Promoting moderate Islam in a global community through the ‘English for Ulama’ programme

Abstract

The rise of religious conservatism following the 1998 reformasi has altered the face of Indonesian Islam, which has historically been regarded as peaceful and inclusive, which is why the Indonesian government has advocated for moderate Islam on a regional, national and even a global scale. Using West Java as a case study, this article presents the 2019 ‘English for Ulama’ (EFU) initiative, which intends to train ulama in West Java about the concept of moderate Islam before sending them to the United Kingdom to promote moderate Islamic discourse in a global setting. This study demonstrates that the EFU programme is a strategic project that not only benefits West Javanese ulama regionally, where they may develop networks with other Muslims on a worldwide scale, but also benefits from the national development of moderate Islamic discourse. On a global scale, this programme is one of the best examples of moderate Islamic discourse diplomacy as the nature of Indonesian Islam. Furthermore, supporting moderate Islam on a worldwide scale is likely to influence Western society’s view of Islamophobia.Contribution: Although the EFU programme is a local government initiative, it has contributed to the promotion of moderate Islam at the world level and is framed as global diplomacy.

Knowing the Figure of KH. Munawar Al Badri Sang Paku Bumi, Da'wah Fighters from the North Coast

“…Ten people were selected as key informants using a purposive sampling technique with criteria according to the research objectives (Safei, 2021). Data validation was carried out by triangulation procedures involving theoretical informants and key informants.…”

“…Data validation was carried out by triangulation procedures involving theoretical informants and key informants. After that, the data are interpreted using a theoretical framework and then presented in a narrative manner (Ikbal et al, 2018;Safei, 2021) through four data analyses of the Giorgi model (1975, 2009Al-Ansi et al, 2019), where this model tries to 1) describe the experience of life, 2) be fair to the object under study, 3) be responsive to the phenomenon, and 4) Istiqomah by upholding the integrity of the actual situation.…”

Portrait of Moderate Islam Within Muslim University Students in Indonesia

“…Previous research only focused on three aspects: theoretical aspects, implementation in communities and religious groups, and micro research on high school students or Islamic boarding schools. Borum (2011) conducted research examining the theory of Islamic Moderation, Ab Rashid et al (2020), Kanafi et al (2021), Mujahid (2021), andNasir &Rijal (2021), research that examines the implementation of Islamic moderation among the Muslim community, such as in Salik's research (Salik, 2019), Syafruddin et al (2018), and Safei (Safei, 2021), and micro research in the local scope that discusses Islamic moderation in the context of student learning in schools, among others, carried out by Hanapi (2014), Sumbulah et al (2018), Zuhdi (2018), Susilo & Dalimunthe (2019), Sirry (2020), Siswanto (2020), Subandi et al(2020), Helmy et al (2021), Yahya & Rahmat (2021), Gunawan et al(2021), andPajarianto et al (2022). On the other hand, students and students are the nation's next generations, so they need special attention from all parties to develop into the future generation of Islamic Moderation.…”

“…Islamic moderation is a manifestation of the Islamic convention known as wasatiyyah. Wasatiyyah Islam is defined as the middle way, balance, justice, implementation or extreme, tolerance, simplicity, and harmony as the embodiment of Islam as a carrier of goodness for all nature (Gunawan et al, 2021;Helmy et al, 2021;Qaraḍāwī, 2010;Safei, 2021;Salik, 2019;Siswanto, 2020;Subandi et al, 2020). Moderation is a manifestation of wasatiyyah Islam, positioning oneself fairly, not ignoring his religion's teachings, and not exaggerating.…”

Mainstreaming Islamic Moderations Values in Higher Education: Policy, Implementation, and Challenges

“…Literature studies were done by some researchers e.g. critical review on literature studies regarding the characteristics of moderate Muslims (Rashid et al, 2020), political views on Islamic moderation (Achilov & Sen, 2017), Islamic moderation and radicalism in relation to plural societies (Davids, 2017) and global community (Safei, 2021), the role that Islamic moderation played in promoting democracy in Indonesia and Malaysia (Freedman, 2009), the importance of democratic moderate Islam identity (Nugraha, 2012). Some field researches also done concerning with how certain Islamist Party (Wuthrich & Ciftci, 2020) and Prosperous Justice Party is more moderate due to its respect to the government democratic style (Tomsa, 2012), .…”