedom, and demonstrating false camaraderie with a few misled Muslim girls, wokes are actually pushing women back into the same orthodoxy that has been the bane of their lives. Read the full article (PDF).
NU and the Mission to Establish a Universal Humanism
The founding of Nahdlatul Ulama is inextricably linked to Nusantara scholars’ aspiration to establish a new civilization after the collapse of the Ottoman Caliphate. The basis of this new civilization is “universal humanism.”
by Mahdi Muhammad | February 23, 2022
Pictures of Nahdlatul Ulama figures line the entry hall at NU headquarters in Jakarta, Tuesday (6/8/2019). KOMPAS/RADITYA HELABUMI
As Nahdlatul Ulama approaches its centenary, according to the hijriyah (Islamic) calendar, there is widespread anticipation and hope that NU will make a greater contribution to global civilization. This hope was clearly expressed during a ceremony held on February 17, 2022 at the pesantren (Islamic boarding school) of Shaykh Muhammad Kholil al-Bangkalani (1820 – 1923) to commemorate NU’s 99th anniversary. Read the full article.
Capital of inscribed Ashoka pillar at Sarnath, India (250 BCE; photographed in 1904)
“The ‘Ashoka Approach’ and Indonesian Leadership in the Movement for Pluralist Re-Awakening in South and Southeast Asia.” Leaders of Indonesia’s Nahdlatul Ulama, the world’s largest Muslim organization, are working to consolidate South and Southeast Asia as an alternate pillar of support for a rules-based international order founded upon respect for the equal rights and dignity of every human being. Integral to this effort is a regional strategy called the “Ashoka Approach,” which seeks to reawaken the ancient spiritual, cultural, and socio-political heritage of the Indianized cultural sphere, or “Indosphere” — a civilizational zone that pioneered, long before the West, key concepts and practices of religious pluralism and tolerance.
Roughly co-extensive with South and Southeast Asia, the Indosphere is a vast geographic and cultural zone stretching from Pakistan to Indonesia, which was formatively and permanently shaped by the great spiritual traditions — particularly Hinduism and Buddhism — that originated in the Indian subcontinent.
Can Indonesia’s Humanitarian Islam inspire a Hindu nationalist equivalent? Amid rising hostility between the world’s great powers, Hindu and Muslim leaders have begun to explore strategies to “stem the tide of chaos” and preserve a rules-based international order, by strengthening “the humanitarian values of the East.”
These discussions are unfolding against the backdrop of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine; ongoing wars and the threat of nuclear proliferation in the Middle East; China’s Belt and Road Initiative; and the continuing spread of identity-based conflicts in Asia, Africa, Europe and North America. Significantly, Indonesia will host leaders of the world’s largest economies (the “G20”) in November of 2022, while India will hold the G20 presidency next year.
On May 9, Hindu social and political leader Ram Madhav Varanasi traveled to Jakarta to meet with NU Chairman Kyai Haji Yahya Cholil Staquf and C. Holland Taylor, co-founders of the Humanitarian Islam movement and the Center for Shared Civilizational Values.
From left to right: H. Amin Said Husni, Vice Chairman, Nahdlatul Ulama; KH. Ulil Abshar Abdallah, Chairman, LAKPESDAM (NU Institute for Study and Human Resource Development); KH. Yahya Cholil Staquf; Sri Ram Madhav Varanasi; and C. Holland Taylor
Muslim and Hindu Leaders Launch Spiritual Ecology Movement at Historic R20 Gathering in Bali. On the afternoon of 31 October 2022, religious leaders met to break new ground by launching a global “spiritual ecology movement” to foster balance within nature and society. The event was held at Puja Mandala, a religious complex consisting of five houses of worship built side-by-side, including a Hindu temple, a mosque, Protestant and Catholic churches, and a Buddhist vihara.
The gathering began with a ritual purification ceremony and offerings made by Balinese Hindu priests prior to the planting of twenty trees considered sacred within Hindu cosmology. This ceremony and tree planting are believed to enliven the spiritual unity that connects all of creation and thereby secure harmony and balance between the seen and unseen worlds.
G20 Religion Forum (R20) Opening Session. Over 400 religious leaders and scholars from around the world gathered for the first annual R20 Summit, which the Government of Indonesia welcomed as an official “main event” during its Presidency of the G20. Reflecting the profound spirituality characteristic of Nusantara (“East Indies,” or Indonesian) civilization, the R20 was carefully designed to infuse the world’s political and economic power structures with moral and spiritual (i.e., religious) values, rather than instrumentalize religion to serve a purely secular agenda.
“[R]eligious leaders of different faiths and nations must work together to strengthen religion’s contribution to solving the world’s problems, reduce rivalry, end conflict, and achieve a peaceful, united world.”
~ President Joko Widodo of Indonesia addressing R20 participants
Spiritual Ecology: Fostering Balance within Nature and Society. On the afternoon of 3 November 2022, Nahdlatul Ulama religious leaders announced the launch of the Spiritual Ecology movement during Plenary Session 6 of the R20 Summit. The opening speaker was Kyai Haji Jadul Maula, Chairman of the Institute of Indonesian Muslim Cultural Artists, or Lesbumi — an autonomous branch of the world’s largest Muslim organization.
