2023_09_28_Brill Academic Publishers: “Humanitarian Islam”
Leading academics explore the significance of Indonesia’s Humanitarian Islam movement in a volume published by Brill
“Humanitarian Islam can, indeed, be analyzed as a powerful discursive strategy of Indonesian foreign policy”
~ From the Introduction to “Humanitarian Islam”
LEIDEN, Netherlands and VIENNA, Austria — In August 2023, one of continental Europe’s oldest and most prestigious academic publishers released an edited volume compiling analyses of Indonesia’s “Humanitarian Islam” movement by some of the world’s leading scholars of Islam in Europe and the United States.
Co-published by Brill (est. 1683) and the University of Vienna (est. 1365), Humanitarian Islam: Reflecting on an Islamic Concept was co-edited by Dr. Rüdiger Lohlker and Dr. Katharina Ivanyi, and appears as Volume 24 in a series titled “Religion and Transformation in Contemporary European Society.” With offices in Leiden, Boston, Paderborn, and Singapore, Brill publishes 275 journals and around 1,200 new books and reference works each year, all of which are subject to external peer review. Continue reading full communiqué…
2023_09_05_ASEAN IIDC Session 2: Character Education
Indonesia’s Minister of Education commends students for their contribution to ASEAN:
“Your outstanding proposal has helped shape key elements of the ASEAN Intercultural and Interreligious Dialogue Conference and its long-term agenda”
“We urge government leaders to strengthen character education within the national curricula of ASEAN Member States, so that youth may successfully adapt to the modern world, while simultaneously developing a way of life that imparts the inner resources, character, and resilience required to overcome the negative influences of modernity and globalization.”
~ Students of State Middle School 1
Magelang, Central Java
JAKARTA, Indonesia, 5 September 2023 — The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has endorsed a call by Indonesian middle school students to “strengthen character education within the national curricula of ASEAN Member States, so that youth may successfully adapt to the modern world, while simultaneously developing a way of life that imparts the inner resources, character, and resilience required to overcome the negative influences of modernity and globalization.”
The Chairman’s Statement of the 43rd ASEAN Summit, which was unanimously adopted by all 10 ASEAN heads of state and government, who convened in Jakarta, Indonesia from 5 – 7 September 2023, “reaffirmed the importance of fostering the values of an inclusive, sustainable, resilient, dynamic, and harmonious ASEAN Community through facilitating a greater understanding of shared civilisational values derived from the ASEAN region’s culture and religions.” Continue reading full communiqué…
2023_08_16_The Economist
The Economist: “Indonesia wants to export moderate Islam”
“The world’s largest Muslim-majority country enters the Islamic debate”
The news story highlighted NU’s Centennial Proclamation, with its “call for the abandonment of the Caliphate,” and a 2019 fiqh (Islamic-jurisprudential) ruling that Muslims should “accept the reality of the nation state,” as well as “reject the concept of kafir, or infidel, and accept non-Muslims as fellow citizens.” The Economist also noted the significance of the G20 Religion Forum (R20) and the ASEAN Intercultural and Interreligious Dialogue Conference (IIDC), which Nahdlatul Ulama convened in November 2022 and August 2023, respectively. Continue reading full communiqué…
2023_08_07_ASEAN Intercultural and Interreligious Dialogue Conference (ASEAN IIDC)
Indonesian leadership in the movement for pluralist reawakening in South and Southeast Asia
“We have launched the ASEAN Intercultural and Interreligious Dialogue Conference in order to begin consolidating a vast constituency upon the basis of shared civilizational values, capable of fostering peace, tolerance, and harmony throughout ASEAN and, God willing, of inspiring a similar dynamic worldwide.”
~ KH. Yahya Cholil Staquf
Chairman, Nahdlatul Ulama Central Board
KH. Yahya Cholil Staquf and H.E. Joko Widodo, President of the Republic of Indonesia (center), with religious leaders from ASEAN Member States and beyond
JAKARTA, Indonesia — On 7 August, 2023, senior religious and cultural figures from across South and Southeast Asia convened with the leadership of Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), and the Government of Indonesia to chart a course for the region’s re-emergence as a cohesive, vital, and proactive civilizational sphere.
