American Islamic College’s application for the Dana Abadi Pesantren Micro-Credential 2024 Initiative was selected by the Indonesian Ministry of Religious Affairs resulting in a global partnership for intercultural and interreligious education. The Hassan Institute was honored to welcome 20 Indonesian scholars and teachers who journeyed for a 2-month non-degree certificate program titled “Religion, Peace, and Encounter: An AIC Certificate Program in Interreligious Peacebuilding.”
The program offered structured academic coursework and experiential learning opportunities through coordinated site visits to academic, civic, and religious facilities, as well as planned dialogue events across Chicagoland, as well as a trip to Washington D.C. The participants met with and learned from expert faculty and dedicated leaders about inter-and intra-religious understanding, cross-cultural dialogue, conflict management, and peace-building initiatives. In turn, we learned from them about their experience with religious moderation and madrasa education in Indonesia. View their public talk at AIC here. These exchanges were transformative in a multitude of ways and we were so grateful to have had these encounters, alhumdulillah.