Since the launch of the Spiritual Ecology movement, Nahdlatul Ulama, and the Center for Shared Civilizational Values have begun to network with like-minded religious leaders and organizations world-wide. Their objective is to re-enliven indigenous and ancient “wisdom traditions” essential to respecting and preserving the environment in a holistic manner that fosters balance within nature and society.
“A creation-inflected spirituality means that we celebrate the divine presence within all of God’s creatures, however we spell out the details of that presence. A sense of spirituality is precisely that which brings us closer to an appreciation of nature and a sense of awe before its wonders.”
~ Keynote Address by Rabbi Arthur Green
R20 Handover Ceremony: “See you in India!” Formal deliberations at the R20 Summit in Bali concluded with an official handover ceremony on the afternoon of 3 November 2022. KH. Yahya Cholil Staquf, Founder and Chairman of the R20, passed the R20 banner to prominent Hindu leaders, who will host the R20 Summit during India’s 2023 presidency of the G20.
“I think R20 has set in motion a tectonic force here in Bali. From Bali it will go to India, from there to Brazil, from there onwards to wherever G20 is held.”
~ Sri Ram Madhav Varanasi, Indian civil society activist and public intellectual
The G20 Religion Forum (R20) Final Communiqué. Following two days of intense and substantive discussion among over 400 religious leaders and scholars gathered from around the world and across its major faith traditions, the first annual G20 Religion Forum, or R20, issued a final communiqué.
The 3-page document, which outlines the raison d’être, aims, and future direction of the R20, may be read below:
At the G20, Islamic clerics are mainstreaming pluralism
by Muddassar Ahmed
A Muslim pilgrim prays on top of the rocky hill known as the Mountain of Mercy, on the Plain of Arafat, during the annual hajj pilgrimage, near the holy city of Mecca, Saudi Arabia, Friday, July 8, 2022. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)
A remarkable transformation has been taking place in the Muslim world, a years-long shift towards pluralism and tolerance belying common assumptions about Islam.
Maybe we missed this earlier: A lot has been going on, after all. But last week in Bali, at the G20’s ground-breaking Religion Forum, the R20, that transformation took center stage. Not only is it an epochal moment in modern Islam, but this moment also helped create the world’s most important interfaith conversation.
By expanding beyond the G7 to the G20 — the world’s 20 largest economies — the developed world has created more space for non-Western populations to enter the space of global governance and bring their perspectives and insights with them. That extends to India, with the world’s largest Hindu population and a massive Muslim minority, as well as three Muslim-majority countries: Turkey, Indonesia and Saudi Arabia.
Over the course of a week in Bali, I watched, spellbound. Read the full article (PDF).
India’s National Security Advisor Ajit Doval presents roses to his counterpart, Mahfud MD
India-Indonesia strategic partnership: high-level ulama delegation of “National Treasures” visits India in the wake of R20 Summit. The India Islamic Cultural Center hosted a day-long dialogue on the role of ulama, or Muslim scholars, in fostering interfaith peace and social harmony in India and Indonesia, as part of a comprehensive strategic partnership emerging between the world’s largest and third largest democracies.
India’s National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and his Indonesian counterpart, Mahfud MD, held two days of high-level discussions that included meetings with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and its Minister of External Affairs, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar. As Indonesia’s Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal, and Security Affairs, the Honorable Mahfud MD led a 25-member Indonesian delegation that included senior Muslim scholars and representatives of other faiths including Roman Catholicism and Hinduism.
NU Chairman KH. Yahya Cholil Staquf recognized as one of the 20 most influential Muslims in the world. The Muslim 500, the world’s premier index of Muslim power and influence, has acknowledged KH. Yahya Cholil Staquf as among the world’s 20 most influential Muslims in its newly released 2023 edition. This comes amid a rising tide of international recognition for the Nahdlatul Ulama Chairman and organizations that he has founded, including Bayt ar-Rahmah, the Humanitarian Islam movement, the Center for Shared Civilizational Values, and the G20 Religion Forum, or R20.
At number 19, Mr. Staquf is ranked just nine places below Mohammed bin Salman, the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia — an indication of Nahdlatul Ulama’s enormous influence. The Muslim 500 describes Nahdlatul Ulama as “the world’s largest Muslim organisation, [which] teaches that the primary message of Islam is universal love and compassion.”
R20: the G20 Religion Forum led by Indonesia – English version
by Jonathan Benthall
“This article argues that the concept underpinning the R20, and the extent of its support, are new and deserve attention from those who study the intersection of religion and geopolitics in our day. It would be truly a game changer, I will suggest, if the R20 were to stimulate the world’s most important religious authorities to reform their traditions from within and become forces for peace, carrying along with them the huge number of adherents that each of them could mobilize. A more modest aim, with higher chances of being successful, would be for the NU to show that Indonesian Islam, more flexible and humanistic than the interpretations emanating from Saudi Arabia and Egypt, has its own authenticity and popular backing, and hence need not defer to the Middle East. . . .
