Amr Abdalla
Dr. Amr Abdalla is a Professor Emeritus at the United Nations-mandated University for Peace (UPEACE) with main campus in Costa Rica. He is also the Senior Advisor on Conflict Resolution at the Washington-based organization KARAMAH (Muslim Women Lawyers for Human Rights).
From 2014 to 2017 he was the Senior Advisor on Policy Analysis and Research at the Institute for Peace and Security Studies (IPSS) of Addis Ababa University. In 2013-2014, he was Vice President of SALAM Institute for Peace and Justice in Washington, D.C. From 2004-2013 he was Professor, Dean and Vice Rector at UPEACE. Prior to that, he was a Senior Fellow with the Peace Operations Policy Program, School of Public Policy, at George Mason University, Virginia. He was also a Professor of Conflict Analysis and Resolution at the Graduate School of Islamic and Social Sciences in Leesburg, Virginia.
Both his academic and professional careers are multi-disciplinary. He obtained a law degree in Egypt in 1977 where he practiced law as a prosecuting attorney from 1978 to 1986. From 1981-1986, he was a member of the public prosecutor team investigating the case of the assassination of President Sadat and numerous other terrorism cases. He then emigrated to the U.S. where he obtained a Master's degree in Sociology and a Ph.D. in Conflict Analysis and Resolution from George Mason University. He has been teaching graduate classes in conflict analysis and resolution, and has conducted training, research and evaluation of conflict resolution and peacebuilding programs in numerous countries in Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Europe and the Americas.
He has been an active figure in promoting inter-faith dialogue and effective cross-cultural messages through workshops and community presentations in the United States and beyond. He pioneered the development of the first conflict resolution teaching and training manual for Muslim communities titled (“…Say Peace”). He also founded Project LIGHT (Learning Islamic Guidance for Human Tolerance), a community peer-based anti-discrimination project funded by the National Conference for Community and Justice (NCCJ). In 2011, he established with Egyptian UPEACE graduates a program for community prevention of sectarian violence in Egypt (Ahl el Hetta). In 2018 he led the publication of the first Arabic Glossary of Terms in Peace and Conflict Studies in cooperation with UNDP-Iraq and the Iraqi Amal Association.
From 2014 to 2017 he was the Senior Advisor on Policy Analysis and Research at the Institute for Peace and Security Studies (IPSS) of Addis Ababa University. In 2013-2014, he was Vice President of SALAM Institute for Peace and Justice in Washington, D.C. From 2004-2013 he was Professor, Dean and Vice Rector at UPEACE. Prior to that, he was a Senior Fellow with the Peace Operations Policy Program, School of Public Policy, at George Mason University, Virginia. He was also a Professor of Conflict Analysis and Resolution at the Graduate School of Islamic and Social Sciences in Leesburg, Virginia.
Both his academic and professional careers are multi-disciplinary. He obtained a law degree in Egypt in 1977 where he practiced law as a prosecuting attorney from 1978 to 1986. From 1981-1986, he was a member of the public prosecutor team investigating the case of the assassination of President Sadat and numerous other terrorism cases. He then emigrated to the U.S. where he obtained a Master's degree in Sociology and a Ph.D. in Conflict Analysis and Resolution from George Mason University. He has been teaching graduate classes in conflict analysis and resolution, and has conducted training, research and evaluation of conflict resolution and peacebuilding programs in numerous countries in Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Europe and the Americas.
He has been an active figure in promoting inter-faith dialogue and effective cross-cultural messages through workshops and community presentations in the United States and beyond. He pioneered the development of the first conflict resolution teaching and training manual for Muslim communities titled (“…Say Peace”). He also founded Project LIGHT (Learning Islamic Guidance for Human Tolerance), a community peer-based anti-discrimination project funded by the National Conference for Community and Justice (NCCJ). In 2011, he established with Egyptian UPEACE graduates a program for community prevention of sectarian violence in Egypt (Ahl el Hetta). In 2018 he led the publication of the first Arabic Glossary of Terms in Peace and Conflict Studies in cooperation with UNDP-Iraq and the Iraqi Amal Association.
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The need for research on African voices from the ground:
An improvement in migration governance alone will be pointless if the root causes are not addressed at the political level. Such a dialogue must take place between African stakeholders on the one hand and external African partners on the other. To be effective, the dialogue must, among other things, include research-based perspectives from African communities across the continent that constitute sources of and transit routes for migration.
Specific objectives of the project included:
• Conducting research on “African Voices from the Ground” in four African countries representing four regions (Sahel, West, South and Horn of Africa);
• Including voices of civil society in the dialogue on migration;
• Establishment of a continuous migration platform, offering an understanding of migration issues;
• Establishment of a network among groups working on migration at the regional and global levels;
• Developing recommendations for policy over the medium term /a governance-related action plan on migration that will achieve regional compliance with AU frameworks and the conclusion of global conventions based on priorities identified by multi-stakeholders, including migrants;
• Discussing and developing long-term approaches toward migration;
• Developing policy recommendations for African decision-makers;
• Developing specific recommendations for the EU-Africa partnership.