Hosted by Nahdlatul Ulama with the full support of the Government of Indonesia and the ASEAN Secretariat, the two-day ASEAN Intercultural and Interreligious Dialogue Conference (IIDC) offered a striking demonstration of broad institutional, popular, and governmental backing for a regional strategy pioneered by NU leaders and the Center for Shared Civilizational Values (CSCV), known as the “Ashoka Approach.” Continue reading full communiqué…
2023_08_04_R20 Book Launch
Proceedings of the R20 International Summit of Religious Leaders illuminates NU strategy to avert a global “clash of civilizations”
“The launching of this book… is nothing less than a transformative moment in contemporary world affairs. The book provides a breathtaking overview of the ideas and exchanges animating the most comprehensive meeting of religious leaders from around the world ever organized”
~ Robert Hefner,
Professor of Anthropology and International Relations at Boston University and President of the American Institute for Indonesian Studies
YOGYAKARTA, Indonesia — On 4 August, 2023, scholars and religious leaders from across the world gathered in the historic Senate Building of Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM) — Indonesia’s premier seat of higher learning — for the official launch of a seminal work titled Proceedings of the R20 International Summit of Religious Leaders in Bali, Indonesia. A panel of highly respected scholars representing a wide range of academic disciplines praised the 428-page volume for providing a clear vision and practical roadmap whereby the world’s major religions “may become a genuine and dynamic source of solutions, rather than problems.”
In a world in which scholarly publications are often slow to reach the printing press and strikingly expensive, Nahdlatul Ulama, the Center for Shared Civilizational Values, and the G20 Religion Forum (R20) worked with Gadjah Mada University Press — the publishing house of Indonesia’s top university — to make Proceedings of the R20 available in both high-quality hardback and an open-access online version, nine months after the event was held in Bali, Indonesia. Continue reading full communiqué…
2023_06_15_ASEAN Shared Civilizational Values
World’s largest Muslim organization launches a movement for pluralist re-awakening in South and Southeast Asia
NU coordinates with the Government of Indonesia and ASEAN to build consensus regarding values that may serve as the foundation for an emerging global civilization
“[S]hared civilizational values can play an important role in mobilizing a vast constituency to support a more peaceful and harmonious global civilization, founded upon respect for the equal rights and dignity of every human being”
~ KH. Yahya Cholil Staquf
General Chairman, Nahdlatul Ulama Central Board
H. Yaqut Cholil Qoumas, Minister of Religious Affairs, Republic of Indonesia; President Joko Widodo; and KH. Yahya Cholil Staquf at the Presidential Palace in Jakarta, following discussion of the ASEAN Summit
SURABAYA, Indonesia — On 15 June, 2023, religious leaders from around Indonesia and across its faith traditions gathered in East Java for a workshop socializing Nahdlatul Ulama’s vision and strategy 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. Continue reading full communiqué…
2023_05_18_Centrist Democrat International Resolution on the R20
World’s largest political network endorses the G20 Religion Forum:
“[T]he R20 functions as an inclusive, cross-cultural platform designed to infuse the world’s political and economic power structures with moral and spiritual values”
BLED, Slovenia — On 18 May 2023, the world’s largest political network, Centrist Democrat International (CDI) — which has 109 member parties in 83 countries — unanimously adopted a resolution endorsing the G20 Religion Forum (R20) at its General Assembly, held in close proximity to the Church of the Assumption of Mary (photo above), an ancient pilgrimage site that lies at the heart of Slovenian identity.
The resolution, submitted by Indonesia’s National Awakening Party (PKB), “calls upon [CDI] member parties, and all G20 Member States, to cooperate in securing recognition of the R20 as a permanent G20 Engagement Group,” “as a means of providing a seat at the G20 table for religious communities and their leaders.”
As the resolution points out, “religious believers constitute the single largest demographic within the human family, whose share of the global population is estimated to exceed 80%.” Continue reading full communiqué…
2023_05_06_Muslim Women Prepare to Lead
Nahdlatul Ulama empowers women to issue Islamic rulings (fatwas)
“The principle is ‘appoint whoever is most able.’ It’s as simple as that. If women have a greater capacity than men, that’s not a problem, for the Prophet said of [his wife] Sayyidina Aisha, ‘take half of your religion from this woman.’”
