Considerations in education for forgiveness and reconciliation: lessons from Arab and Muslim majority contexts

ABSTRACT

This article presents lessons learned on the education for forgiveness and reconciliation in Muslim and Arab majority contexts, especially as part of civic engagement or across content areas. It first presents a brief review of the literature on forgiveness and reconciliation and ways they are interrelated in the larger Arab and Muslim contexts. Secondly, it points out religious and cultural sources that ground the practice of forgiveness and reconciliation. Thirdly, it presents the analysis of forgiveness stories collected from various Arab communities and discusses the main obstacles that hinder adopting a forgiveness and reconciliation agenda. Finally, it proposes forgiveness education and pedagogy based on stories to provide the framework and mechanisms to advance forgiveness and reconciliation education in schools and education spaces. We recommend utilizing local stories and storytelling as a method to delve into interpersonal and social conflicts.

KEYWORDS:

• Forgiveness and reconciliation
• conflict transformation
• forgiveness in Muslim societies
• non-Western models of conflict resolution
• cultural stories
• lessons

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. Transitional reality in this context is a reference to mass protest movements, civil wars, and military operations in many Arab states, because of the Arab Spring dynamics after 2011. In most of these contexts, public debates and conflicts regarding the proper governance, judicial, political, and economic systems.

2. Several criteria were utilized to sort out the suitability of the stories for this age, those included: level of violence, relevancy to youth and their actual lives; clarity and simplicity in the narration; etc.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Mohammed Abu-Nimer

Mohammed Abu-Nimer is a professor at the International Peace and Conflict Resolution program, in The School of International Service at American University. As a scholar and practitioner, he has conducted interreligious conflict resolution training and interfaith dialogue workshops in conflict areas around the world, including Palestine, Lebanon, Israel, Egypt, Chad, Niger, Iraq (Kurdistan), Philippines (Mindanao), Nigeria, and Sri Lanka. He founded Salam Institute for Peace and Justice, an organization that focuses on capacity building, civic education, and intrafaith/ interfaith dialogue. In addition to his numerous articles and books, Dr. Abu-Nimer is the co-founder and co-editor of the Journal of Peacebuilding and Development.

Ilham Nasser

Ilham Nasser is an educator and researcher in child development and teacher education. She completed a Ph.D. in Human Development and Child Study at the University of Maryland and worked for several years as a classroom teacher. She served as a faculty of education for 12 years at George Mason University. Her research includes publications on global teacher preparation and professional development in social and political contexts and ways these influence children’s outcomes. Currently, she is the director of the empirical research in education, part of Advancing Education in Muslim Societies, at the International Institute of Islamic Thought in Herndon, Virginia