نشر برنامج الأمم المتحدة الإنمائي في تونس هذا الدليل العملي باللغة العربية حول تسهيل الحوار المجتمعي لمنع التطرف العنيف. هذا الدليل هو نتاج جهد تعاوني مع موظفي برنامج الأمم المتحدة الإنمائي في تونس ، وزملائي شهرزاد النصراوي وعمّار ياسين و فدوى عامر ، بالتشاور مع سامي بلحاج ومريم معزول. نأمل أن يكون الدليل مفيدًا للمختصين في جميع أنحاء العالم العربي وخارجه. د. عمرو خيري عبدالله
The following is an outline of the chapter subheadings:
1. Egypt’s sense of nationhood. This will be a brief section highlighting the unique existence of Egypt as a “nation” over the centuries, and as mentioned in historical and religious documents. An emphasis of this section is on the centuries-long persistent separation between the Egyptian populace and foreign-dominated governments and states.
2. The first non-violent popular intervention in government formation in early 19th century. With the departure of the French campaign in 1801, the Egyptian public resorted to non-violent means to impose a ruler- Mohammad Ali- over the Ottoman ruler (wali). The effect of this intervention on the Egyptian populace’s sense of empowerment.
3. The solidification of the emerging sense of national identity due to Mohammad Ali’s policies of Egyptianizing the army, which was for thousands of years composed of foreigners.
4. The growing sense of Egyptian identity, and its associated dissatisfaction with the conditions of Egyptians in the army compared to foreigners. This culminated into the 1881-2 Orabi movement which started and continued to resort to non-violent means until the British army attacked and occupied Egypt in 1882.
5. The effect of the Orabi movement on shaping a widely embraced sense of national identity, and the use of press and media to transform that sense into the demand to form an Egyptian nation-state. The role of Mustafa Kamel in shaping that movement in late 19th century and early 20th century.
6. The 1919 revolution with its explicit demand for an independent Egyptian nation-state. The non-violent struggle of the people and their leaders against the occupying British forces.
7. Lessons learned and reflections for non-violent movements advancing national aspirations.
Key Points
Explanations related to the conventional factors such as poverty, unemployment, illiteracy, or bad governance used to understand youth alienation and militancy are insufficient, sometimes contradictory, in explaining the case of militant Islam. Those factors may explain the sources of grievances which the youth throughout the Muslim world continue to face until today. However, they fail to explain why such youth do not opt for a non-violent-Tahrir Square mode of protest, or even go for a violent mode of protest founded on leftist or liberal principles and instead choose a violent mode grounded in extreme interpretations of Islam.
The youth are driven towards militancy and violence under the conviction that they are fulfilling their religious duty to restore to Islam its lost glory. They believe that restoring such glory has to go through a reciprocal violent struggle against the forces that violently stand in their way of realizing their Islamic utopia on earth, namely, the secular western powers of the world and their allies ruling regimes in the Arab and Muslim world.
A Doctrine Revision approach would strike straight into the heart of radicalization in the Muslim context. It has the potential to transform the hearts and minds of proponents of violence in the name of Islam, and to prevent more Muslim youth from joining violent doctrines and groups.
Addressing the violent doctrine within Islamic circles may reduce the tendency towards opting for the use of violence in the name of Islam, but would not be useful without addressing the wider socio-political and developmental grievance factors (poverty, unemployment, inequality, illiteracy, bad governance, etc.).
It is, therefore, imperative to develop multi-pronged policies to address both the doctrinal and grievance factors.
Project L.I.G.H.T., Learning Islamic Guidance for Human Tolerance, was a one-year anti-bias program funded by the National Conference on Community and Justice (NCCJ). The Chevron-Texaco Foundation recognizing the backlash experienced by many after September 11th donated money to NCCJ to support programs designed to expand the capacity of individuals, institutions and agencies to respond to prejudice expressed against many individuals and communities, especially South Asians, Muslims, and Arabs. Project L.I.G.H.T. was developed by and is facilitated and organized by a team of faculty and students from The Graduate School of Islamic and Social Sciences (GSISS) in Leesburg, VA.
The main goal of Project L.I.G.H.T. was to empower ordinary members of the Muslim community through education on Islam’s fundamental messages of tolerance, inclusiveness and peaceful coexistence for all people, and on personal skills to identify and address bigotry and discrimination. Participants were trained in these skills, and then they develop these messages into lesson plans that they utilized in more than 40 interactive workshops for groups of their non-Muslim peers. Finally, together with their Non-Muslim peers, they developed actions and formulated approaches to combat bigotry and discrimination in their communities.
