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Project on New Directions in Islamic Thought and Practice

Project group: Kari Vogt (chair) University of Oslo IKOS, Lena Larsen - UiO Centre for Human Rights, Christian Moe - University of Lubljana, Oddbjørn Leirvik - UiO Faculty of Theology, Tore Lindholm - UiO Centre for Human Rights

Platform statement

In the entire Muslim world, including Muslim minorities in the West, many people experience tensions and discrepancies between their roles as citizens and their religious affiliation and identity. Urged to respond to contemporary challenges of toleration and solidarity they often miss the requisite theological and fiqh-based grounding and reference.

Many Muslim experts are already committed to respond to these challenges, but they are often isolated. Touching upon sensitive issues their possibilities for debate, publication and dissemination of ideas are also often limited.

The ambition of the Oslocoalition on Freedom of Religion or Belief is to facilitate such debate by creating a forum where Muslim reform thinkers may present and discuss ideas and develop strategies for further action.

In 2007:

This programme has shown that the question of women's rights is a focal point of the internal islamic debate. In 2007 the Oslo Coalition will promote the perspective of women in this debate through several projects:

• Regional nettwork of experts conference in Marakkesh. The group of experts created at the Istanbul conference in January 2007 (see below) will meet again in November to strengthen the network and establish a programme and strategy for future work. Among other plans: the publication of a document on the islamic basis for women's rights and equality before the law.
• Training course on freedom of religion or belief from a woman's perspective, Rawalpindi in Pakistan, in cooperation with Fatima Jinnah Women's University.
• New Directions in Islamic Thought and Practice publication. This publication is the culmination of a series of international workshops carried out through the last 3 years.
• Study of womens madrasaer (educational institutions) in Pakistan.

Earlier projects:

• International Workshop on The Changeable and the Unchangeable in Islamic Thought and Practice, Istanbul, Turkey, January 2007
• International Workshop on The Changeable and the Unchangeable in Islamic Thought and Practice, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, 2005
• International Workshop on Equality and Plurality, Yogyakarta, Indonesia, June 2004

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