WORDE President Dr. Hedieh Mirahmadi travels to Southeast Asia to discuss Contemporary Challenges Facing Muslim Communities
Dr. Mirahmadi addressing an audience at RSIS
In Singapore, Dr. Hedieh Mirahmadi recently led a workshop at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), the leading research and graduate teaching institution in strategic and international affairs in the Asia Pacific region, to explore Muslim community’s efforts in building awareness and community resilience against the threat of violent extremism. [read more...]
YBG Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad
(former Malaysian Prime Minister) &
Tan Sri Rastam Mohd Isa
(Malaysian Advisor of Chief Minister’s Dept)
In Malaysia, Dr. Mirahmadi participated in the High Level Expert Consultation on Islam and Women’s Health. Experts from around the world were invited to discuss women’s reproductive health, family planning, and women’s rights. Many participants noted that there was a move “backwards” in terms of women’s rights possibly from the rise of extremist interpretations of Islam that were not present just two decades earlier. [read more...]
Publications
Pakistan: Alternative Channels to Countering Violent Extremism
WORDE Fellow Mehreen Farooq with Heritage Fellow Lisa Curtis at report launch.
WORDE Launches Report on Countering Extremism in Pakistan On Wednesday, October 10, 2012 the Heritage Foundation hosted a launch of the WORDE
Report,Pakistan’s Civil Society: Alternative Channels to Countering Violent Extremism with two of the report’s authors, Dr. Hedieh Mirahmadi and Mehreen Farooq.
Moderator Lisa Curtis commended this groundbreaking report as a, “Must-read for anyone who is seeking to better understand the complex and multi-faceted country that is Pakistan!”
The report concludes that traditional Muslim networks buffer the rise of extremist activity and offers suggestions how U.S. policymakers and the Pakistani American community can help rebuild U.S.-Pakistan relations by actively supporting these networks. [read more...][watch video]
WORDE Condemns Benghazi Attacks
The horrific attacks in Benghazi last month are a sober reminder of the ongoing threat posed by violent Islamist networks that foment intolerance and espouse a narrow, destructive worldview. [read WORDE's complete statement on the tragedy...]
ForeignPolicy.com Photo Essay
WORDE Specialists Publish Photo Essay on ForeignPolicy.com
On September 26, 2011, WORDE Specialists published vibrant photos from their remarkable trip across 35 cities and villages in Pakistan to explore how civil society is leading bold efforts to counter extremism.
WORDE Specialists Lead Civil Society Fieldwork in Afghanistan
Specialist Waleed Ziad in Afghanistan
WORDE researchers conducted initial fieldwork in four provinces across Afghanistan this summer, meeting with civil society activists, former militants, jirga members, and religious scholars to examine organic efforts to counter extremism.
This research builds upon WORDE’s successful pilot project in Pakistan, which has identified over 100 civil society networks that are dedicated to promoting peace and countering Talibanization. Lead researchers Waleed Ziad and Mehreen Farooq recently delivered a lecture on the Pakistan’s study’s findings at Yale University.[read more...]
A Conference to Develop “A Peaceful Future in Afghanistan”
This summer WORDE co-sponsored another conference for the Project for Islamic Cooperation for a Peaceful Future in Afghanistan. This project seeks to network religious scholars from Afghanistan and Muslim leaders from around the world to strengthen the potential for religious leaders to pave Afghanistan’s peaceful future.
In the project’s initial 2011 conference in Istanbul, over 80 scholars from Afghanistan met with scholars from Saudi Arabia, Bosnia, Turkey, Pakistan, Sudan and Indonesia. This summer’s conference in Kabul brought together over 200 Afghan community leaders, civil society activists and religious scholars to network with international Muslim scholars. [read more...]
