Students and scholars actively seek to engage new ways of understanding Islam and exploring its relevance for Indonesia. For the past two decades, increasing numbers of Indonesian students have been drawn to study in the West. As a result, they have come to see Islam as a dynamic process of understanding the world, rather than a static faith that cannot change.
Those who studied in the West appear well equipped to present an "Islam" more adaptable and amenable to social change. Indeed, many Western-educated students now occupy the highest academic and political positions in Indonesia. They work actively to develop a different image of Islam -- an Islam compatible with modern human achievements, including democracy, human rights and vibrant civil societies.
Not confined by any fixed orthodoxy, Indonesian Muslims have taken the historic step of welcoming dissident Muslim thinkers like the Pakistani Fazlur Rahman, the Palestinian Ismail al-Faruqi and the Iranian Seyyed Hossein Nasr, even when their ideas were unwelcome in their native lands.
It is neither exaggeration nor overly optimistic to say that Indonesia's experience could pave the way for the emergence of what might be called a "moderate Islamic network," one that forges strong links with the West.
Mun'im Sirry is an Indonesian Muslim scholar and the author of several books, including Resisting Religious Militancy.
Copyright: Project Syndicate
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