Project L.I.G.H.T. has been developed with several objectives in mind. The first objective is to consider all issues from an Islamic viewpoint, using Islamic methodology centered on tawhid. Through this, participants are exposed to a variety of sources and they are encouraged to develop an Islamic understanding beyond legalism. The second objective is the actualization of teachings on diversity and pluralism in diverse participants from DC, VA and MD. The program is committed to intra-Muslim diversity and inclusiveness, as represented in different age groups, genders and ethnicities. The third objective is to embody the principle of equality through the use of a non-hierarchical training and learning structure and participatory leadership. The final objective is to utilize a people-to-people approach and an interactive learning style that will not only provide knowledge about the Islamic guidance on tolerance, but, also, through the development of interactions, transform the knowledge into attitudes and understandings that will be reflected in behavior and skills.
Message from the Lead Author Dr. Amr Abdalla
This manual has been developed by the faculty and students at the Graduate School of Islamic and Social Sciences (GSISS) in Leesburg, Virginia. GSISS’s effort to develop models of conflict analysis and resolution for the Muslim community dates back to 1998, when Alma Jadallah and myself, representing KARAMAH (Muslim Women Lawyers for Human Rights), taught the first course on conflict analysis and resolution. I then continued to teach the course over the following four years, with more emphasis on grounding the course in Islamic sources, and with careful attention to the needs of the Muslim community in the United States.
The development of this manual has been gradual over those years. With each course, students and faculty contributed more ideas, and conducted more research. As various components of the training manual were being developed, GSISS faculty and students experimented with using them in presentations and training workshops (including Harvard Law School, 2000; ISNA, 2000-2002; GSISS, 2000; Peaceful Family Project in Atlanta and D.C., 2001; Scuola Superiora Sant’Anna in Pisa Italy, 2002, and George Mason University, 2002). Finally, GSISS agreed to designate a 2-course track for the purpose of producing a conflict analysis and training manual to be used in training for communities in the United States and beyond. Three students committed themselves to attend the two courses, and to participate in the development of the manual (Louai Al-Hafar, Patty Anton, and Fatima Mirza). Together with myself, they completed the design of the manual during the Spring 2002 semester, then completed its development and production in the Summer of 2002.
Since then, the manual, or portions of it, has been used by the authors and different professors and practitioners in university classes and workshops. The manual received positive feedback and appeals to continue to update it and expand its use to more audiences in the United States and beyond. At the same time, the authors have been developing further concepts and training models suitable for Muslim communities worldwide. As a result, in 2015, the El Hibri Foundation approved a grant to me, then Vice President of Salam Institute for Peace and Justice, to update the manual, conduct new training workshops and prepare a cadre of trainers who can replicate the training models and workshops.
During 2015, with the support of a new generation of colleagues: Lilya Akay, Arezou Hassanzadeh and Marjan Tabari, I embarked upon the task of updating the manual. This entailed an update to three major areas:
1. The mainstream literature on peace and conflict resolution
2. The foundational Islamic concepts especially the Methodology of Maqasid (Objectives of the Sharia)
3. The training models for families, organizations, and youth
As new elements of the new manual were being produced, we received immense support from organizations in the Washington, D.C. area working on Muslim community issues. Leaders and members of KARAMAH (U.S. and Europe), IKRAM, FAITH, the Fairfax Institute, and Youth Foundation for Networking and Friendship all provided venues for conducting Say Peace workshops, and have shown enthusiasm and support for the manual and its training models. Several of those leaders and members then participated in the Training of Trainer workshop that was held in October 2015. And finally, in February 2016, a group of the Say Peace trainers conducted a workshop for youth and their families on bullying prevention. They skillfully and creatively used elements of the manual to apply to such an important issue, and they have definitely earned their place as pioneering Say Peace trainers.
I am grateful to El Hibri Foundation for their generous support to the production of the new version of the manual; to Salam Institute for their continuous support to our effort; to leaders and members of KARAMAH (U.S. and Europe), IKRAM, FAITH, the Fairfax Institute, IIIT (International Institute of Islamic Though), and Youth Foundation for Networking and Friendship; to Ms. Leena El-Ali the project evaluator; and to my co-authors Lilya Akai ,Arezou Hassanzadeh and Marjan Tabari. A special thanks to Maliha Shaikh who spent numerous hours editing this manual under a tight timeline.
We will forever be grateful to the co-founders and co-authors of the first version of this manual: Patty Anton, Fatima Mirza and Louai El Haffar, and to GSISS (The Graduate School of Islamic and Social Sciences) for their vision and dedication which continues to bear fruits until today.
Finally, the stream of gratitude would be incomplete without expressing how my wife Sharmin Ahmad played a key role in supporting this work. I met Sharmin in 1998 when I was starting my work on Islamic perspectives on conflict resolution at GSISS. Shortly after I met her we had an invitation to speak about Islam in a church in Arlington. She gave the opening remarks about Islam during that presentation by saying: “Islam started with a love story!” I was surprised by that line and was not sure where she was heading. In her eloquent manner, she described how Prophet Mohammad (PBUH), upon receiving the first revelation of the Holy Quran from the angel Gabriel while meditating in a cave, became so shaken that he rushed back to his wife Khadija, who immediately showered him with love, care, support and, most important, belief in his message. Khadija’s love and support to the Prophet anchored the establishment of one of the greatest religions on earth. Yes, Sharmin was correct: Islam started with a love story. I use her line every time I lecture or present on issues related to Islam. Thank you, Sharmin, for all your support over the years to see this Say Peace manual grow and spread to wider audiences worldwide. The theme of “Islam started with a love story” underlies this entire manual.