~ KH. Yahya Cholil Staquf
Chairman, Nahdlatul Ulama Central Board
NU encourages Muslims to follow a “middle path,” between the extremes of Islamist and militant secular ideology
PURWAKARTA, West Java, 6 May 2023 — For the first time in its 100-year history, the world’s largest Muslim organization has authorized female religious scholars to address issues related to Islamic law, by opening participation in Lembaga Bahtsul Masa’il (LBM) decision-making to women.
A prestigious division of Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), LBM is composed of prominent ulama (religious scholars) whose knowledge and mastery of fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence) qualifies them to issue authoritative rulings on matters of practical and immediate concern to Muslims. Historically, throughout the Muslim world, the authority to issue fatwas has, with rare exceptions, been conferred almost exclusively upon men. Continue reading full communiqué…
2023_04_24_Anglican Schism
The Turbulent World:
“Anglican schism is not just about theology. It’s about geopolitics too.”
“In a twist of irony, Nahdlatul Ulama, a conservative, Indonesia-based reformist Muslim civil society movement, has discreetly stepped into the breach left by the Anglican church…. NU included Archbishop Henry Ndukuba, the primate of Nigeria, in the opening plenary of [the R20] summit of religious leaders held in Bali in November 2022.”
Nahdlatul Ulama Chairman KH. Yahya Cholil Staquf presents a commemorative plaque to Archbishop Henry Chukwudum Ndukuba, Primate of the Church of Nigeria, at the G20 Religion Forum (R20) in Bali
James M. Dorsey | April 24, 2023
KIGALI, Rwanda — A schism that could tear the Anglican church apart is about more than LGBTQ rights. It’s about fundamental cultural and religious differences with potentially profound consequences for the geopolitical battle to shape a 21st-century world order.
The rift also raises questions about the Church of England’s priorities at a time when the Anglican congregation in Nigeria, home to the world’s largest Anglican community, is under persistent attack by Muslim militias in an environment of escalating violence in the country that targets multiple communities. Continue reading full communiqué…
2023_04_21_In the Black Hole
Pakistani nuclear scientist and human rights activist, Pervez Hoodbhoy, hosts in-depth public discussion of Nahdlatul Ulama’s agenda
“Past proponents of reform in Islam were individual thinkers, maybe small groups of thinkers. They were not organisations with the kind of power that Nahdlatul Ulama represents.”
The following text and transcript appear courtesy of Dr. Pervez Hoodbhoy and Dr. James M. Dorsey:
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan / 21 April 2023 — Pakistan ranks high on the list of Muslim-majority countries in which significant segments of the population are, in religious terms, militantly ultra-conservative. It’s a country where the impact of decades of Saudi funding of ultra-conservative religious thinking has left deep inroads.
It’s also a country in which numerous people over the years have been killed or lynched by outraged individuals or mobs over allegations of blasphemy, or for expressing opposition to harsh laws that mandate the death sentence for blasphemy. Since 1990, more than 80 people have been killed in such violence. This month, a Chinese national was remanded in custody after protesters accused him of blasphemy. Continue reading full communiqué…
2023_04_13_Ramadan Forum
Building Peace Between Palestine and Israel, on the Basis of Sunni Islamic Jurisprudence for a Global Civilization (fiqh hadarah ahl al-sunnah wa-al-jama‘ah) and Jewish Law (halakha)
“Many people involved in this conflict believe that the solution is to eliminate the other side. But a genuine solution requires striving to create a better future for all humanity, not simply our own religious group.”
~ KH. Yahya Cholil Staquf, addressing the Ramadan Forum at UIII
DEPOK, Indonesia — On the afternoon of 13 April 2023, Indonesia’s flagship International Islamic University (UIII) served as the venue for a wide-ranging discussion of the prospects for building peace between Palestine and Israel, through the reform of obsolete and problematic tenets of both Islamic, and Jewish, orthodoxy. The Nahdlatul Ulama Central Board (PBNU) initiated and co-sponsored the event — advocating a novel approach to fostering Middle East peace.
Experts on Islam, Judaism, and the Middle East addressed a live audience during a 2 ½ -hour discussion that was livestreamed by UIII and TVNU.
