Muslim Peace Movements Emerging Worldwide: Can They Win?

In a bold move to dismantle the pseudo-religious basis of terrorism in the name of Islam, a top Pakistani Muslim religious scholar has released a powerful indictment against it in London this week, the latest of several important Muslim peace movements emerging worldwide.

Dr. Tahir ul-Qadri's unequivocal 600-page anti-terror treatise (known as a 'judgment' or 'fatwa') specifically targets al Qaeda, calling the organization an "old evil with a new name" that the global Islamic community insufficiently addresses. Dr. ul-Qadri's work stems from the so-far unending series of suicide bombings in Pakistan, and is aimed at stopping them and all like them once and for all. And he has lots of help.

To implement the principles expounded in the pragmatic yet theological work, including terrorism categorically not considerable as jihad and suicide bombings not as martyrdom, Dr. ul-Qadri has started the Minhaj ul-Quran International movement. Its latest annual conference last week focused on "Islam on Peace, Integration and Human Rights," goals Minhaj ul-Quran is far from alone in pursuing among Islamic groups seeking a 'post-Islamophobic' era based on cultural integrations.

European Muslims launched an identity-based peace initiative at an innovative conference last year, bringing together scholars and organizers of Islamic communities across the European Union in Caux, Switzerland. Called 'Initiatives for Change' in honor of the parent organization that mediated between opposing sides in World War II, the movement aims to create bridges of understanding and involvement.

In the Middle East, a young group of Muslim activists met in Dubai to form a global Islamic movement for "peace, justice and the common good," issuing the now well-known "An Open Letter to the World Leaders of Today from the Muslim Leaders of Tomorrow." American Muslims were part of the 300 activists from 76 countries who attended the Muslim Leaders of Tomorrow Conference, an inter-faith group still at work today. Women-focused secular organizations also serve the predominantly Muslim region, such as the Suzanne Mubarak Women’s International Peace Movement.

In the U.S., the once openly militant Nation of Islam, bastion of the Black Muslim movement of Malcolm X, seems to have quieted its angry calls recently and has even carried out a Peace Mission to Africa. Groups such as the American Muslim Alliance have banded together under the banner of the American Muslim Task Force, which seeks to further "the objectives, issues, and strategies that concern the American Muslim community through a bottom-up, community-based decision-making process."

These are but a few of the many Islamic organizations worldwide that are not only actively seeking peace within their communities and with others, but living peace through a vital commitment to nonviolence and constructive dialogue in the way they work. A parallel can be drawn with what is known as the Euro-American "organized peace movement" of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, a misnomer because their respective and collective disorganization made the World Wars as if inevitable.

In order to avoid the same fragmented fate, while working in their geographical and topical areas, a coordinating body for these emerging Muslim peace movements can be created. In addition to better allocating resources to avoid overlap, presenting a unified front against terrorists and for partners based on actual religious and political diversity will make world peace prospects much brighter, much quicker, and a much surer way to ensure that emerging Muslim peace movements win.

Photo credit: piu sen