This publication presents case studies on interreligious action, highlighting specific approaches and tools that CRS staff members created and the networks they helped forge. They address shortcomings as well as successes and delineate lessons garnered from everyday experience. They also point to the many challenges on the horizon, such as finding ways to better employ religious resources in the pursuit of peace; linking community-level attitudinal and behavioral changes to broader social and religious transformation; effectively addressing personal traumas and prejudices; and fostering women’s and young people’s leadership in and through their religious communities.
Table of Contents
Foreword (J. Andreas Hipple, GHR Foundation)
Introduction (Tom Bamat, Nell Bolton and Myla Leguro)
Interreligious Action as a Driver for Social Cohesion and Development – Atalia Omer
Bosnia-Herzegovina: Choosing Peace Together (CPT) – Nell Bolton and Edita Čolo Zahirović
Building Capacities for Peace across Africa – Shamsia Ramadhan
Central African Republic (CAR): Platforms for Social Cohesion – Jean Baptiste Talla
Coastal Kenya: United for Children’s Rights – Grace Ndugu
Mindanao: Binding, Bonding and Bridging – Myla Leguro and the A3B Project Team
Upper Egypt: Action for Interreligious Tolerance – Roger Fahmy and Malaka Refai
This contribution from an insider Muslim author provides peace workers with a few resources from Islamic tradition that could be used when addressing a conflict rooted in an Islamic context. It presents briefly a number of basic Islamic concepts that are often misunderstood and misused. It addresses the issues of peace and war, conflict and conflict transformation, the requirements for decent work, the concept of «work of goodness» as well as other issues related to Islam/West relations, the tensions that may arise between Muslims and Westerners and the way to deal with them.
Quranic schools (QS) play a central role in the education system in the Islamic world. Despite their relatively small numbers, QS teachers play a major role in introducing Islamic values to the public. Thus, working with QS becomes a key strategy in influencing local Islamic discourse. This article introduces a case study of a program integrating peace, interfaith, and human rights education in QS in West Africa while drawing on the Islamic tradition in peace-building. Results suggest that this approach offers advantages for addressing the challenges inherent in engaging these schools.
The recent outbreak of Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) in West Africa brought great loss of life and health. The world has responded with great care and attention and the people of impacted countries have shown resilience during these difficult times. IIPC receive numerous questions from public health and community leaders in regards to some practices that contribute to the spread of Ebola. Imam Mohamed Hag Magid drafted the following guidance that has been shared with the leading disease control and prevention organizations in the World as well as many Muslim scholars for their feedback.
To read and download the document, click here: http://www.iipcnet.org/resources
This paper discusses Islamic traditions of peace and conflict resolution, and argues that nonviolent and the peaceful resolution of conflicts has been an integral aspect of Islamic tradition since the time of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).
This paper also discusses various community conflict resolution mechanisms that have been developed and effectively applied to resolve conflicts in the Muslim world such as wasata (mediation), sulha (reconciliation) and hewar (dialogue). With this focus the paper seeks to identify the principles which can be used to justify Islamic teachings against violence and a process of resolving conflict.
Authored by Ayse Kadayifci-Orellana (Salam Institute for Peace and Justice & Georgetown University, USA), Mohammed Abu-Nimer (Salam Institute for Peace and Justice & American University, USA) and Amjad Mohamed-Saleem (The Cordoba Foundation)