In Peace,
Amr Abdalla, Ph.D. February 2016
Purpose and Plan of the Manual
The purpose of the training manual is to be used in university courses and training workshops on conflict analysis and resolution, with a focus on Islamic perspectives. The information in the manual aim to develop and improve participants’ knowledge and skills of conflict analysis and resolution in an Islamic context. The manual is divided into eight sections:
1.) Introduction
2.) Fundamentals of Islamic Perspective on Conflict Resolution
3.) Conflict Definitions and Mapping
4.) Context and Relationship
5.) The Eight Essential Elements of Conflict
6.) An Islamic Model for Conflict Intervention
7.) Training Modules
8.) Authors’ Biographies
9.) Appendix 1: Tools
10.) Appendix 2: Sample Hand-outs for Workshops
11.) Appendix 3: Common Grounds & Comparative Study of Maqasid
12.) Appendix 4: Glossary of Arabic Names and Terms
2011 Arab Awakening—are making significant contributions to the eradication of the root religious, cultural, and political underpinnings of terrorism in the name of Islam, as well as attenuating the influence of Al-Qaida and similar groups in the Arab East. The recent Arab revolutions, along with the Doctrine Revisions that have been implemented widely in Egypt and elsewhere, constitute the most effective preventive measures for reducing the recruiting pool for radical terrorist groups at all levels.
The goal of the overall project for the development and implementation of peace education curricula from Islamic perspectives was to provide peace education informed by Islamic sources to a variety of Muslim communities and related segments worldwide. Through this curriculum/teaching module, an attempt has been made to develop a framework for an “Islamically informed” peace education curriculum. In this process, UPEACE engaged experts in the areas of peace education and Islamic studies representing majority and minority Muslim communities, and formed a team of experts in Islamic peace education (Global Resource Team) to support the expansion of curriculum implementation. UPEACE’s commitment to spreading knowledge about nonviolence and the peaceful resolution and transformation of conflict permeates all its academic and regional activities. These principles and values guided the development of this curriculum, while emphasizing UPEACE’s commitment to mainstreaming gender, human rights, multiculturalism, and participatory/interactive education.
Reports by Amr Abdalla
• Firstly, the project focused on mitigating the drivers of natural resource-based conflicts (scarcity, governance, livelihoods) by implementing a combination of physical NRM and livelihood interventions and by addressing key governance shortcomings.
• Secondly, it focused on building the conflict management capacity of local and state institutions through tailored trainings and improved coordination among user groups.
The project was conducted by UN Environment and received funding from the European Union. The project was funded for a period of 39 months (July 2015-September 2018) and was implemented across five areas in West Darfur (Kerenik and Mornie), Central Darfur (Azum) and West Kordofan (Muglad and Babanusa). The project was delivered in partnership with two national non-governmental organizations: Darfur Development and Reconstruction Agency (DDRA) in West and Central Darfur, and SOS Sahel Sudan (SOS Sahel) in West Kordofan.
The evaluation involved several phases including, initial review of project design quality and stakeholder analysis, development of a Reconstructed Theory of Change, desk review of project documents, preliminary interviews with key project staff, and preparation of an inception report. During the evaluation mission conducted in March 2019, effort included extensive review of project documentations and reports, interviews with project, donor and implementing partner organization staff, and field interviews with stakeholders, community representatives, government officials and beneficiaries where the project was implemented. Qualitative methods and analysis were used to produce evidence-based findings, lessons learned and recommendations. Following the evaluation mission, preliminary findings were shared with key stakeholders and their comments were incorporated in this TE report.
This terminal evaluation confirmed that the project achieved its two key outcomes pertaining to reduction of violent conflict over natural resources, and improved relationships within communities and with the government. This was primarily owed to the dynamic, rather than linear, inter-dependent delivery of outputs and achievement of outcomes. They were guided by the efforts of inclusive collaborative committees towards tangible fulfillment of needs and interests of community members and stakeholders, which propelled into trust-building and social cohesion.
The need for research on African voices from the ground:
An improvement in migration governance alone will be pointless if the root causes are not addressed at the political level. Such a dialogue must take place between African stakeholders on the one hand and external African partners on the other. To be effective, the dialogue must, among other things, include research-based perspectives from African communities across the continent that constitute sources of and transit routes for migration.