Shaykh Mohammed Abdalhafez Yousef Azzam, Deputy Chief Judge of the Palestinian Authority’s Islamic court system, stated his position clearly in remarks delivered before an international audience gathered at UIII in a suburb of metropolitan Jakarta: “There is no basis within Islamic law for establishing peace with Israel.” Continue reading full communiqué…
2023_04_11_GetReligion
Award-winning journalist Richard Ostling:
Nahdlatul Ulama’s “[c]ampaign for thorough reform of Muslim law deserves mainstream coverage – now”
Nahdlatul Ulama leaders pray at a gathering of almost two million followers in Sidoarjo, East Java on 7 February 2023
NEW YORK, 11 April 2023 — One of America’s leading religious affairs commentators — a veteran journalist who produced 23 cover stories for Time Magazine over the course of his decades-long career — has called on Western media to take note of Nahdlatul Ulama’s campaign for “thorough worldwide reform of how to understand [Islam’s] religious law (Sharia),” and give it the serious coverage it deserves.
“Far from some esoteric intellectual discourse,” Richard Ostling writes, “such a philosophical change could potentially affect the future of the world’s second-largest faith regarding democracy, blasphemy laws, human rights, education, the role of women, treatment of other religions, warfare, extremism, terrorism and crime and punishment.” Continue reading full communiqué…
2023_04_02_Dawn
Ongoing dialogue between Nahdlatul Ulama and Hindu nationalists attracts increasing global attention
“Indonesia has been contributing significantly to the development of discourse on Islamic jurisprudence.”
~ Dawn (Pakistan)
Badshahi mosque in Lahore, Pakistan, former capital of the Mughal Empire
KARACHI, Pakistan, 2 April 2023 — Pakistan’s newspaper of record and most influential English-language daily, Dawn, has published an article praising Indonesia’s Nahdlatul Ulama and its significant contribution to the development of discourse on Islamic jurisprudence.
In an article titled “End of ideology,” prominent security analyst and columnist Muhammad Amir Rana noted that “Nahdlatul Ulama has been advocating for abolishing the concept of caliphate and replacing it with the idea of the nation state. It has also issued a decree or fatwa to erase the concept of kafir or infidel from Islamic jurisprudence and replace it with the idea of citizenship.” Continue reading full communiqué…
2023_03_29_Sciences Po “Focus”
Sciences Po, the EU’s top university in the field of politics and international affairs
“Nahdlatul Ulama has laid down a marker that other Muslim religious authorities will ultimately be unable to ignore if they want recognition as proponents of a genuinely moderate Islam.”
~ Dr. James M. Dorsey
L’Observatoire International du Religieux
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
PARIS, France, March 2023 — For the second time in three months, an elite academic research program supported by France’s Ministry of Armed Forces has highlighted the geopolitical significance of Indonesia’s Nahdlatul Ulama, and its efforts to reform obsolete and problematic tenets of religious orthodoxy.
Established at the height of the Islamic State movement, when over 4,000 French citizens joined ISIS, L’Observatoire International du Religieux seeks to clarify contemporary religious phenomena and their interaction with politics. The Observatory is financially supported by the Directorate General for International Relations and Strategy of France’s Ministry of Armed Forces. Continue reading full communiqué…
2023_03_21_Strategic Triangulation
Wall Street Journal:
“India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party is, from the standpoint of American national interests, the most important foreign political party in the world”
NEW DELHI and LUCKNOW, India — On 21 March 2023 Wall Street Journal foreign affairs analyst Walter Russell Mead published his weekly “Global View” column with the title “India’s BJP Is the World’s Most Important Party.” He went on to add that “It may also be the least understood.”
Mr. Mead’s column appeared immediately “[a]fter an intensive series of meetings with senior BJP and RSS leaders, as well as some of their critics,” facilitated by Dr. Timothy S. Shah, Director of Strategic Initiatives for the Center for Shared Civilizational Values, and Sri Ram Madhav Varanasi, who previously served as National General Secretary of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Mr. Madhav is also a member of the National Executive of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (National Volunteer Corps, or RSS), a Hindu-nationalist mass organization established in 1925. Continue reading full communiqué…
2023_03_13_Borobudur: A Center of Worship for Buddhist Pilgrims
Indonesian film promotes Buddhist pilgrimage in world’s largest Muslim-majority nation
“Borobudur is a civilizational wonder that belongs to all humanity. We pray that Buddhists throughout the world will visit this great temple for pilgrimage and worship”
~ Minister of Religious Affairs H. Yaqut Cholil Qoumas
Bhante Sri Pannavaro Mahathera, Vice President of the World Theravada Sangha and head of Vihara Mendut, a Buddhist monastery 3 kilometers from Borobudur Temple
BOROBUDUR, Indonesia, 13 March 2023 — 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.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). Continue reading full communiqué…
2023_03_09_Short Film: R20 in Java
“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.”
