United Nations Radio

Young people representing different ideologies within Islam are meeting this weekend in Doha, Qatar, for the Muslim Leaders of Tomorrow Conference.

Muslim Leaders of Tomorrow Briefing

Approximately 300 academics, authors, and civil society and religious leaders, will attend the conference. And while their nationalities, viewpoints and areas of expertise differ, what they share is strong engagement in their communities-and a desire to bring about positive change.

UN Radio's May Yaacoub sat down with some of the participants before they left for Doha, beginning with the programme director for the conference, Rushda Majeed.

RUSHDA: The four broad issues that we are discussing for the conference will be first is that what are the values that define us-and how can we change these values into actions for positive change. The second topic is competing values and new ideas-how we as Muslims are looking at values that are within our faith and then also looking at the world around us, and how do we reconcile these. The third topic of discussion would be tackling violent extremism and what we as a community are doing about it. And finally, the fourth topic of discussion would be religious authority in Islam: Who defines it? Is there a crisis?

HUSSEIN: My name is Hussein Rashid. I'm finishing my PhD at Harvard University. I do consulting on policy issues related to Muslims in the United States: questions related to Sunnis and Shias and the differences between them. And I work with lots of Muslims throughout the country dealing with their own personal questions of religion and spirituality.

MAY: You mentioned Sunni and Shia. We know, whether we like it or not, there is some conflict or different point of view. What is your idea of bringing together those two parties?

HUSSEIN: A lot of the conflict we see now, we see-at least in the United States-through the lens of Iraq. And we hear that the Saudis represent the Sunni world and the Iranians represent the Shia world, and there's this huge conflict. But I think we have to understand how we as Muslims have lived together traditionally-and how we still live together. If you look at Nigeria, there's a large Shia population living in a large Sunni population. If you look at Pakistan, in India, and Bangladesh, in East Africa, in the United States, in England, and France; wherever you go, aside from certain conflict zones Sunnis and Shias are living together. And there's not a big difference. We haven't really been through these severe sorts of wars or tensions in a very long time. We've resolved very many of our theological issues theologically rather than violently.

HAROON: Assalamualaikum. My name is Haroon Mogul. I am participating for the first time in the MLT Conference, so I'm very excited and very appreciative of the opportunity. I am personally a student at Columbia University here in New York City and I'm doing a graduate degree in the history of Islam in India. The great opportunity that the conference represents is get people who are really engaged together and teach them the skills they need to take what's going on locally and make it regional, and what's regional and make it international.

MAY: Do you expect anything to come from this conference?

RUSHDA: Yes. We have very specific outcomes that we want from the conference. First, we are looking for these leaders to be specially trained. They are already dynamic leaders who are bringing about positive change; we want to make sure that they have the skills they need to continue doing the work that they are doing. Apart from this, we want to bring them together to empower them and network them with other people who are doing similar work. We will have an open letter to world leaders of today from the Muslim Leaders of Tomorrow, and this particular letter, which will be published in a major newspaper in the United States, will talk about what the Muslim leaders and the world leaders-and non-Muslim leaders, for that matter-can do to make the world better so that these young leaders can carry the work forward.

PRES: Rushda Majeed is programme director of the Muslim Leaders of Tomorrow Conference which begins today in Doha, Qatar. The UN's Alliance of Civilizations is one of the organizers of the event.

Producers: Dianne Penn/May Yaacoub

(duration: 3'48")