2025_03_07_Building Bridges

Muslim World League hosts “The Second Global Conference for Building Bridges Between Islamic Schools of Thought and Sects”

KH. Miftachul Achyar, Chairman of the NU Supreme Council, voices support for Muslim World League initiative

“The diversity of schools of thought, sects, and ideologies among Muslims is a manifestation of divine will, emphasizing the inevitability of diversity as a part of God’s laws”

~ The Charter of Building Bridges Between Islamic Schools of Thought and Sects

MECCA, Saudi Arabia, 6 – 7 March 2025 — Signaling a decisive break with the past, the Mecca-based Muslim World League (MWL) has convened senior religious scholars from throughout the Islamic world to strategize and implement The Charter of Building Bridges Between Islamic Schools of Thought and Sects. Held during the fasting month of Ramadan, the conference served to reinforce Saudi Arabia’s remarkable turn away from hardline Wahhabi ideology, under the leadership of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MbS).

Shaykh Mohammad bin Abdulkarim Al-Issa, Secretary General of the Muslim World League (above), hosted the Conference for Building Bridges in Mecca. In his keynote address, Shaykh Al-Issa stated: “We are at an historic turning point for the world’s [two billion] Muslims, who stand in dire need of strength and solidarity. This, in turn, requires mutual acceptance of our inevitable differences… Every school of thought and sect has its own specific ways of believing in God and has the right to exist within the dignified framework of Islam.”

Kyai Haji Miftachul Achyar, head of the Nahdlatul Ulama Supreme Council, delivered an address to the event’s opening session titled “There is Wisdom in Diversity.” In his speech, Kyai Miftah stressed the impossibility of unifying the world’s nearly two billion Muslims on the basis of ideological conformity or adherence to any single school of Islamic thought. Instead, he proposed, it would be highly beneficial to develop a comprehensive, practical framework that promotes harmonious relations between diverse Islamic schools of thought and sects, grounded in Islamic jurisprudence.

Kyai Miftah’s participation in the Building Bridges conference, and his support for its aims — which include identifying principles that encourage intellectual diversity within the Islamic community — represent another milestone in Nahdlatul Ulama’s evolving relationship with Saudi Arabia and the Muslim World League.

KH. Miftachul Achyar, “Fraternity and dialogue are fundamental principles of Islam. They provide a bridge to mutual understanding, and may serve as the foundation of an Islamic renaissance.”

The Conference for Building Bridges Between Islamic Schools of Thought and Sects reflects a significant change of policy adopted by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Muslim World League since the appointment of Mohammed bin Salman as Crown Prince in June 2017.

Wahhabism — a virulent strain of ultraconservative Sunni Islam, often described as “Salafism” — dominated Saudi Arabia’s domestic and foreign policy agenda from the founding of the modern Saudi state until the rise of MbS. The Wahhabi/Saudi alliance itself dates back much further, to 1744, when a politico-religious partnership was established between Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab, a religious scholar, with Muhammad bin Saud, the ruler of Diriyah, a town in central Arabia. The pact established a mutual agreement whereby ibn Saud protected and propagated ibn Abd al-Wahhab’s religious doctrines, while ibn Abd al-Wahhab provided religious legitimacy and support to the Saudi dynasty.

For over half a century, the Muslim World League (est. 1962) and other Saudi-sponsored organizations systematically propagated ultraconservative Sunni Islam, in what U.S. News and World Report has described as the largest propaganda campaign in history (“How Billions In Oil Money Spawned a Global Terror Network,” 15 December 2003). Gulf petrodollars funded and encouraged the spread of Islamist extremism worldwide, contributing to the emergence of terrorist groups such as al-Qaeda, ISIS, the Taliban, Boko Haram, al-Shabaab, and Jemaah Islamiyah, which was responsible for the 2002 Bali bombing and dozens of other terrorist attacks in Indonesia.

Nahdlatul Ulama (est. 1926) — the world’s largest Muslim organization, with over 100 million followers — has vociferously opposed Wahhabism from its founding, which occurred in response to the Wahhabi conquest of Mecca and Medina. In 2009, senior NU leaders including former president KH. Abdurrahman Wahid published an extremist exposé titled Ilusi Negara Islam: Ekspansi Gerakan Islam Transnasional di Indonesia (The Illusion of an Islamic State: The Expansion of Transnational Islamist Movements in Indonesia), which ignited a national firestorm of controversy in Indonesia — discrediting extremist ideology and movements as a threat to the nation, and to Islam itself.

Hailed as “remarkable” and “a roaring success” by the Washington Post, the book dramatically impacted Indonesia’s 2009 elections — derailing the ambitions of Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated political party PKS — and has continued to shape the outcome of Indonesia’s national elections up to the present day.