“Yesterday we told all of our students that THIS [R20] is the jihad of today”
~ KH. Azka Sya’bana, Trustee
Pandanaran Islamic Boarding School (Yogyakarta)
JAKARTA, Indonesia and WINSTON-SALEM, North Carolina / 9 March 2023 — 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.
Following two days of intensive, formal deliberations among more than 400 religious leaders and scholars gathered from around the world and across its major faith traditions, R20 delegates traveled from Bali to the island of Java to plan the future direction of the R20. Continue reading full communiqué…
2023_03_07_Short Film: R20 Summit in Bali
“Welcome to Bali, the land of Hindus, in the world’s largest Muslim-majority country”
“Even before I came to this meeting, I was anticipating that [the R20] was going to be a landmark event for one reason: it represented an acknowledgment on the part of the G20 that religion is a factor that can’t be ignored in geopolitical policy and planning.”
~ Professor Mary Ann Glendon, Harvard University
H.E. Joko Widodo, President of the Republic of Indonesia, addresses the opening session of the R20 Summit
JAKARTA, Indonesia and WINSTON-SALEM, North Carolina / 7 March 2023 — 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.” Continue reading full communiqué…
2023_02_16_al-Ahram
Egypt’s al-Ahram newspaper hails Nahdlatul Ulama project “to transform Islam from a problem — as it is in many nations — into a solution”
“The majority of Muslims look to the Arab world for guidance, but the failure of this region’s ulama to keep up with the transformations taking place will lead to the rug being pulled out from under them… by Nahdlatul Ulama and its new Chairman”
~ Mohamed Abu Al-Fadl
Deputy Editor, al-Ahram (The Pyramids)
CAIRO, Egypt, 16 February 2023 — One of the oldest and most influential newspapers in the Arab world, Egypt’s al-Ahram (est. 1875), has published a highly favorable analysis of Nahdlatul Ulama’s efforts to recontextualize obsolete and problematic tenets of Islamic orthodoxy. In the words of Mohamed Abu Al-Fadl, deputy editor of al-Ahram, “NU inevitably faces great challenges, and deserves support. For Nahdlatul Ulama’s project is not only consistent with a rules-based international order and the Charter of the United Nations, but could clearly serve the interests of Arab governments that are locked in an unavoidable confrontation with extremist ideas.”
Dr. Abu Al-Fadl’s article appeared following his participation in the First International Convention on Islamic Jurisprudence for a Global Civilization in Surabaya, Indonesia on 6 February. This was Dr. Abu Al-Fadl’s third visit to Indonesia since 2015, when his extensive reporting on Nahdlatul Ulama, in al-Ahram and al-Arab, precipitated The New York Times’ publication of a highly influential article titled “From Indonesia, a Muslim Challenge to the Ideology of the Islamic State.”
Dr. Abu Al-Fadl’s latest article includes a highly critical analysis of the Arab world’s failure to substantively engage with Nahdlatul Ulama’s project to recontextualize Islamic teachings, and the consequences thereof. “Nahdlatul Ulama’s project revolves around separating politics from religion and breaking out of the mental prison of calls to establish an Islamic caliphate. . . . So long as the Arab world remains mired in the trench of traditional Islamic orthodoxy, we will not escape the catastrophic impact this has upon governments, nations, and the future.” Continue reading full communiqué…
2023_02_13_Doctor Honoris Causa
Cardinal Miguel Ángel Ayuso Guixot,
MCCJ Prefect of the Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue at the Holy See:
“I am deeply touched to be the first Roman Catholic Cardinal ever to receive an honorary doctorate from an Islamic University”
KH. Yahya Cholil Staquf,
Chairman of the Nahdlatul Ulama Central Board:
“All my activism under the flag of Nahdlatul Ulama — both domestically and internationally — bears the theme of this struggle for the wellbeing of all humanity and the future of human civilization”
YOGYAKARTA, Indonesia — On 13 February 2023, Pope Francis’ personal emissary for interreligious dialogue, Cardinal Miguel Ángel Ayuso Guixot, joined Nahdlatul Ulama Chairman KH. Yahya Cholil Staquf and former Muhammadiyah Chairman Dr. Sudibyo Markus in a ceremony at Sunan Kalijaga State Islamic University, where the three religious leaders were awarded honorary doctorates for “Fostering Global Peace, Human Fraternity, and Unity in Diversity.”
