All good things come to an end. The KAICIID 2023 International Cohort program is coming to a close. From February until December, the journey to develop myself in the arts of dialogue and peace-building has been extremely rewarding! Since the last face-to-face training in Bangkok, we all went our ways to work on our peace-building and dialogue-related projects. I knew I could easily do training and workshops, but I wanted to push myself and discover something new.

Muallaf Empowerment Workshop and Research Project

I chose to focus on a special group of Muslims, labelled as the Muallaf, the newly converted to Islam. They represent a group with many identity intersections, be it religion, culture, tradition, nationality, race, gender, and so on. The few Muallaf I have met were amazing, doing so much more for the Muslim Ummah, and thinking outside the box! Imagine what they can do if this group is fully empowered!

I began my research into the community, and found four main reasons for their lack of contribution to an Islamic system of governance:

• Limited opportunities for overall development
• Lack of confidence in the Islamic religion
• Fear of rejection from family and/or society
• Feel isolated from others, physically and/or mentally.

I decided to run a workshop for Muallaf empowerment and selected 10 participants coming from various backgrounds. We went through the GROW with SMART Maqāṣid™ and Heart-centered Islamic Governance frameworks. The outcome was spectacular!

– Similar Maqāṣid

Muallaf members have the same ultimate dream as other Muslims but also have unique dreams based on their reality. Their ideal vision covers the five Maqāṣid:

• FAITH: return to Allah; Paradise; stay on the Right Path
• LIFE: “Halal possible achievable dreams”; environmental justice
• INTELLECT: Further knowledge of Islam and others; innovation
• POSTERITY: Prosperity for family, community & next generations
• WEALTH: Good and halal employment

– Muallaf Development Centre

There were various discussions on issues faced and the ways to improve. Each individual came up with so many fruitful suggestions, which then culminated into establishing a Muallaf Development Centre run by Muallaf for Muallaf. This was a breakthrough for everyone, as this was not something that they could come up with on their own.

Collectively, they envisioned the Centre to:

• Provide equitable support for further life-long learning
• Provide equitable support for Muallaf-preneurs
• Provide ethnic-specific, language-specific, and profession-specific services
• Provide Muallaf-specific counseling services
• Provide a common platform for Muallaf to voice out and contribute to nation-building
• Provide competitions and recognitions to accomplished Muallaf
• Centralise information-sharing for the Muallaf community (e.g., info pack, newsletter, podcast)
• Gather and manage finances for Muallaf community-building
• Bridge with other Muallaf associations outside the country and provide exposure
• Provide equitable support for non-Bruneian Muallaf as well.

There is still a long way to go to materialize the Centre. But everyone was full of hope.

Meeting other cohorts: From discomfort to growth

After everyone successfully conducted their projects all around the world building bridges for peace, we reconvened for the third and last part of the face-to-face training in Lisbon, Portugal. The training officially started on November 30, but before that, many of us caught up with one another. Additionally, we were joined by two additional cohorts: the African and Arab cohorts, making us approximately 60+.

The training started with some recollections of past learning, followed by a sharing session on our initiatives. Some went for publications, while others did training, workshops, and site visits. The room was buzzing with excitement, and the cohort members were very supportive.

Subsequent days we filled with additional site visits to the Sao Domingos church, Gulbenkian museum, Aga Khan Foundation mosque, a synagogue, and a Hindu temple. Additionally, some of our cohort members organized an impromptu visit to the Sanctuary of Fátima, a Catholic pilgrimage site. Of course, my Muslim brothers visited the Lisbon Central Mosque every morning for Fajr prayer, with a good 20-minute walk from our accommodation.

Meeting with other cohorts was a bundle of surprises. It brought in new prejudices and caused discomfort at the beginning. At one time, I felt I was a suppressed minority. However, trained in dialogue, I knew this was an opportunity to grow. So I adapt and set myself new targets: to build new relationships on top of existing ones. I met my first with Samaritanism, Coptic, Pentecostalism, and Shia Isma’ilism, and possibly a lot more that I had missed. Rather than getting to know everyone, I spent some quality time with whoever I could.

Israel-Palestine conflict: An ongoing PEACE dialogue

While the program was running along, at the back of our minds was the Israel-Palestine conflict. We, as peace-builders, want to see an end to the suffering. It is important to listen to one another. I knew that it was easy to dichotomize the conflict into pro-Palestine and pro-Israel, but that would be oversimplifying the difficult issue. I prepped my heart to be open to dialogue, ready to listen, suspend judgment, and willing to see another’s point of view. We have two Jews in our International cohort: one from Israel and the other from Argentina. I decided to have dialogue with them separately, either through our formal program, or the informal spare time.

The first is with the Jewish Israeli. Before the program started, we took the opportunity to go to a nearby beach town, with another Muslim Iraqi and Christian Indonesian. We had a great time exploring the sunny town before easing into the conversation.

Of course, the Israeli was ready with her talking points, that humanitarian values are important, peace is an everlasting aim, but Hamas needs to be “exterminated at all cost.” Our Iraqi friend, experienced in many wars, expressed his belief that war will lead to more war, and there needs to be a stop; more dialogue and love are needed. I just took in both sentiments, recognizing how the conversation was affecting me. I was not ready to participate then.

The second was during a morning Walking Dialogue in the part with my Jewish Argentinian friend. We talked about our livelihood, from food to football, and how things are becoming difficult in Argentina, especially the economy. We also eased into the Israel-Palestine conflict, the history of it, and our agreement to a two-state solution. A few other encounters were spent understanding more about the Jewish side of the story, its governance, and people’s reactions on the ground.

The highest point of the ongoing dialogue unfolded in one of the mediated formal dialogue sessions, where everyone was seated in a circle. Those who did not know much about the conflict refrained from speaking, but those with families, friends, and colleagues on the ground shared their point of view. It was sensitive, heated, and at one point, went out of control because one member raised her voice and began shouting and being defensive. The dialogue process went quickly from being civil and respectful to heckling and unmannerly.

A hard stop was imposed, followed by a quiet reflection and recollection, and a concluding session. We reflected collectively:

Graduation: To more dialogues

Finally, graduation was upon us all. We celebrated our differences and transformation.

Moving forward, I call for more peace-building through dialogue of the heart.