Islam Across Cultures: The International Islamic University of Indonesia Through a Western Lens

Since the September 11th tragedy in the United States, Islam has become associated with many in the West with unpredictable menace, a significant threat to the civilised order. This article presents a preliminary exploration of a counter narrative to that conception of Islam. Indonesian Islam challenges that common perception, even while it has also been the site of Islamic extremist violence. The big picture of Islam in Indonesia reveals a different story, one where such militancy is aberrant. It is not reflective of deep principles of Islam as it is practised by the vast majority of Indonesian Muslims. To take that message nationally and internationally, in 2016 a group of Islamic scholars and practitioners persuaded then Indonesian President Joko Widodo to create a university which would teach that counter narrative of Islam. This article tells this story and suggests that it might be viewed through a leadership theory lens for better understanding by a Western audience.