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SIT Alum Azi Hussain: Building Peace Across Religious Divides

BRATTLEBORO, VT (November 12, 2008) -- Eighty-six percent of the world's people are religious and most international conflicts have religious elements, yet religious dialogue is consistently left out of international diplomacy.  This is the question that SIT Alum Azi (Azhar) Hussain tackles in his work with the International Center for Religion and Diplomacy (ICRD).  At his lecture in Brattleboro on 29 October, Azi offered keen observations of the framework of the Muslim/US American conflict in Afghanistan and bordering nations. http://www.reformer.com/ci_10853194?IADID=Search-www.reformer.com-www.reformer.com

The mission of the ICRD is "to address identity-based conflicts that exceed the reach of traditional diplomacy by incorporating religion as part of the solution", from the perspective that "The most serious threat confronting the world today is the potential marriage of religious extremism with weapons of mass destruction."

Azi Hussain has applied profound insights from his graduate studies at SIT to become an effective force to fulfill this mission and establish understanding and peace in Muslim communities in Pakistan and Afghanistan. As part of the Pakistan Madrasa Project, Azi Hussain has helped thousands of Madrasas, (Islamic boarding schools)  leaders embrace basic non-violent tenets of Islam and the Islamic tradition of excellence in general education. And he is working with Muslim leaders as well as US officials to address the deeper causes of and related solutions to the phenomena of violent reactions labeled 'terrorism'.

Azi credits SIT with helping him develop a fuller understanding of the dynamics of conflict and conflict transformation as well as fostering the self-awareness indispensable for effective inter-cultural work. Azi came to the US in 1980 as a high school student, and did his undergraduate work at Rutgers University in New Jersey. He later graduated from SIT's masters Program in Intercultural and International Management.

Azi observes, "SIT provides a larger framework to look at the situation as a whole: what is the environment, what motivates people, how deeply cultures and traditions can condition people and how difficult it is to come out of that…so you can think about the 'extremists' as a person." Azi adds that "At SIT, I realized that you have to understand yourself, your background to be effective in identity-based conflicts…There was profound learning and growth as I realized that I can make a difference in the world and stay true to my culture and identity… Most other educational institutions are not providing affective education, and they are missing a key ingredient."

Azi has helped teachers and conservative Muslim leaders examine the teachings of the Koran and distinguish between the actual teachings and the culture that has sometimes developed around them. For example, the Koran not only disparages violence but also promotes the protection and support of women, teachings which run counter to the culture developed by the Taliban and some other fundamentalist Islamic groups. With this approach, Azi engaged and organized religious leaders to play a key role in successfully negotiating for the release of 21 Korean women missionaries who had been taken hostage by the Taliban in Afghanistan.

Azi also addressed the strategies needed to reduce violence from the US side. He observed, "If you refuse to negotiate with extremists, their only option is to fight." Over 4000 Taliban fighters have already willingly given up arms, but Azi believes that there are many more who wish to do so but feel they cannot.  Addressing chain reactions of violence, he recounts a conversation with an insurgent leader on the juxtaposition of ICRD's work and the affects of US hunting down "enemies" in Pakistan. "This guy said, 'Because of you we hadn't had a new recruit in 3 or 4 months. After that missile (falling on a Madrasa in Pakistan), thanks to Allah, its easy for us to get many recruits now.'"

The problems remain complex, but Azi Hussain's skill and commitment to resolving conflicts and ICRD's steady work offer new opportunities for diminishing and perhaps ultimately resolving seemingly intractable conflicts.

For more information, go to www.icrd.org