With the rise of ISIS and its declaration of an Islamic caliphate following the conquest of Mosul in 2014, Nahdlatul Ulama sharpened its criticism of Gulf states responsible for funding the global spread of Wahhabi/Muslim Brotherhood ideology. The 2016 International Summit of Moderate Islamic Leaders (ISOMIL) Nahdlatul Ulama Declaration identified “specific modes of interpreting Islam (tafsir) as the most significant factor causing the spread of religious extremism among Muslims.”

The following March, NU spiritual leaders launched the Humanitarian Islam movement, “in order to restore rahmah (universal love and compassion) to its rightful place as a primary message of Islam, by addressing obsolete and problematic elements within Islamic orthodoxy that lend themselves to religious hatred, supremacy and violence.”

On 21 – 22 May 2017, over 300 Indonesian religious scholars gathered with colleagues from South Asia, the Middle East, Europe, and North America to address “obsolete tenets of classical Islamic law, which are premised upon perpetual conflict with those who do not embrace or submit to Islam.” The event was held at PP (Madrasah) Bahrul ‘Ulum in Jombang, East Java — birthplace of Nahdlatul Ulama and its 8-million-strong youth movement, Gerakan Pemuda Ansor.

KH. A. Mustofa Bisri — former Chairman of the Nahdlatul Ulama Supreme Council and co-founder of the Humanitarian Islam movement — opened the event with a prayer that the assembled scholars’ deliberations would constitute “a humble act of religious piety and a blessing for all humanity… [as well as] the starting point of a movement that may bring the rays of enlightenment to a desperate world.” The two-day international gathering of ulama concluded with the adoption of Gerakan Pemuda Ansor’s Declaration on Humanitarian Islam, an 8,000 word analysis of the manner in which state and non-state actors have “weaponized” orthodox Islamic teachings, and detailed road map that calls for “a serious, long-term socio-cultural, political, religious and educational campaign to transform Muslims’ understanding of their religious obligations, and the very nature of Islamic orthodoxy.”

In a section titled “Identification and Containment of the Threat,” the Declaration states:

No progress can be made towards neutralizing a threat, unless it is understood and identified.
It is false and counterproductive to claim that the actions of al-Qaeda, ISIS, Boko Haram and other such groups have nothing to do with Islam, or merely represent a perversion of Islamic teachings. They are, in fact, outgrowths of Wahhabism and other fundamentalist streams of Sunni Islam.
For more than fifty years, Saudi Arabia has systematically propagated a supremacist, ultraconservative interpretation of Islam among Sunni Muslim populations worldwide. As is evident from the history of the Muslim World League and other Wahhabi da‘wa (proselytization) entities, it has done so while operating in close coordination with likeminded activists affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood, Jamaat-e-Islami and countless other groups that politicize Islam and seek to revive the observance of obsolete tenets of classical Islamic law, which are premised upon perpetual conflict with those who do not embrace or submit to Islam.
Saudi efforts to proselytize an ultraconservative view of Sunni Islam accelerated after the fall of Shah Reza Pahlavi in 1979, and the emergence of Shi’ite Iran as an aggressive and profoundly destabilizing force within the realm of Middle East politics…

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, and President Donald J. Trump placing their hands on a glowing orb at a U.S.-Islamic Summit in Riyadh on 22 May 2017. During his election campaign, President Trump had promised to hold Middle East governments responsible for their support of radical Islam.

On 19 August 2017, in the wake of yet another devastating terror attack in Europe — which killed or injured over 140 on the streets of Barcelona — one of Germany’s leading newspapers published a lengthy interview with Nahdlatul Ulama General Secretary Kyai Haji Yahya Cholil Staquf. Headlined “Terrorism and Islam are Intimately Connected,” the interview was placed on the front page of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung’s widely read Feuilleton (Arts and Culture) section, which also addresses moral issues that transcend partisan politics.

In that interview, Mr. Staquf said:

Over the past fifty years, Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states have spent massively to promote their ultraconservative version of Islam worldwide. After allowing this to go unchallenged for so many decades [to our common detriment], the West must finally exert decisive pressure upon the Saudis to cease this problematic behavior.
[Interviewer]: From your perspective, what do the Saudis hope to achieve through their actions?

They’re pursuing their own political interests and agenda. Saudi Arabia and Iran are engaged in competition, each seeking to acquire geopolitical and religious supremacy. Iran is Shi’ite. Thus, it is politically advantageous for the Saudis to portray Shi’ites as infidels. However, when you denounce non-believers as enemies whose lives are legitimately forfeit [under the tenets of classical Islamic law], the deadly impact of such propaganda will not be felt by Shi’ites alone. Iran is engaged in similar activities among Shi’ite communities around the world. However, it is the Saudi strategy of propagating Wahhabism and Salafism that has turned the world into a powder keg [due to the fact that the vast majority of Muslims are Sunni, not Shi’ite].

Within hours of its publication, the interview was trending as one of the most popular articles shared in Germany. Over the next three weeks, strategic messages embedded within the FAZ interview generated waves of policy discourse and viral media coverage, amid an historic election campaign in Germany.

