Muslim Heretics Conference

Rushda Majeed

• Last Updated: January 17. 2009 9:30AM UAE / January 17. 2009 5:30AM GMT

The differences have never been more pronounced. A cycle of violence in a number of conflicts around the globe, most recently in Gaza, coupled with few effective leaders in these areas, has revealed a genuine crisis in visionary stewardship.
While in the US, Americans are hopeful that the election of Barack Obama as president will inaugurate a new era of change, the new resident of the White House alone cannot fill our global leadership deficit. For this very reason, nearly 300 young Muslims from approximately 75 countries are convening in Doha this weekend to mobilise a movement for change within their communities. This movement is the Muslim Leaders of Tomorrow.

Seven years ago, in the aftermath of September 11, the American Society for Muslim Advancement, along with its sister organisation, Cordoba Initiative, launched the Muslim Leaders of Tomorrow (MLT) programme in New York City. At its founding, the MLT brought together dynamic and progressive young Muslims from across the US to channel prevailing feelings of discouragement and alienation into focused action. The initiative was founded to engage the American public on issues central to Muslims.

After its first American forum, the MLT programme expanded in 2006 with its next conference in Copenhagen, which brought together young Muslims from 16 west-European countries. Held on the anniversary of the 7/7 London bombings, and following the publication of the Danish cartoons, the MLT once again focused on generating solutions and honest debate in a charged environment, including a dialogue session with Flemming Rose, the original publisher of the Prophet Mohammed cartoons.

What is the significance of the MLT programme in the face of the enormous challenges we currently face as a global community? Between multiple ongoing conflicts, wars and a devastated global economy, perhaps the most that we can hope for is that our existing leaders finally move beyond self-interest and act quickly to handle these crises. But government leadership on its own is fundamentally insufficient. Any true visionary political leader will concede that we cannot continue to look to them alone to resolve our most intractable problems.

This is especially relevant in parts of the Arab world, where the past has shown us that while charismatic leaders can inspire at first, the lack of a commensurate grassroots effort can often lead to disappointment. This is where the MLT programme can step in.
MLT focuses on achieving positive, sustainable change through partnerships across sectors and borders; a bottom-up approach. The programme fosters networking at all levels. Rather than relegating the mantle of change to political leaders, these young leaders actively involve diverse sectors and groups in advancing our societies. Leadership should emerge from a multitude of spheres: business and philanthropy, the arts and culture, academia and religion, civil society and, of course, government.

This weekend’s conference in Doha is a prime example of this type of engagement. Sponsored by the Doha International Center for Interfaith Dialogue (DICID), it will be the first global forum of its kind bringing together dynamic young Muslim leaders from Muslim-minority communities and Muslim-majority countries.
Participants will arrive in Doha from countries as diverse as Iran, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, Netherlands, Egypt, Turkey, Ghana, Afghanistan, Iraq, and Britain. Although attendees represent a broad spectrum of backgrounds, they are similar in at least one respect: they lead pioneering projects within their communities, whether as activists or academics, artists or religious leaders, bloggers or policy-makers.

Together, these young leaders are forming constructive, mutually enriching partnerships where they are most needed – across sectors and genders. Participants will debate and propose solutions to the most pressing issues facing Muslim communities around the globe: the crisis of religious authority, extremism, competing values and more effective media engagement.
In addition to these important plenary discussions, the conference will highlight what Muslims are doing on the ground. They will discuss different projects that they are involved with, including madrasa reform in Pakistan; changing the course of US foreign policy towards the Muslim world; a new comic book series with Islamic themes; and a Canadian sitcom about just another average Muslim family.

The Muslim leaders of the future will need skills to deal with the media. They need to learn how to shape perceptions in the Arab world.
Visionary leadership in this region should be armed with expertise – how to lobby the US Congress, speak to the media, blog and use other types of online social networking sites.
This weekend’s conference will end with a highly anticipated “Open letter to the world leaders of today from the Muslim leaders of tomorrow”, an urgent appeal that they take proactive measures to enable this leadership group to more effectively carry out work of positive social change.

Specifically, this letter includes a request for more opportunities for intellectual and cultural advancement, a demand for greater youth participation in government and civil society and an explicit call that today’s leaders pursue dialogue and diplomacy to resolve longstanding conflicts.
As we start this new year, the sincere attempts of a few hundred young Muslims to find new answers to tough problems – within the fold of Islam – may indeed offer an encouraging way forward. After all, the magnitude of our challenges necessitates that we tap the charisma, optimism and ingenuity of our young people.

Initiatives of this nature need to be supported because they connect people who are too often separated by geography, ideology or socio-economic status, to jointly meet on-the-ground needs. Moreover, they do so in a way that more traditional avenues for engagement cannot. They represent the potential of civil society from within a religion and in a global community in which its crucial role will only grow in the coming years.

The Doha summit promises much, but these promises will not materialise without adequate support.
For now, we eagerly await what this weekend will offer.
Rushda Majeed is programme director at the American Society for Muslim Advancement

A new era in Muslim leadership - The National Newspaper