Prospects and Challenges in Promoting Humanitarian Islam: Nahdlatul Ulama’s International Social Partnerships

The main vehicles for promoting Humanitarian Islam have been North Carolina-registered non-governmental organizations (NGOs), namely Bayt ar-Rahmah (Home of the Divine Grace) and the Center for Shared Civilizational Values. Key advocates of this campaign include current Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) chairman Yahya Cholil Staquf and North Carolina native Holland Taylor. 

The Humanitarian Islam message promoted under Yahya Cholil Staquf’s leadership goes back to the philosophy of Abdurrahman Wahid (Gus Dur) and NU’s promotion of Islam Nusantara under Said Aqil Siroj’s chairmanship. It focuses on recontextualizing orthodox religious teachings through the establishment of various inter- and intra-religious partnerships globally. 

NU and Bayt ar-Rahmah leaders have witnessed early-stage successes in promoting the Humanitarian Islam vision to forge ties with other large religious organizations across the world such as the Imam Warith Deen Muhammad (IWDM) community and World Evangelical Alliance through utilizing universal vocabularies such as indigeneity, human dignity and humanitarian Islam. 

However, precisely owing to the broad, catch-all nature of this concept, NU faces, among others, three communications-related challenges in implementing the Humanitarian Islam concept—within NU, among the grassroots, and with its partners. Ethnographic work and interviews with NU leaders, Gerakan Pemuda Ansor members, NU’s partners and the grassroots reveal that the vision suffers from a lack of clarity and buy-in beyond a select few leaders.