Promoting Harmony and Synergy: UIN Jakarta and Abu Dhabi Host International Forum for Peace
Rectorate Building, UIN Online News — Leading scholars and experts from across nations underscored the urgent need to strengthen global peace efforts amid today’s mounting humanitarian crises. They called for a revival of shared values, a culture of dialogue where hatred has no place except peaceful coexistence.
The message was conveyed during an international forum jointly organized by UIN Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta and the Abu Dhabi Forum for Peace, held at Harun Nasution Auditorium, UIN Jakarta, on Friday (26/9/2025). Themed “Fiqh of Reality and Tolerance: Reinforcing Values in a Fractured World,” the event gathered hundreds of participants along with renowned international and local scholars.
Key speakers included Dr. Amina Al-Shehi, Director of the Abu Dhabi Forum for Peace; Dr. Mohamed Salahuddin Al-Mistawi, former Secretary-General of the Supreme Islamic Council and former Rector of Dar As-Salam University; Dr. Muhammad Syairozi Dimyathi, lecturer at FDI UIN Jakarta; and Ustadz Abdelhafiz Abdellatif, member of Singapore’s Islamic Council. Senior UIN Jakarta professors, such as Prof. Dr. Hj. Amany Lubis, M.A., and Prof. Arif Zamhari, M.A., Ph.D., were also present.
The forum was officially opened by Prof. Asep Saepudin Jahar, M.A., Ph.D., Rector of UIN Jakarta, and attended by Mrs. Shaima Salem Alhebsi, Deputy Head of Mission at the UAE Embassy in Jakarta.
In her remarks, Mrs. Alhebsi highlighted the pressing global challenges—armed conflict, natural disasters, climate change, and ideological crises—stressing that these demand collective action to revive shared values, strengthen dialogue, counter hatred, and foster peaceful coexistence.
“Consolidating common values is the first step toward sustainable peace. With shared history, principles, and interests, we can help build a future that is safer, fairer, and more tolerant,” she stated.
She further mentioned the shared commitment of the UAE and Indonesia to embedding tolerance and coexistence in domestic and international policies.
"The UAE, for instance, has established a Ministry of Tolerance, the Abu Dhabi Forum for Peace, and several global initiatives. Meanwhile, Indonesia, through its national philosophy, becomes a role model of a heterogenous nation, which serves as a global symbol of tolerance," she added.
Other speakers also reinforced the call for intellectual and theological renewal. Dr. Amina Al-Shehi urged the development of new approaches that go beyond intellectual debates, grounding solutions in universal humanitarian values and principles of economic justice.
He stressed the importance of contextual fiqh, adaptable to contemporary challenges, while Dr. Salahuddin Al-Mistawi underscored mastery of sharia-based measures as a foundation for relevant and compassionate Islamic jurisprudence, citing scholars like Shaykh Abdullah bin Bayyah as references for holistic Islamic thought.
Asep Saipudin Jahar noted that contextual jurisprudence and tolerance are vital entry points for a peaceful, moderate, and respectful religious life.
“With this spirit, Islam can continue to serve as a merciful religion for all creation,” he encouraged.
At the conclusion, UIN Jakarta and the Abu Dhabi Forum for Peace formalized an academic and research partnership, signed by Asep Jahar and Dr. Amina Al-Shehi.
On the other side, senior UIN Jakarta scholars Prof. Amany Lubis and Prof. Arif Zamhari welcomed the initiative, highlighting the Islamic university's alignment with global interfaith dialogues such as the 2016 Marrakesh Declaration and the 2018 Washington Alliance of Virtue.
Prof. Arif Zamhari added that tolerance is not merely a universal value but an inseparable dimension of Islamic faith itself.
“A true Muslim must embody tolerance, as mandated by the Qur’an. Without it, faith risks slipping into extremism—and extremism is forbidden in Islam,” he concluded.
(Press Release by the Information and Public Relations Center of UIN Jakarta)