Muslim Leaders of Tomorrow

Notes from the MLT Plenary session: "New ideas and competing values"

Shamill Idriss -  Panel moderator's thoughts and questions:

•    How do we raise our children in conflicting societies?
•    Are there conflicting values between different societies?
•    What are the differences and how do we deal with them?
•    Different times, different values. Time changes History and historic values
•    Values are not different, but are perceived differently, depending on the development of history in time
•    We need to find the balance between freedom of speech and respect

The Panel:

Mona Eltahawy - USA
Imam Abu ‘Eesa Niamatullah - UK
Malik Dahlan – Saudia Arabia
Osama Saeed Butta - Scotland
Madiha Younas - Pakistan

MLT Poll:

Are there Islamic values that are in fundamental conflict with Western Values?

61% - Yes
39% - No

Quotes from the panelists:

Mona Eltahawy – USA:

•    Don’t westerners care about their families and don’t Muslims care about human rights?

•    There are no Islamic values & there are no Western values, there are Human values.

•    Both Muslims and Western People have conflicts over human values and human rights. With many of us feeling defensive, we tend to take sides. Essentially we are human beings, who value human values.

Imam Abu ‘Eesa Niamatullah - UK

•    We should be very specific when speaking about values

•    We know that western values are composed of Roman values and a combination of Judeo - Christian values. You have that combined in the American constitution.

•    We have to define, what are Islamic values?

•    Human values can’t be claimed by the West

•    Classically, in the society of true Islam the individual does have the right to express it’s values, but the individual is part if a collective framework

Osama Saeed Butta - Scotland

•    Freedom and democracy are long processes, it can’t be bombed into people

•    You don't have to enforce your values on others

Madiha Younas - Pakistan

•    Living in Pakistan I see in the community that there is a clash between western and eastern society

•    A lot of our cultural values are seen as religious values and used for wrong doing. The same is happening in the west where people want the absolute freedom for the individual and yet call themselves “Muslim”.

•    We need to clarify what an Islamic value is

Malik Dahlan – Saudia Arabia

•    There are differences in our perception about values.

•    Freedom is the absolute freedom that we have in Islam

•    On freedom. What are our concepts of freedom in Islam?

•    We have to think what we are offering to the generations to come

MLT 2009 Press Conference

Contact: 

Rushda Majeed, 212-870-2552 x 2, [email protected] 

 

“Change cannot wait for tomorrow” 

 

300 young Muslim Leaders from 75 countries 

set the agenda for positive change 

Doha, Qatar – January 16-18, 2009 

 

The weekend of Barack Obama’s inauguration in Washington, DC, a new generation of dynamic Muslim leaders spanning the spectrum of ethnicity, ideology and profession will gather to mobilize a global Muslim movement for peace, justice and the common good.  

 

Doha, Qatar — January 2, 2009 — In an historic time of change and diversity, young Muslim leaders from a broad range of countries are convening to push for change from within the global Muslim community. An Italian imam, a Saudi fashion designer, an Iranian rapper, a Pakistani madrasa reformer, an American blogger, and a Dutch lawyer are among the participants attending the 2009 Muslim Leaders of Tomorrow conference. This new generation of community-based, forward-thinking Muslim leaders will come together to share a wide range of 

strategies and leadership styles, to “make tomorrow a day when Muslims are known around the world as people of peace,” in the words of one invitee. 

 

These young Muslim leaders—from Senegal to Somalia, Indonesia to Iraq, Britain to Bahrain, and Kosovo to Kuwait —will propose innovative solutions to challenges facing Muslims globally such as crisis of religious authority, violent extremism, competing values, and strained relations with the West.  

 

The Muslim Leaders of Tomorrow are answering a global call for change on behalf of the world’s Muslim community and will communicate their shared message of tolerance and progressive leadership by authoring a joint statement addressed to today’s global leadership.  

 

Highlights: 

 

The participants will author and sign a major document entitled “An Open Letter to the World Leaders of Today from the Muslim Leaders of Tomorrow”—a unique petition with policy recommendations addressed to both Muslim and non-Muslim leaders to be distributed across international media.  

 

Muslim Leaders of Tomorrow will attend a Doha Debate, entitled “This House believes that political Islam is a threat to the West,” to be chaired by award-winning broadcaster Tim Sebastian and aired on BBC World News.  

 

A “Marketplace of Ideas” will showcase multiple initiatives – founded and led by artists, philanthropists, social entrepreneurs, opinion leaders, civil society leaders, and religious leaders – that all aim for positive change.  

 

The 2009 Muslim Leaders of Tomorrow Doha Conference is organized by the American Society for Muslim Advancement (ASMA), in collaboration with the Cordoba Initiative and the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (AoC). It is being sponsored by the Doha International Center for Interfaith Dialogue (DICID). For more information on the conference or to set up interviews with participants, please contact Rushda Majeed, 212-879-2552 x 2, [email protected]. For media accreditation and logistics, please contact Daanish Masood, (917) 367-9963, [email protected]. 

 

The Muslim Leaders of Tomorrow (MLT) Program 

Creating the Next Generation of Muslim Leaders 

 

The Muslim Leaders of Tomorrow (MLT) is a global program, social network, and grassroots movement meant to cultivate the next generation of young Muslim leaders. By empowering young, dynamic Muslim leaders from all walks of life, the MLT program creates a platform to promote their message and develop the tools needed to galvanize lasting social change worldwide. The MLT program generates a free and open public space where this community can vigorously debate ideas, share best practices, and help one another become better leaders. With ethnic, religious and social diversity as key strengths, the MLTs are stepping up as spokespersons and activists for peace and tolerance around our globe today. MLT is the largest global program creating a new generation of Muslim civic leadership.