Background

Terrorism is derived from fundamentalist and extremist mindsets that are on the rise in Muslim-majority countries and Muslim communities in the West, including countries that were once known to be moderate, like Malaysia and Indonesia.

Today, they are increasingly becoming closed societies where women and minorities, including Christians, Shiites, human rights activists, and free-thinkers, are targets for violence.

Preventing and combating the influence of extremist ideologies throughout Muslim-majority countries and among Muslim diaspora requires the integration of human rights instruments and progressive Islamic scholarship with holistic programming to unify the work of progressive Muslim intellectuals and grassroots civic organizations. This is only possible with an umbrella organization that can execute this vision from a central body to its constituent members across the “Muslim world.”