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An intercultural dialogue from within

Muslim communities: a global overview

Osman Bakar, Chair Professor and Director; Jabal M. Buaben, Associate Professor;

Norhazlin Muhammad, Lecturer, and Mohamad Azmi Mohamad, Assistant Lecturer,

Universiti Brunei Darussalam, Sultan Omar ‘Ali Saifuddien Centre for Islamic Studies

uslims now account for about one-fifth of

humanity. About one-third of the global Muslim

community live as national religious minori-

ties. On the basis of this demographic fact alone, the way

Muslims conduct their intrafaith and intercultural rela-

tions with the rest of the world can have great bearings

on the future of the world order. Islam and Muslims have

already captured significant global attention, particularly

as reflected in the world media. However, Muslims world-

wide generally perceive this mostly Western-originated

media coverage as largely negative.

In light of this unprecedented global attention to Islam, we

are witnessing a growing number of intercultural dialogue

initiatives from within Muslim communities.

There follows a

global overview of Muslim intercultural relations and dialogue,

particularly since the beginning of the twenty-first century.

Many academics, scholars and political observers of the

Muslimworld identify the 1970s as the beginning of a new global

Islamic resurgence or revival that has impacted the global

ummah

(community) in practically every aspect of its contemporary soci-

etal life, particularly the educational, political and intellectual.

The impact continues to be felt in its intra-Islamic, interreligious

and intercultural relations. Of particular relevance to the current

discussion is the impact on Muslim intercultural relations of

which dialogue is a significant component.

The 1970s: a major turning point

The first significant societal phenomenon to be associated

with this Islamic resurgence was the emergence of a modern

Islamic civil society with its vast international network. At

the national level numerous non-governmental organizations

(NGOs) sprang up championing the cause of Islam within

the Muslim communities as well as the cause of Islam and its

ummah globally. Muslim youth of the 1970s were the prime

movers of the resurgence, but their activism was mainly

inspired by the ideas and teachings of the religious

(ulama)

and Western-trained scholars of Islam of the older generation,

many of whom lived in the West.

South-East Asia

The most influential and significant of the national Muslim

youth movements in the 1970s was perhaps the Muslim Youth

Movement of Malaysia (ABIM). First, it united members from

both the traditional religious and Western secular streams of

education by bridging their intellectual gap using the principle

of unity of thought, and through its organizational project of

turning intellectuals into ulama and ulama into intellectuals.

Second, ABIM was the most intellectually oriented Muslim

youth movement and was open to ideas from all schools of

thought, including Shiite scholars, although it was basically

a Sunni organization.

Third, ABIM was an exceptionally inclusive organization

with members of different political, religious and intellectual

persuasions. Its female members were integral to the shura

(consultative) process. Its founding members were mostly

Malays, but it recruited members from the small minority

groups of Chinese and Indian Muslims who were to become

pioneering ‘intercultural bridges’ between Muslim and non-

Muslim communities.

Fourth, ABIM was a pioneer in conducting interreligious

dialogues between Islam and other religions, particularly

Christianity, Buddhism and Hinduism. Building on the new

atmosphere of dialogue generated by the National Consultative

Council and aided by other like-minded NGOs, particularly

ALIRAN, ABIM helped interreligious dialogue to take root in

Malaysian soil.

Fifth, ABIM succeeded to a certain extent in striking a middle

position in its collective thinking between idealism and pragma-

tism and between intellectualism and legalism. Its organization

provided ample space for a fuller expression of all dimensions

of Islamic teachings in a very interactive way – so much so that

it became a meeting point of ideas from all schools of thought,

especially as realized through its nationwide study circles.

ABIM saw Islam’s representation by the religious and political

establishments in the country as limited in form. It was critical

of the ‘secular space’ in society, which it saw as a domain impreg-

nated with modern Western-originated materialistic values that

went against the fundamental spiritual teachings of all religions.

Aware of Malaysia’s character as a precarious pluralistic society,

it sought to engage in active and meaningful dialogues with the

followers of other religions, aiming to create a just society based

on common spiritual and ethical-moral values.

As in Malaysia, Islamic resurgence in Indonesia in the 1970s

was spearheaded by student activists in the country’s major

university campuses. The country’s two distinct mass move-

ments, Muhammadiyah and Nahdatul Ulama, are the biggest

Muslim NGOs in the world representing Islamic modernism

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