Specific objectives of the project included:
• Conducting research on “African Voices from the Ground” in four African countries representing four regions (Sahel, West, South and Horn of Africa);
• Including voices of civil society in the dialogue on migration;
• Establishment of a continuous migration platform, offering an understanding of migration issues;
• Establishment of a network among groups working on migration at the regional and global levels;
• Developing recommendations for policy over the medium term /a governance-related action plan on migration that will achieve regional compliance with AU frameworks and the conclusion of global conventions based on priorities identified by multi-stakeholders, including migrants;
• Discussing and developing long-term approaches toward migration;
• Developing policy recommendations for African decision-makers;
• Developing specific recommendations for the EU-Africa partnership.
نشر برنامج الأمم المتحدة الإنمائي في تونس هذا الدليل العملي باللغة العربية حول تسهيل الحوار المجتمعي لمنع التطرف العنيف. هذا الدليل هو نتاج جهد تعاوني مع موظفي برنامج الأمم المتحدة الإنمائي في تونس ، وزملائي شهرزاد النصراوي وعمّار ياسين و فدوى عامر ، بالتشاور مع سامي بلحاج ومريم معزول. نأمل أن يكون الدليل مفيدًا للمختصين في جميع أنحاء العالم العربي وخارجه. د. عمرو خيري عبدالله
The following is an outline of the chapter subheadings:
1. Egypt’s sense of nationhood. This will be a brief section highlighting the unique existence of Egypt as a “nation” over the centuries, and as mentioned in historical and religious documents. An emphasis of this section is on the centuries-long persistent separation between the Egyptian populace and foreign-dominated governments and states.
2. The first non-violent popular intervention in government formation in early 19th century. With the departure of the French campaign in 1801, the Egyptian public resorted to non-violent means to impose a ruler- Mohammad Ali- over the Ottoman ruler (wali). The effect of this intervention on the Egyptian populace’s sense of empowerment.
3. The solidification of the emerging sense of national identity due to Mohammad Ali’s policies of Egyptianizing the army, which was for thousands of years composed of foreigners.
4. The growing sense of Egyptian identity, and its associated dissatisfaction with the conditions of Egyptians in the army compared to foreigners. This culminated into the 1881-2 Orabi movement which started and continued to resort to non-violent means until the British army attacked and occupied Egypt in 1882.
5. The effect of the Orabi movement on shaping a widely embraced sense of national identity, and the use of press and media to transform that sense into the demand to form an Egyptian nation-state. The role of Mustafa Kamel in shaping that movement in late 19th century and early 20th century.
6. The 1919 revolution with its explicit demand for an independent Egyptian nation-state. The non-violent struggle of the people and their leaders against the occupying British forces.
7. Lessons learned and reflections for non-violent movements advancing national aspirations.
Key Points
Explanations related to the conventional factors such as poverty, unemployment, illiteracy, or bad governance used to understand youth alienation and militancy are insufficient, sometimes contradictory, in explaining the case of militant Islam. Those factors may explain the sources of grievances which the youth throughout the Muslim world continue to face until today. However, they fail to explain why such youth do not opt for a non-violent-Tahrir Square mode of protest, or even go for a violent mode of protest founded on leftist or liberal principles and instead choose a violent mode grounded in extreme interpretations of Islam.
The youth are driven towards militancy and violence under the conviction that they are fulfilling their religious duty to restore to Islam its lost glory. They believe that restoring such glory has to go through a reciprocal violent struggle against the forces that violently stand in their way of realizing their Islamic utopia on earth, namely, the secular western powers of the world and their allies ruling regimes in the Arab and Muslim world.
A Doctrine Revision approach would strike straight into the heart of radicalization in the Muslim context. It has the potential to transform the hearts and minds of proponents of violence in the name of Islam, and to prevent more Muslim youth from joining violent doctrines and groups.
Addressing the violent doctrine within Islamic circles may reduce the tendency towards opting for the use of violence in the name of Islam, but would not be useful without addressing the wider socio-political and developmental grievance factors (poverty, unemployment, inequality, illiteracy, bad governance, etc.).
It is, therefore, imperative to develop multi-pronged policies to address both the doctrinal and grievance factors.
Project L.I.G.H.T., Learning Islamic Guidance for Human Tolerance, was a one-year anti-bias program funded by the National Conference on Community and Justice (NCCJ). The Chevron-Texaco Foundation recognizing the backlash experienced by many after September 11th donated money to NCCJ to support programs designed to expand the capacity of individuals, institutions and agencies to respond to prejudice expressed against many individuals and communities, especially South Asians, Muslims, and Arabs. Project L.I.G.H.T. was developed by and is facilitated and organized by a team of faculty and students from The Graduate School of Islamic and Social Sciences (GSISS) in Leesburg, VA.
The main goal of Project L.I.G.H.T. was to empower ordinary members of the Muslim community through education on Islam’s fundamental messages of tolerance, inclusiveness and peaceful coexistence for all people, and on personal skills to identify and address bigotry and discrimination. Participants were trained in these skills, and then they develop these messages into lesson plans that they utilized in more than 40 interactive workshops for groups of their non-Muslim peers. Finally, together with their Non-Muslim peers, they developed actions and formulated approaches to combat bigotry and discrimination in their communities.