Broadcast live and heavily covered by Indonesian mass media, the ceremony was attended by a wide range of dignitaries, including religious leaders, academics, and senior officials from both the Vatican and the government of popular two-term Indonesian President Joko Widodo. Continue reading full communiqué…
2023_02_07_Nahdlatul Ulama Centennial
Kyai Haji Yahya Cholil Staquf:
“Welcome to the second century of Nahdlatul Ulama!”
“In the view of Nahdlatul Ulama, the most appropriate and effective means to promote the wellbeing of Muslims worldwide is to foster the wellbeing of all humanity, Muslims and non-Muslims alike, and to acknowledge the brotherhood of all human beings.”
~ Nahdlatul Ulama Centennial Proclamation
SIDOARJO, Indonesia — On 7 February 2023 nearly two million people converged upon a small town in East Java to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), the world’s largest Muslim organization. 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. Continue reading full communiqué…
2023_02_07_Nahdlatul Ulama Centennial March
Nahdlatul Ulama launches its Centennial March at a gathering of nearly two million men, women, and children
“Let’s strengthen our intent
and forge an unbreakable determination
to continuously perform good deeds,
increasing our service to God and humanity.
“Spreading love and compassion to all of creation
and building a new and noble civilization
for the sake of peace and happiness together,
acting in accord with the will of Allah, the Great
‘One,’ and receiving His blessings.”
~ Nahdlatul Ulama Centennial March
Lyrics by KH. A. Mustofa Bisri
SIDOARJO, East Java, Indonesia — On 7 February 2023, the world’s largest Muslim organization released the Nahdlatul Ulama Centennial March (music video above) to celebrate its 100th anniversary according to the Islamic lunar calendar.
The song — whose lyrics were composed by the revered religious scholar, poet, painter, and Muslim intellectual KH. A. Mustofa Bisri — was performed by a live orchestra at a massive event attended by the President of Indonesia and a crowd of nearly two million NU followers, who converged upon the small town of Sidoarjo to take part in the centennial celebrations. Continue reading full communiqué…
2023_02_06_First International Convention on Islamic Jurisprudence for a Global Civilization
Is There a Need to Establish an Islamic Legal (Fiqhi) Foundation for Global Peace and Harmony?
“The view that Muslims should have a default attitude of enmity towards non-Muslims, and that infidels should be subject to discrimination, is well established within the tradition of Islamic jurisprudence.”
~ KH. Yahya Cholil Staquf
General Chairman, Nahdlatul Ulama Central Board
SURABAYA, East Java, Indonesia — On 6 February 2023 (15 Rajab 1444 H), over 300 Islamic scholars, political leaders, and international observers gathered to discuss the legal status of the modern nation state under Islamic jurisprudence and whether Muslims throughout the world have a religious duty to establish an Islamic caliphate. Titled the “First International Convention on Islamic Jurisprudence for a Global Civilization,” the event was convened by the world’s largest Muslim organization, Nahdlatul Ulama, and the G20 Religion Forum (R20).
Islamic law, or fiqh — often conflated with shari‘ah — emerged during the centuries following the death of the Prophet Muhammad, at a time of endemic warfare between Muslims and non-Muslims. Still taught in Islamic seminaries worldwide, the principles of fiqh siyasah (laws of governance) remain authoritative tenets of Islamic orthodoxy and thus continue to shape the prevailing Muslim mindset in the 21st century.
Terrorist movements including ISIS, al-Qaeda, and al-Shabab seek to establish a universal Islamic caliphate, a goal they share with non-violent Islamist movements including the Muslim Brotherhood and Jamaat-e-Islami. Religious hatred, supremacism, and violence directed towards those regarded as non-Muslim (kuffar, or infidels) have long been associated with orthodox tenets of Islamic law. Continue reading full communiqué…
2023_01_22_President Jokowi Honors NU
Indonesian President Joko Widodo:
“Everyone already knows, full well, Nahdlatul Ulama’s enormous contribution to the well-being of our nation.”