“[I]t seems achievable that the hold over Sunni Islamic orthodoxy currently exercised in Mecca and Medina and in Cairo, linked to autocratic governments, will be challenged by NU’s ideological assertiveness and popular support. As a follow-up to the R20 meeting in Bali, Islamic scholars will gather in February 2023 in Surabaya, Indonesia, to discuss “Islamic jurisprudence for a global civilization”. James Dorsey writes that this initiative is designed to undercut the interpretations of Islamic law that justify human rights abuses and enjoin absolute obedience to the ruler. These interpretations, still prevailing in Mecca, Medina and Cairo, are not challenged by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), which with its 57 member states claims to be the collective voice of the Muslim world; and they offer insufficient protections against the rogue theologies that have underpinned Al-Qa`ida and ISIS. The consequences of Nahdlatul Ulama’s success could be far-reaching, although it is threatened by some political interests in Indonesia that for the last decade have set out to revert to the country’s authoritarian past.” Read the full article.
R20 establishes multifaceted online presence “to help ensure that religion functions as a genuine and dynamic source of solutions, rather than problems.” The G20 Religion Forum (R20) has launched an extensive website to provide religious leaders, government officials, journalists, scholars, and other interested parties with ready access to authoritative information about the R20, including its vision, mission, goals, and agenda.
President Jokowi Honors NU. On an early Sunday morning, tens of thousands of Nahdlatul Ulama followers joined Indonesian President Joko Widodo and NU Chairman KH. Yahya Cholil Staquf in a 3.5 kilometer “Healthy Walk Towards the NU Centennial” in downtown Surakarta (“Solo”), former capital of the Mataram Sultanate and birthplace of President Jokowi. The event is one of hundreds being held nationwide, in honor of Nahdlatul Ulama’s centennial (1344 – 1444 in the Islamic calendar).
“Healthy Walk Towards the NU Centennial” participants at the palace of the newly enthroned ruler of the Mangkunegaran Sultanate, GPH Bhre Chakrahutomo Wira Sudjiwo
Accompanying President Jokowi were First Lady Iriana and their grandson, Jan Ethes Srinarendra (above, center); Mr. Staquf; KH. Ahmad Said Asrori, General Secretary of the NU Supreme Council; C. Holland Taylor, Special Advisor for International Affairs to Mr. Staquf; Puan Maharani, Speaker of the House of Representatives and granddaughter of former president Sukarno; Mahfud MD, Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal, and Security Affairs; Erick Thohir, Minister of State Owned Enterprises; Zianudin Amali, Minister of Youth and Sport; Ganjar Pranowo, Governor of Central Java; General Listyo Sigit, Chief of the National Police; and Yenny Wahid, the daughter of former Indonesian president KH. Abdurrahman Wahid.
Nahdlatul Ulama Centennial. On 7 February 2023 nearly two million people converged upon a small town in East Java to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Nahdlatul Ulama. The crowd was so large that the motorcade of popular Indonesian president Joko Widodo (“Jokowi”) ground to a halt several hundred meters from the entrance to Gelora Delta Stadium. President Jokowi and his wife waded through a joyful throng of NU supporters to join participants who had camped overnight in anticipation of the celebration.
“Love of Nation is Integral to Faith”
Oh, fellow citizens!
Love of nation is integral to faith
And it’s not forbidden [in Islam] to defend one’s country
Oh, fellow citizens! Awake and realize (your duty to God and country)
Indonesia is my nation and my homeland
My sacred inheritance and source of pride
Whoever comes to threaten you shall certainly perish beneath your thorns
The celebrations included a congratulatory address by President Jokowi, which was immediately followed by a reading of the Nahdlatul Ulama Centennial Proclamation, in Arabic and Indonesian, by former Chairman of the NU Supreme Council KH. A. Mustofa Bisri and Yenny Wahid (above), the daughter of former NU Chairman and Indonesia’s first democratically elected president, H.E. KH. Abdurrahman Wahid.
“Welcome to Bali, the land of Hindus, in the world’s largest Muslim-majority country.
Short Film: R20 Summit in Bali. The permanent secretariat of the G20 Religion Forum (R20) has released the first of two films documenting the inaugural R20 Summit — which was held from 2 – 3 November 2022 on the tropical island of Bali — and a subsequent R20 planning conference convened in the heartland of Javanese civilization. An official G20 Main Event, the R20 Summit gathered more than 400 religious, political, economic, and thought leaders from around the world to “help ensure that religion functions as a genuine and dynamic source of solutions, rather than problems, in the 21st century.”
Bhante Sri Pannavaro Mahathera, Vice President of the World Theravada Sangha and head of Vihara Mendut, a Buddhist monastery 3 kilometers from Borobudur Temple
A center of worship for Buddhist pilgrims. The government of the world’s most populous Muslim-majority nation and democracy has released a 16-minute film (above) inviting Buddhist pilgrims throughout the world to visit Borobudur Temple, one of the religion’s most sacred and historic sites.
Borobudur Temple
The 9th century Buddhist temple — the largest on earth — is located on the heavily populated island of Java, which constitutes the geographic, political, cultural, and economic center of Indonesia, and is the heartland of the world’s largest Muslim organization, Nahdlatul Ulama (NU).