Project L.I.G.H.T. has been developed with several objectives in mind. The first objective is to consider all issues from an Islamic viewpoint, using Islamic methodology centered on tawhid. Through this, participants are exposed to a variety of sources and they are encouraged to develop an Islamic understanding beyond legalism. The second objective is the actualization of teachings on diversity and pluralism in diverse participants from DC, VA and MD. The program is committed to intra-Muslim diversity and inclusiveness, as represented in different age groups, genders and ethnicities. The third objective is to embody the principle of equality through the use of a non-hierarchical training and learning structure and participatory leadership. The final objective is to utilize a people-to-people approach and an interactive learning style that will not only provide knowledge about the Islamic guidance on tolerance, but, also, through the development of interactions, transform the knowledge into attitudes and understandings that will be reflected in behavior and skills.
Message from the Lead Author Dr. Amr Abdalla
This manual has been developed by the faculty and students at the Graduate School of Islamic and Social Sciences (GSISS) in Leesburg, Virginia. GSISS’s effort to develop models of conflict analysis and resolution for the Muslim community dates back to 1998, when Alma Jadallah and myself, representing KARAMAH (Muslim Women Lawyers for Human Rights), taught the first course on conflict analysis and resolution. I then continued to teach the course over the following four years, with more emphasis on grounding the course in Islamic sources, and with careful attention to the needs of the Muslim community in the United States.
The development of this manual has been gradual over those years. With each course, students and faculty contributed more ideas, and conducted more research. As various components of the training manual were being developed, GSISS faculty and students experimented with using them in presentations and training workshops (including Harvard Law School, 2000; ISNA, 2000-2002; GSISS, 2000; Peaceful Family Project in Atlanta and D.C., 2001; Scuola Superiora Sant’Anna in Pisa Italy, 2002, and George Mason University, 2002). Finally, GSISS agreed to designate a 2-course track for the purpose of producing a conflict analysis and training manual to be used in training for communities in the United States and beyond. Three students committed themselves to attend the two courses, and to participate in the development of the manual (Louai Al-Hafar, Patty Anton, and Fatima Mirza). Together with myself, they completed the design of the manual during the Spring 2002 semester, then completed its development and production in the Summer of 2002.
Since then, the manual, or portions of it, has been used by the authors and different professors and practitioners in university classes and workshops. The manual received positive feedback and appeals to continue to update it and expand its use to more audiences in the United States and beyond. At the same time, the authors have been developing further concepts and training models suitable for Muslim communities worldwide. As a result, in 2015, the El Hibri Foundation approved a grant to me, then Vice President of Salam Institute for Peace and Justice, to update the manual, conduct new training workshops and prepare a cadre of trainers who can replicate the training models and workshops.
During 2015, with the support of a new generation of colleagues: Lilya Akay, Arezou Hassanzadeh and Marjan Tabari, I embarked upon the task of updating the manual. This entailed an update to three major areas:
1. The mainstream literature on peace and conflict resolution
2. The foundational Islamic concepts especially the Methodology of Maqasid (Objectives of the Sharia)
3. The training models for families, organizations, and youth
As new elements of the new manual were being produced, we received immense support from organizations in the Washington, D.C. area working on Muslim community issues. Leaders and members of KARAMAH (U.S. and Europe), IKRAM, FAITH, the Fairfax Institute, and Youth Foundation for Networking and Friendship all provided venues for conducting Say Peace workshops, and have shown enthusiasm and support for the manual and its training models. Several of those leaders and members then participated in the Training of Trainer workshop that was held in October 2015. And finally, in February 2016, a group of the Say Peace trainers conducted a workshop for youth and their families on bullying prevention. They skillfully and creatively used elements of the manual to apply to such an important issue, and they have definitely earned their place as pioneering Say Peace trainers.
I am grateful to El Hibri Foundation for their generous support to the production of the new version of the manual; to Salam Institute for their continuous support to our effort; to leaders and members of KARAMAH (U.S. and Europe), IKRAM, FAITH, the Fairfax Institute, IIIT (International Institute of Islamic Though), and Youth Foundation for Networking and Friendship; to Ms. Leena El-Ali the project evaluator; and to my co-authors Lilya Akai ,Arezou Hassanzadeh and Marjan Tabari. A special thanks to Maliha Shaikh who spent numerous hours editing this manual under a tight timeline.
We will forever be grateful to the co-founders and co-authors of the first version of this manual: Patty Anton, Fatima Mirza and Louai El Haffar, and to GSISS (The Graduate School of Islamic and Social Sciences) for their vision and dedication which continues to bear fruits until today.
