2025_01_05_KH. A. Mustofa Bisri

A Unique Approach to Middle East Peace

“Our starting point must be an honest search for the truth. Always speaking the truth and conducting ourselves in a manner that will touch the hearts of others. There are many whose voices are heard by only one side to a conflict. We strive to listen to, and be heard by, all.”

~ KH. A. Mustofa Bisri
Chairman, Center for Shared Civilizational Values

REMBANG, Indonesia, 5 January 2025 — In a meeting held at his home in Rembang, Central Java (above), the senior-most spiritual leader of the world’s largest Muslim organization — KH. A. Mustofa Bisri, who is affectionately known as “Gus Mus” — discussed, blessed, and helped shape a unique approach to Middle East peace: The Road Not Yet Taken Initiative.

Officially launched on 22 November 2024 at the Jakarta headquarters of the 100-million-member Nahdlatul Ulama, The Road Not Yet Taken Initiative is a joint undertaking by the NU Central Board and the Center for Shared Civilizational Values (CSCV). The Center is based in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and serves as the Permanent Secretariat for the G20 Religion Forum (R20).

CSCV Deputy Chairman and CEO H. Muhammad Kholil (C. Holland Taylor) and his family were visiting Rembang to pay their respects to KH. A. Mustofa Bisri, and to attend the haul (“annual commemoration of the death”) of his elder brother, KH. Muhammad Cholil Bisri, whose eldest son, KH. Yahya Cholil Staquf, is the current General Chairman of Nahdlatul Ulama’s Central Board.

The mission of The Road Not Yet Taken Initiative is to chart a path towards Middle East peace, in partnership with religious authorities — as well as opinion leaders in the fields of government, business, education, the arts, culture, and media — to help ensure that each Abrahamic religion functions as a genuine and dynamic source of solutions, rather than problems, in the birthplace of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, and throughout the world.

In cooperation with a group of closely affiliated organizations, Nahdlatul Ulama has developed and begun to execute this initiative, which seeks to ensure that religion fosters compassion, reconciliation, forgiveness, and peace, rather than hatred, violence, and revenge. These NU-affiliated organizations include Bayt ar-Rahmah, the Center for Shared Civilizational Values, the G20 Religion Forum (R20), and the Institute for Humanitarian Islam.

The Road Not Yet Taken Initiative: A Multi-Religious Path Towards Middle East Peace builds on the findings of the R20 International Summit of Religious Leaders, a G20 Main Event held on 2 – 3 November 2022 in Bali under the auspices of Indonesia’s G20 Presidency and in cooperation with the Mecca-based Muslim World League. This initiative also builds upon the Nahdlatul Ulama Centennial Proclamation, which was issued on 7 February 2023 in Sidoarjo, East Java, as nearly two million people gathered to celebrate NU’s 100th anniversary according to the Islamic calendar.

KH. A. Mustofa Bisri, former Chairman of the NU Supreme Council, delivering the Nahdlatul Ulama Centennial Proclamation in Sidoarjo, East Java on 7 February 2023. He is accompanied by Ibu Yenny Zannuba Wahid, daughter of longtime NU chairman and former Indonesian president H.E. KH. Abdurrahman Wahid.

The Road Not Yet Taken Initiative also builds upon the Analysis and Call to Action adopted by the R20 International Summit of Religious Authorities (ISORA), held in Jakarta on 27 November 2023, which was titled “Religion’s Role in Addressing Middle East Violence and Threats to a Rules-based International Order.”

In his discussion with Mr. Taylor, Gus Mus offered substantive analysis and provided a number of specific recommendations regarding The Road Not Yet Taken Initiative. He identified two of the primary obstacles to Middle East Peace as: (1) the tendency of partisan supporters of any given side to the region’s many conflicts to view, and portray, the issues and parties involved in black-and-white terms; and (2) the weaponization of religion and religious narratives for political purposes.

Gus Mus stated that those who execute The Road Not Yet Taken Initiative should “strive to be accepted, and trusted, by all sides to the multi-dimensional conflicts in the Middle East.” Honesty and a non-biased approach are essential to securing such trust.

As Chairman of the Center for Shared Civilizational Values, Gus Mus suggested that the first major step of the initiative include a purely academic approach, designed to establish relevant facts. He further suggested that the entire Road Not Yet Taken Initiative be founded upon honesty and humanitarian concern for all parties involved. In his words,

Our starting point must be an honest search for the truth. Always speaking the truth and conducting ourselves in a manner that will touch the hearts of others. There are many whose voices are heard by only one side to a conflict. We strive to listen to, and be heard by, all. The risk we face is, of course, that one who stands in the middle, not taking sides, will be attacked by all sides. That is why speaking the truth and defending humanitarian values requires courage.

Gus Dur [KH. Abdurrahman Wahid] did not care if he was hated and attacked by those who did not like him speaking the truth. His trust lay in God, not in the favorable opinion of others. Gus Yahya [KH. Yahya Cholil Staquf] is widely viewed and acknowledged as the disciple of Gus Dur.

“One who is disturbed by insult or praise is still an amateur servant of God.”

~ H.E. KH. Abdurrahman Wahid

KH. A. Mustofa Bisri (above) taking a selfie with Carolina, Charles, and Renate Taylor and (below) Nyai Hj. Muchsinah Cholil, the mother of KH. Yahya Cholil Staquf (visible in the background), with Carolina Taylor.

Nahdlatul Ulama leaders (above) perform tahlil (dhikr) at the grave of KH. Muhammad Cholil Bisri (1942 – 2004) and other family members, including the renowned Islamic scholar KH. Bisri Mustofa (1915 – 1977)