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Maarif Institute holds course on culture, humanity
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Showing empathy: Semarang Bishop Robertus Rubyatmoko (standing in front, wearing white robe) visits Buya Syafi’i Maarif (standing, third left), a leader of Indonesia’s second-biggest Islamic organization Muhammadiyah, in Yogyakarta on Feb.19. (JP/Bambang Muryanto)
T
he Maarif Institute, a leading campaigner of Islamic pluralism, is set to hold a 10-day course on culture and humanity for selected post-graduate students from July 22 to Aug. 1.
The Maarif Institute was established in 2003, named after former Muhammadiyah chairman and Muslim intellectual Ahmad Syafii Maarif, who received the prestigious Ramon Magsaysay award in 2008 for promoting tolerance and pluralism among Muslims.
Fifteen masters and doctoral students have been chosen to attend the course based on essays they wrote on themes based on Maarif’s work.
"The course is intended to introduce the ideas of Buya [Maarif] that uphold the values of openness, equality and diversity to young people of different ethnic, tribal, cultural and religious backgrounds,” Maarif Institute executive director Muhammad Abdullah Darraz said in a statement.
Besides being opened by Maarif, the course will also include other prominent Islamic scholars as speakers, including Sunan Kalijaga State Islamic University professor M. Amin Abdullah, former Constitutional Court chief justice Mahfud MD and rights activist Siti Musdah Mulia.
“The event is also hoped to be a forum for the formation of a network of young intellectuals from various regions in Indonesia and as a base for sowing Buya Ahmad Syafii Maarif’s ideas to the wider public,” Maarif Institute research director M. Shofan said. (evi)