Finally, the stream of gratitude would be incomplete without expressing how my wife Sharmin Ahmad played a key role in supporting this work. I met Sharmin in 1998 when I was starting my work on Islamic perspectives on conflict resolution at GSISS. Shortly after I met her we had an invitation to speak about Islam in a church in Arlington. She gave the opening remarks about Islam during that presentation by saying: “Islam started with a love story!” I was surprised by that line and was not sure where she was heading. In her eloquent manner, she described how Prophet Mohammad (PBUH), upon receiving the first revelation of the Holy Quran from the angel Gabriel while meditating in a cave, became so shaken that he rushed back to his wife Khadija, who immediately showered him with love, care, support and, most important, belief in his message. Khadija’s love and support to the Prophet anchored the establishment of one of the greatest religions on earth. Yes, Sharmin was correct: Islam started with a love story. I use her line every time I lecture or present on issues related to Islam. Thank you, Sharmin, for all your support over the years to see this Say Peace manual grow and spread to wider audiences worldwide. The theme of “Islam started with a love story” underlies this entire manual.
In Peace,
Amr Abdalla, Ph.D. February 2016
Purpose and Plan of the Manual
The purpose of the training manual is to be used in university courses and training workshops on conflict analysis and resolution, with a focus on Islamic perspectives. The information in the manual aim to develop and improve participants’ knowledge and skills of conflict analysis and resolution in an Islamic context. The manual is divided into eight sections:
1.) Introduction
2.) Fundamentals of Islamic Perspective on Conflict Resolution
3.) Conflict Definitions and Mapping
4.) Context and Relationship
5.) The Eight Essential Elements of Conflict
6.) An Islamic Model for Conflict Intervention
7.) Training Modules
8.) Authors’ Biographies
9.) Appendix 1: Tools
10.) Appendix 2: Sample Hand-outs for Workshops
11.) Appendix 3: Common Grounds & Comparative Study of Maqasid
12.) Appendix 4: Glossary of Arabic Names and Terms
2011 Arab Awakening—are making significant contributions to the eradication of the root religious, cultural, and political underpinnings of terrorism in the name of Islam, as well as attenuating the influence of Al-Qaida and similar groups in the Arab East. The recent Arab revolutions, along with the Doctrine Revisions that have been implemented widely in Egypt and elsewhere, constitute the most effective preventive measures for reducing the recruiting pool for radical terrorist groups at all levels.
The goal of the overall project for the development and implementation of peace education curricula from Islamic perspectives was to provide peace education informed by Islamic sources to a variety of Muslim communities and related segments worldwide. Through this curriculum/teaching module, an attempt has been made to develop a framework for an “Islamically informed” peace education curriculum. In this process, UPEACE engaged experts in the areas of peace education and Islamic studies representing majority and minority Muslim communities, and formed a team of experts in Islamic peace education (Global Resource Team) to support the expansion of curriculum implementation. UPEACE’s commitment to spreading knowledge about nonviolence and the peaceful resolution and transformation of conflict permeates all its academic and regional activities. These principles and values guided the development of this curriculum, while emphasizing UPEACE’s commitment to mainstreaming gender, human rights, multiculturalism, and participatory/interactive education.
• Firstly, the project focused on mitigating the drivers of natural resource-based conflicts (scarcity, governance, livelihoods) by implementing a combination of physical NRM and livelihood interventions and by addressing key governance shortcomings.
• Secondly, it focused on building the conflict management capacity of local and state institutions through tailored trainings and improved coordination among user groups.
The project was conducted by UN Environment and received funding from the European Union. The project was funded for a period of 39 months (July 2015-September 2018) and was implemented across five areas in West Darfur (Kerenik and Mornie), Central Darfur (Azum) and West Kordofan (Muglad and Babanusa). The project was delivered in partnership with two national non-governmental organizations: Darfur Development and Reconstruction Agency (DDRA) in West and Central Darfur, and SOS Sahel Sudan (SOS Sahel) in West Kordofan.
The evaluation involved several phases including, initial review of project design quality and stakeholder analysis, development of a Reconstructed Theory of Change, desk review of project documents, preliminary interviews with key project staff, and preparation of an inception report. During the evaluation mission conducted in March 2019, effort included extensive review of project documentations and reports, interviews with project, donor and implementing partner organization staff, and field interviews with stakeholders, community representatives, government officials and beneficiaries where the project was implemented. Qualitative methods and analysis were used to produce evidence-based findings, lessons learned and recommendations. Following the evaluation mission, preliminary findings were shared with key stakeholders and their comments were incorporated in this TE report.
This terminal evaluation confirmed that the project achieved its two key outcomes pertaining to reduction of violent conflict over natural resources, and improved relationships within communities and with the government. This was primarily owed to the dynamic, rather than linear, inter-dependent delivery of outputs and achievement of outcomes. They were guided by the efforts of inclusive collaborative committees towards tangible fulfillment of needs and interests of community members and stakeholders, which propelled into trust-building and social cohesion.
scholars in developing this model, namely Chris Mitchell, Johan Galtung and Chris Moore. They all looked at conflicts as a situation which included, among other things, some form of divergence of interests and a
struggle to achieve one’s interest over the other.
