The Foreign Service Journal, April 2008

A P R I L 2 0 0 8 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 35 he world’s total Muslim population exceeds 1.3 billion people, of whom approxi- mately 300 million live in Arabic-speaking countries, which are at the heart of the radical Islamist movement. Islam’s center of gravity, however, lies not in Mecca or Cairo, but much farther east. Nearly twice as many Muslims live in Indonesia, Pakistan, India and Bangladesh as in the entire Arab world. Thus the “strug- gle for the soul of Islam” must inevitably be fought and won not only in the Arab heartland, but on its periphery as well — a fact which offers a unique, little-known opportunity for those wishing to promote moderate and progressive interpretations of Islam. Non-Arab Muslim populations have the power to help define Islam, and to discredit Wahhabism as a heretical fringe movement financed by oil-rich extremists. Western scholars, journalists and diplomats have long admired Indonesia for having the most liberal and toler- ant version of Islam practiced anywhere on earth. However, this tradition of tolerance has come under threat in recent years as radical groups have expanded their influence. The country has endured terrorist bomb- ings, the forced closure or burning of many churches, and a prolonged religious war in its eastern provinces from 1999 to 2002 that took the lives of thousands, Christians and Muslims alike. Without minimizing the enormous human suffering caused by such events, and their devastating impact on Indonesia’s economy, extremist ideology represents a far greater threat than bombs to the country’s traditions of pluralism and tolerance. These are embodied in its con- stitution and state ideology of pancasila, which guarantee freedom of worship and reject the notion of a so-called “Islamic state.” Tradition of Tolerance Situated on Islam’s eastern periphery, Indonesia’s long and venerable tradition of religious tolerance is not the result of accident, but rather of precise historic circum- stances that offer valuable lessons for us in the struggle against religious extremism and terror today. The 16th century was a time of great upheaval and bloodshed on the Indonesian island of Java, as newly F O C U S O N P O L I T I C A L I S L A M A T RADITION OF T OLERANCE IN I NDONESIA O FFERS H OPE W ITH THE LARGEST M USLIM POPULATION IN THE WORLD , I NDONESIA HAS THE POTENTIAL TO HELP DEFINE I SLAM AS MODERATE AND PROGRESSIVE . B Y K YAI H AJI A BDURRAHMAN W AHID AND C. H OLLAND T AYLOR T Kyai Haji Abdurrahman Wahid was president of Indo- nesia from 1999 to 2001. Prior to that he headed Nahdlatul Ulama, the world’s largest Muslim organization. C. Holland Taylor is chairman and chief executive of the LibForAll Foundation (www.libforall.org) , a non- profit organization he co-founded with Pres. Wahid, which works to reduce religious extremism and discredit the use of terrorism.