“In sixteen days Nahdlatul Ulama will celebrate its centennial. We invite all NU followers, and all Indonesian citizens, to join in this celebration, as together we strive to create a more noble future for humanity”
~ NU Chairman KH. Yahya Cholil Staquf
SURAKARTA, Indonesia, 22 January 2023 — 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).
Accompanying President Jokowi were First Lady Iriana and their grandson, Jan Ethes Srinarendra; 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. Continue reading full communiqué…
2023_01_21_Islamic Jurisprudence for a Global Civilization
Establishing a shari‘ah basis for the nation state and a rules-based international order, which guarantees the equal rights and dignity of all
“Through these discussions on Islamic jurisprudence (fiqh) for a global civilization, NU is creating a future characterized by a strong and beneficent nationalism. For civilizational fiqh obliges all citizens to prevent their nation from being undermined, either from within or without.”
~ Senior Nahdlatul Ulama scholar Shaykh KH. Abdullah Kafabihi Mahrus
“Islamic Laws of Governance and Citizenship”
“The Citizenship Status of Non-Muslims from the Perspective of Islamic Law”
(“Efforts to Contextualize the Concept of Citizenship in the Governance of Modern Nation States”)
KEDIRI, East Java, Indonesia — On the morning of 21 January 2023, over 300 ulama (Muslim scholars), seminarians, and academics gathered at one of Indonesia’s largest and most influential Islamic seminaries, Pondok Pesantren Lirboyo, in preparation for the first International Convention on Islamic Jurisprudence for a Global Civilization, which will be held on 6 February 2023 in Surabaya, East Java.
The event at Lirboyo represents the culmination of a series of 231 halaqoh (“study circles”) launched in August 2022, at which leading Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) scholars discussed and popularized the subject of Islamic Jurisprudence for a Global Civilization (Arabic: fiqh al-hadarah/Indonesian: fikih peradaban). Continue reading full communiqué…
2023_01_19_Launch of the R20 Website
R20 establishes multifaceted online presence “to help ensure that religion functions as a genuine and dynamic source of solutions, rather than problems”
“A unique and significant initiative… to assist G-20 governments in building a united, pluralist and peaceful world”
JAKARTA, Indonesia, 19 January 2023 — 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.
The world’s largest Muslim organization, Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), established the R20 in conjunction with Indonesia’s Presidency of the G20 group of the world’s largest economies, in 2022, and appointed the Center for Shared Civilizational Values to serve as the R20’s permanent secretariat.
A number of R20 events are planned for 2023 in the U.S., the Middle East, and South and Southeast Asia, following the rotation of the G20 Presidency from Indonesia to India. Continue reading full communiqué…
2023_01_14_Sciences Po “Bulletin”
Elite academic publication supported by France’s Ministry of Armed Forces highlights the geopolitical significance of the R20
“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.”
~ Dr. Jonathan Benthall, writing in Sciences Po’s Bulletin de L’Observatoire International du Religieux
Soldiers patrol in front of the Eiffel Tower in 2015, following a major terrorist attack in Paris
PARIS, France, January 2023 — An academic program affiliated with Sciences Po (the Paris Institute of Political Studies) and supported by the French Ministry of Armed Forces has published an article examining the geopolitical significance of the G20 Religion Forum (R20). As the article notes, “the largest Muslim civil society organization in the world initiated [the R20] in conjunction with the Indonesian Presidency… of the Group of 20 political and economic summit.”
In the words of KH. Yahya Cholil Staquf, Chairman of Indonesia’s Nahdlatul Ulama, and founder of the R20: “The purpose of the G20 Religion Forum is to ensure that religion functions as a genuine and dynamic source of solutions rather than problems in the 21st century. Through the R20, we hope to facilitate the emergence of a global movement, in which people of goodwill of every faith and nation will help bring the world’s geopolitical and economic power structures into alignment with the highest moral and spiritual values, for the sake of all humanity.”
An R20 working group (WG-3 on the recontextualization of obsolete and problematic tenets of religious orthodoxy) examines and addresses teachings embedded within the world’s major religions that are incompatible with peaceful coexistence and a rules-based international order founded upon respect for the equal rights and dignity of every human being. Continue reading full communiqué…