C.R.T. SIPPABIO elaborates on the dimension of the situation in four ways. First, the model recognizes nine elements that are essential for the existence and persistence of any conflict (the SIPPABIO elements:
Sources, Interests, Positions, Parties, Attitudes/Feelings, Behavior, Intervention, Outcome/Stage and Triggers). We organize the nine essential elements into four components (Parties, Rational dimension, Psycho-behavioral dimension, Intervention/outcomes). Second, it acknowledges that conflicts do not exist in a vacuum, and hence understanding the Context in which a conflict takes place is essential to a complete assessment of what shapes the eight essential elements. Third, in the heart of conflicts often are dynamics of Relationship, with its four elements: Bond, Power, Interdependence and Patterns. Finally, Triggers represent the dynamism of the model moving conflict across its various components.
C.R.T. SIPPABIO provides a complete guide for understanding conflicts holistically. As such, it is most useful as an introductory tool to the field of peace and conflict studies. It also prepares practitioners in the
field of peace and conflict resolution to systematically analyze conflicts in order to best choose appropriate intervention approaches.
This manual embraces the notion that education for conflict and peace spans all levels from the inter-personal to the global, including the international, community, workplace, organization and family levels. Accordingly, we use examples and applications to all those levels throughout. Furthermore, we believe that relating the knowledge of peace and conflict to the micro interpersonal, family and workplace levels would best prepare even those interested only in the macro level to deeply internalize and embrace peaceful approaches to conflict.
By Dr. Amr Abdalla
Throughout my career in the field and with much travel to conflict zones, post-conflict societies, and to nations going through the peacebuilding process, I have discovered that there is a huge need for real, dedicated research in the field of Peace and Conflict studies. During my career and my work worldwide, I have found many positive examples and unfortunately, also many negative ones. Each of such examples seemed to impact people to a great extent; sometimes in healthy and constructive ways and sometimes the most devastating.
I have also experienced many situations that defy common knowledge dictated by dominant media. For example, while briefly in Rwanda and for a few weeks in Burundi in 1998, I encountered a sizeable population of Muslims who lived among a majority of Christians. I was curious about the connection of the people’s ethnic and religious identities. I thought for a while that perhaps Muslims were made of ethnic groups other than Hutus and Tutsis. I was quickly corrected; Muslims too were mainly either Hutus or Tutsis. This raised the question of how they handled themselves during the ethnic war in 1994. The response I received from Muslims in Rwanda and Burundi was that because they were Muslims they should not, and could not fight each other, or fight others, due to ethnic differences. Islam, they said, prohibited that sort of violence against each other. In order to validate this story, I asked professionals working with the United Nations and other Western non-government organizations if they knew about that situation, which to me seemed like a phenomenon. Everyone I inquired from responded positively: that it was true that the Muslim population refrained from participation in the war and those Muslim sections of Kigali and Bujumbura were safe havens during the war.
This information seemed to be of great value to those interested in the role of religion in conflict resolution and peacebuilding-- especially given the fact that a vast literature on the subject assigns blame, especially to Islam, for instigating conflicts. As my background and experience dictated, I knew there had to be more to the story: something that we could learn from the current situation to affect the future. I asked myself, does this story not deserve further research into the “why” and “how” the Muslims there managed to play such a peaceful role in the middle of an ethnic genocide? Would not the result of such research inform us and guide us to develop similar approaches to reduce violent conflicts in other Muslim countries such as Iraq and Libya? Would not we be able to contribute to the knowledge about what can work in the mirth of violent ethnic conflict? Could not we learn how to use religion in a constructive manner, instead of abusing it for the sake of war and violence? For these reasons and much more that span the possibility of building a more peaceful world, we have developed models for research in the field of Peace and Conflict studies.
I consider us researchers who can make a difference, and researchers who have the possibility to change the world. We are researchers with an attitude: we search for answers in difficult situations, we give people a voice to tell their stories and we make sure that voices are heard.
Plan of the Practical Guide
We prepared this practical guide to combine several elements. First, we ensured that the Guide includes academic, conceptual models, and processes which comply with standards of research rigor and quality, and supported that with academic literature. Second, we set the Guide within a strong framework of Peace and Conflict studies, making it relevant to researchers and practitioners in the field. Third, we used real stories from the field to illustrate how we use specific research principles and steps. During the reading of this Guide, you will find opportunities to read Stories from the Field in Dr. Abdalla’s voice and from his experience (boxes with the signature Dr. A.A.). There is a glossary of terms at the end of the guide, and you can find recommended readings in the following Link:
https://1drv.ms/f/s!ApXwNFAET9955jEpxcLLRg0ui9xJ
In the Link, you will also find an appendix of case studies, recommended readings, and a sample research paper from the field of Peace and Conflict Studies.
The Guide includes two major sections: Principles and Steps of Research. The Principles provide the Peace and Conflict framework of research, emphasizing the purpose and the principles of inclusion and participation. The Steps provide a systematic process for conducting research in areas related to Peace and Conflict, starting with the conceptualization stage and ending with implementation.