Radea Yuli A. Hambali (Vice Dean III of the Faculty of Ushuluddin, UIN Sunan Gunung Djati Bandung)
Bogor, May 11, 2026, witnessed a narrative that went beyond mere academic ceremonies. Under the falling rain, in a spacious hall, dozens of students from various backgrounds—students from Al-Mubarok Ahmadiyah, UIN Sunan Gunung Djati Bandung, UIN Cyber Syekh Nurjati Cirebon, and Paramadina University—gathered for one purpose: “Cross-Campus Student Gathering: Interfaith Dialogue as a Peace Education Strategy in Higher Education.”
This activity is not simply a dry dialogue, but rather an inner effort to break down the walls of prejudice built up by ignorance. Amid the din of global polarization, this initiative stands like a small but bright beacon, affirming that peace is not merely the absence of conflict, but the presence of justice and profound understanding.
Dialectics of Space: Between “Encounter” and “Encounter”
In the context of a pluralistic society like Indonesia, we often fall into semantic traps. We feel we’ve engaged in dialogue simply by sitting in the same room. However, there’s an ontological gulf separating encounters from encounters. Encounters are often mechanical and transactional. They are physical “collisions” in public spaces where two entities are present yet remain alien to each other. In encounters, we see others as “Objects” (It), a category, a religious label, or a political identity. We encounter “Ahmadiyah,” “UIN,” or “Paramadina,” but we fail to meet “human beings.”
Rather, the encounter is a spiritual event. It demands radical openness. In the encounter, the ego is placed on the threshold so that the soul can enter without a shield. Encounter is the moment where “I” no longer tries to convert or defeat “Him”, but tries to understand “You”.
Philosopher Martin Buber provided a solid foundation for this understanding through the concept of Ich und Du (I and Thou). Buber asserted that true life exists in relationships. If we only relate to others in the Ich-Es (I-It) mode, then other human beings are merely objects to be classified. However, in true dialogue, we enter into an Ich-Du relationship . In Bogor, I believe, what occurred was not simply inter-agency coordination, but rather a collective effort to rehumanize those who had been considered ” other .” “All real life is an encounter,” Buber wrote. In Bogor, in a spacious hall, this quote became a living reality.
Peace Education Strategy
Peace education in higher education is often trapped in a normative curriculum. Students are taught about tolerance, but rarely invited to experience it. Therefore, this cross-campus meeting breaks through this rigidity. The involvement of students from UIN Bandung and Cirebon, who bring the nation’s Islamic intellectual tradition, intersects with the cosmopolitanism of Paramadina University, and the sincerity of Al-Mubarok Ahmadiyah students, creating an organic learning ecosystem. Here, interfaith dialogue is no longer a strategy of “self-defense,” but rather a strategy of “heart-expanding.”
Peace in this context does not mean the elimination of differences. Difference is a theological necessity. True peace education celebrates the tensions between these differences as enriching, not destructive, dynamics.
Seeking God’s Face in Others
To understand the meaning of this encounter, we must delve into the ocean of Sufi wisdom. Sufis see diversity as a manifestation of the infinite beauty of the Creator. If God wanted only one color, He wouldn’t have created the rainbow.
Jalaluddin Rumi is said to have once sung: “Behind the notions of right and wrong, there is a meadow. I will meet you there.” Perhaps the activities in Bogor were that “meadow.” As these students from various theological backgrounds began to share stories, laughter, and perhaps the same anxieties as young Indonesians, they were in fact leaving the fortress of “right and wrong” for a broader human space.
From a Sufi perspective, every human being is a mirror of God. Therefore, hating someone because of their religion is a failure to love the Creator. Interfaith encounters are a process of cleansing the mirror of ourselves so that we can see the same light reflected in the faces of our brothers and sisters, even if they pronounce God’s name with different accents.
Seeing the enthusiasm of students from these four institutions offers a glimmer of hope for Indonesia’s future. They came not to debate endless doctrines, but to build bridges across the chasm of suspicion.
This review is not simply an activity report, but rather a reminder that peace requires inner work. Peace education in higher education must produce graduates who are not only intellectually intelligent but also empathetically competent.
The interfaith dialogue initiated in Bogor on May 11th is a miniature model of an ideal Indonesia. A country where differences in identity are no longer a reason to distance oneself, but rather a reason to draw closer. Because ultimately, as ancient wisdom often reminds us, the longest journey ever taken by humans is not one across continents, but one from the head to the heart. Allahu a’lam bi-Showab.
Radea Yuli A. Hambali (Vice Dean III of the Faculty of Ushuluddin, UIN Sunan Gunung Djati Bandung)
-source https://kemenag.go.id/opini/dari-pertemuan-menuju-perjumpaan-ifkzk
Categories: Ahmadis, Ahmadiyyat: True Islam, Asia, Indonesia, Interfaith tolerance, Intra-Religious Tolerance, Tolerance