Advancing Peace and Freedom of Religion and Belief (FoRB): A Look at JISRA’s Islam and FoRB Community of Practice 

August 2024 – February 2025

The Peacemakers Network, through the Joint Initiative for Strategic Religious Action (JISRA) project is dedicated to fostering inclusivity, knowledge, and partnerships to advance freedom of religion or belief (FoRB) and promote peaceful coexistence globally. As a central component of this project, the Peacemakers Network established the ‘Islam and FoRB Community of Practice’ (CoP), which aims to build the capacity and knowledge of JISRA partners through trainings, advocacy, and research. The CoP comprises of 50 members from across the seven JISRA countries of focus, Ethiopia, Mali, Nigeria, Uganda, Kenya, Iraq, and Indonesia.

Since 2024, the Peacemakers Network has organised a series of CoP webinars and workshops virtually on a quarterly basis to share best practices and support peer learning to enhance the skills and knowledge of JISRA partners.

The Role of Women in Advancing FoRB

In August 2024, the Peacemakers Network facilitated the inaugural Community of Practice meeting, bringing together 15 JISRA partner staff on ‘The Role of women in advancing FoRB- meaningful participation of Muslim women in P/CVE.’

Dr. Jennifer Eggert, a researcher and practitioner on P/CVE provided a global perspective of women’s role in this space. She emphasized the importance of recognizing FoRB engagements do not take place in a vacuum, and highlighted the need to integrate a ‘Do No Harm’ approach and community-led strategies. Further, she also emphasized the importance of applying intersectional approaches in FoRB and P/CVE work. Meaning, it is important to consider how overlapping identities shape people’s experiences.

The second speaker, Ruby Kholifah from Asian Muslim Action Network (AMAN) Indonesia presented on the role of women Ulama in promoting FoRB. She highlighted key strategies the women have used in promoting FoRB, including sharing information on social media, creating spaces for dialogue, capacity building of women ulama, and contextualized fatwas that support women’s engagement in promoting gender justice. She highlighted several challenges women still encounter within the Muslim faith, including cultural resistance, legal and institutional barriers, and weakening democratic institutions, which undermine efforts to implement and enforce laws that protect women’s rights.

Following, Neng Hannah from Fatayat NU, a JISRA partner from Indonesia, spoke on her experience working with women reintegration in West Java, Indonesia by integrating community-based approaches, providing trauma healing sessions, mentorship programs, social reintegration, economic empowerment, institutional collaboration, and capacity building.

Conflict Sensitivity, Islam, and FoRB

In December 2024, the Peacemakers Network facilitated a CoP meeting on ‘Conflict sensitivity, Islam, and Freedom of Religion and Belief.’ Moderated by Afeefa Syed, a cultural anthropologist, discussions centered on the importance of conflict sensitivity for Islam and FoRB. Participants explored key distinctions between religion and culture, examined the cultural dimensions of conflict, and discussed potential risks and unintended negative impacts on programs focused on Islam and FoRB. The conversation also highlighted the importance of deep contextual understanding and unpacked the unique challenges faced by JISRA partners in their work on the ground.

Implementing Islam and FoRB projects effectively in areas with religious tension requires project staff to have the knowledge and skills for conducting a conflict sensitivity assessment to understand how interpretations and application of Islamic sacred texts and practices interacts with the context and potential consequences.

The session was highly welcomed by the JISRA partners as it was found to be relevant to their work as implementors and coordinators working directly in and on conflict situations at the grassroots level. Implementing Islam and FoRB projects effectively in areas with religious tension requires project staff to have the knowledge and skills to conduct a conflict sensitivity assessment in order to understand how interpretations and application Islamic sacred texts and practices interacts with the context and potential consequences.

Experience Sharing on Interfaith Engagements

Salam Traore representing the Islam, Population and Development Network (RIPOD), a JISRA partner in Mali, shared an example from one of RIPODS’s trainings:

“Mohamed Mansour CISSE is a young man under 35, President of the Islamic League of Students and Students of Mali (LIEEMA) in Timbuktu and a member of the Intra-Religious Framework for Exchange, Reflection, and Dialogue for Peace and Peaceful Coexistence in Timbuktu. He had deep prejudices against the Christian community (Catholic and Evangelical) before participating in the interfaith training organized by the JISRA project through RIPOD in 2023. He took part in the interfaith training organized by JISRA through RIPOD in 2023, which allowed him to identify common problems among faith communities (Muslim and Christian) and to know the challenges that imams have in common, especially with pastors. Thanks to this training, the young man committed to increasing the interfaith knowledge of faith communities in the Timbuktu region to prevent violent extremism. He then took steps with the Catholic and Evangelical Christian communities to create a youth association to promote interfaith dialogue in the region, a locality where Christians are a minority and even stigmatized. In 2024, the Association was created after some resistance to the pressures of Timbuktu’s civil society and even some national leaders.”

Following their presentations, Sheikh Ibrahim Lethome, a Religious Scholar and expert in Islamic law from Kenya, shared his experience and reflections, highlighting that diversity is not accidental but rather within God’s divine plan, a concept supported by holy scriptures. He highlighted this understanding should form the basis for FoRB dialogues. He identified a few strategies to enhance peaceful coexistence:

• Intrafaith dialogue is crucial. Communities are not homogenous; engaging in dialogue within faith groups is essential. Religious texts should be used to facilitate these conversations, helping to address internal differences and promote unity.

• There is a need to anchor strategies in holy scriptures. FoRB practitioners and religious leaders should ground their approaches in religious texts.  Using Qur’anic verses and Hadiths that speak to diversity and harmony can lend authenticity and moral authority to their efforts, making the message more persuasive and impactful.

• Sheikh Ibrahim encouraged participants to reflect on historical examples, such as the Prophet Muhammad’s (PBUH) migration from Makkah to Medina. Upon realizing the religious diversity of Medinan society, the Prophet established the Charter of Medina—a model for peaceful coexistence and mutual respect.

The next CoP meeting will be held in June 2025 and will focus on the implementation of the principles of the Marrakesh Declaration in the JISRA focused countries. 

About the JISRA Project

The Joint Initiative for Strategic Religious Action (JISRA) is a partnership of 50 civil society organizations based in Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iraq, Kenya, Mali, Nigeria, and Uganda (with supporting lobby and advocacy in Europe and the USA). This international, inter religious partnership is implementing a five-year program (2021-2025) in partnership with the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to further peaceful and just societies where all enjoy Freedom of Religion and Belief (FoRB).

The program is coordinated by four international consortium partners: Mensen met een Missie Tearfund UK, Tearfund the Netherlands, Faith to Action Network, Search for Common Ground, and the Network for Religious and Traditional Peacemakers.