The NU General Secretary’s message was quickly translated and conveyed via print and internet/social media throughout the EU, eliciting a strong, favorable response across the political spectrum and the continent.

A noticeable follow-on effect also occurred, with the publication of complementary thought pieces such as “Jihadists as the Elite Troops of Islam” (FAZ, 29 August 2017), in which Dr. Suzanne Schröter cited the NU General Secretary as an authoritative voice calling for “confrontation with ideas that legitimize violence, which circulate so freely among Muslim associations in Europe.” Significantly, Dr. Schröter highlighted the problematic theological nexus between jihadists, Wahhabis/Salafis, Muslim Brotherhood activists, and other Islamist movements, which is rooted in the idea of a “fundamental, irreconcilable conflict between Muslims and non-Muslims.”

The Grand Mosque of Brussels, whose Wahhabi leadership helped radicalize generations of Belgian Muslims, including many who joined ISIS

In November 2017, political analyst James Dorsey cited the FAZ interview with Mr. Staquf as having “lent justification” to moves by the Belgian government “to wrest control from Saudi Arabia of Brussels’ downtown Grand Mosque,” where Saudi-appointed imams had been radicalizing Belgian Muslims for years, including those who masterminded the 2015 ISIS attacks in Paris. Four months later, on 16 March 2018, Reuters published an article stating that

Belgium is taking back control of the Grand Mosque of Brussels by terminating Saudi Arabia’s lease of the building with immediate effect over concerns it promotes radicalism, the government said on Friday.

Belgium leased the Grand Mosque to Riyadh in 1969, giving Saudi-backed imams access to a growing Muslim immigrant community, mostly from Morocco and Turkey, in return for cheaper oil for its industry.

It has been run by the Mecca-based Muslim World League (MWL), a missionary society mainly funded by Saudi Arabia. The MWL denies it espouses violence.

Belgian Interior Minister Jan Jambon tweeted of Friday’s announcement that “in this way we are tackling Salafist, violent extremist influences.”

Nahdlatul Ulama leaders report that in 2022 they were explicitly told, by a senior Saudi figure, that “for years” Mr. Staquf’s engagement with the West had significantly impacted Saudi Arabia’s geopolitical calculations and agenda.

Notably, the first time a Secretary General of the Muslim World League ever visited NU’s Jakarta headquarters was on 27 February 2020, at a time when the Saudi government was still supporting Wahhabi/Muslim Brotherhood movements in Indonesia, and accusing Gerakan Pemuda Ansor, the NU young adults movement, of being a “heretical organization.” The beginnings of a major shift in Saudi policy could already be seen, however, as reflected in Shaykh Mohammad bin Abdulkarim Al-Issa’s historic public visit to Auschwitz, in the company of prominent rabbis, in January 2020 (photograph below).

This shift in Saudi policy induced Nahdlatul Ulama to invite Shaykh Al-Issa and the Muslim World League to co-host the inaugural G20 Religion Forum (R20) International Summit of Religious Leaders in Bali, Indonesia. A G20 Main Event, the R20 Summit convened two weeks before world leaders gathered for the G20 Summit of Heads of State and Government, which was also held in Nusa Dua, Bali in November 2022.

KH. Yahya Cholil Staquf and Shaykh Mohammad bin Abdulkarim Al-Issa at the Muslim World League office in Riyadh on 14 August 2022 (above) and at the R20 International Summit of Religious Leaders in Bali (below)

The significance of these developments may be seen in The Charter of Building Bridges Between Islamic Schools of Thought and Sects, whose theological framework and agenda constitute a revolutionary departure from, and starkly contradict, key tenets of hardline Wahhabi ideology.

Indicative of this change, point 8 of The Charter of Building Bridges states

The diversity of schools of thought, sects, and ideologies among Muslims is a manifestation of divine will, emphasizing the inevitability of diversity as a part of God’s laws. This diversity, rooted in methodological differences and varying conditions, requires thoughtful engagement and caution against divisiveness. The commonalities among Islamic schools of thought, particularly the Two Declarations of Faith, outweigh their differences, fostering Islamic brotherhood stronger than ideological diversities. Muslims should always seek and follow the truth….

Similarly, point 17 of the Charter explicitly constrains two of the most destructive characteristics of Wahhabism, viz., accusations of apostasy — which entail the death penalty under classical Islamic jurisprudence — and of bid’ah, or “innovation,” which Islamists likewise employ to mark their opponents for ostracism and/or death.

The acts of declaring disbelief (Takfir), denouncing innovation (bid’ah), and spreading misinformation are governed by strict rules and require precise evidence. Such judgments are reserved for institutional bodies equipped with knowledge, moderation, and justice, and must be supported by Islamic jurisprudence as agreed upon by the knowledgeable and faithful.