Muslim Jurisprudence, not Shariah, is Islam-supremacist

24 Jun 2010, NewAgeIslam.Com

Book Review

Name of the Book: Interfaith Theology—Responses of Progressive Indonesian Muslims

Edited by: Zainun Kamal

Publisher: International Centre for Islam and Pluralism, Jakarta

Pages: 190

Reviewed by: Yoginder Sikand

A challenge of critical proportions that plural societies today face—and this is a dilemma that has become one of truly global proportions—is the question of how people associated with different religious can, despite their different truth claims, live together in reasonable harmony. Underlying this is the vexed issue of inter-faith relations—of how each religion, despite its own respective claims to representing the ultimate truth, can be creatively interpreted to accept people who claim to follow other paths. For Muslims, as with followers of other monotheistic religions that make exclusive theological claims of representing the sole truth, this issue has continued to be deeply troublesome. The vexed relations between Muslims and others in large parts of the world owe, in part, precisely to this dilemma. This book, by an Indonesian Muslim scholar, marvelously addresses this problem head-on, critiquing exclusivist and supremacist understandings of Islam while seeking to explore alternate understandings of Islamic theological resources in order to develop an Islamically-grounded theology of harmonious inter-faith relations.

Surveying the corpus of traditional Muslim jurisprudence or fiqh, Kamal argues that it is unable to accommodate the vital inter-faith question that we are today faced with. This is because, he writes, traditional fiqh is premised on an antagonism towards others and their truth claims, refuses to respect or even acknowledge them, and views other religions and communities with contempt. It actively seeks to discredit other religions completely, and so, obviously, is not conducive to dialogue and harmonious relations between Muslims and non-Muslims. Hence, there is an urgent need, Kamal says, to transcend the views of the earlier ulema on these matters by engaging in a process of creative, contextual interpretation or ijtihad in order to make fiqh formulations on inter-community and inter-faith relations relevant to our new context. This, he cautions, might be wrongly portrayed by narrow-minded critics as an attack on the Islamic shariah itself, but he hastens to point out that this would be far from true, indicating the clear distinction between the shariah as the divine path, on the one hand, and fiqh as a cumulative, historical and human enterprise, on the other. While the former is immutable, the latter can, indeed should, change, based on the recognition that, being a human product, it is liable to error. Pre-empting his critics, he argues that we need to recognize that the fuqaha, scholars of fiqh, were products of their own times and contexts, and, hence, were not infallible. He castigates the tendency to glorify, as unchangeable and immutably Islamic, the corpus of medieval fiqh and its creators, calling for developing fiqh rules appropriate to today’s times, including on the issue of inter-faith relations.

To refuse to do so, he rightly indicates, would only lead to further stagnation of Muslims and to widening the existing conflicts and suspicions between Muslims and others. Kamal spells out a broad methodology to be followed to promote this exercise of ijtihad in matters of fiqh related to inter-faith relations. The project should be based on a clear understanding of the higher principles of the shariah (or what is called maqasid al shariah), and on what Kamal terms as an anthropocentric (or ‘human-oriented’), as opposed to a theocentric, approach to religion. The latter, he warns, is easily amenable to exclusivist, intolerant and authoritarian tendencies and is liable to be misused to generate hatred against others. In this regard, he also supports the proposal by the notable Egyptian Sunni scholar, Yusuf al-Qaradawi for what he terms fiqh al-waqi’ ( or ‘fiqh of reality’) and fiqh al-awlawiyat (‘fiqh of priorities’) that can better solve crucial humanitarian problems, including that of strained relations between Muslims and others. Altogether, what Kamal pleads for is a dynamic, inclusive and egalitarian fiqh, shorn of exclusivist, hierarchical and discriminatory provisions. This, what he calls fiqh al-maqasid or ‘fiqh of higher aims’, would, he writes, prioritise universal human values that apply to all peoples, irrespective of religion, such as public interest, justice, and equality. In this regard, he critiques the corpus of inherited fiqh for ignoring the ‘higher aims’, for not placing sufficient stress on public (and this includes the non-Muslim public) interest, and, therefore, of become static, frozen in time and degenerating into a tool for power. The new fiqh with regard to inter-community relations that Kamal calls for would, he says, be sensitive to the fact of ritual heterogeneity. It would be based on the understanding that rituals are secondary to good deeds and faith in one God, which can form the basis of a minimum common consensus among believers in different religions. It would reflect the understanding that it is erroneous, as Kamal says, to brand others as unbelievers and infidels simply because they worship in other ways, provided of course they do not engage in shirk or associationism.

This new fiqh would also need to critically re-examine some traditional fiqh formulations on a host of issues with regard to non-Muslims, such as greeting and befriending them, praying with them, allowing them to enter mosques and inter-marriage. Some of the traditional fiqh prescriptions in these matters, he says, are clearly hostile to non-Muslims, although without any Quranic warrant. In this regard, Kamal points out the need to need critically and contextually examine and reject certain fake hadith reports on which these hostile fiqh prescriptions are based. To truly uncover the hidden universalism of the Quran—something indispensable to develop a truly inclusive Islamic fiqh and theology vis-à-vis people of other faiths— Kamal insists that the Arab cultural trappings that have wrongly come to be associated with Islam need to be removed, so that Islam can be seen and expressed as what it really is—a truly universal creed not tied down to any particular culture or historical tradition. Overall, the veritable paradigmatic shift in fiqh on inter-community relations that Kamal advocates reflects a rejection of crucial aspects of the corpus of fiqh of what he calls Muslim communal supremacy, devised during the medieval period of Muslim imperium, in favour of a new fiqh attuned to today’s plural context, thus reflecting a proper fit between the law and social realities.

Alongside with the reformulation of fiqh prescriptions on inter-faith relations, Kamal pleads for what he calls a plural Islamic theology—a contextually-relevant theology of Islamic pluralism in place of the current theological exclusivism that still has wide currency among Muslims across the world. The seeds of this plural theology, he writes, lies in the very notion, so strongly stressed in the Quran, that the religion (al-din in Arabic) taught by all the prophets of God, from the first to the last, has been one—called in Arabic al-Islam or the ‘The Surrender’ [to the one God], although the message of some prophets differed in some aspects of the path or shariah and method or minhaj. Another pillar of this plural theology is the statement, so clearly mentioned in the Quran, that had God wanted to, He could have made mankind one community. Hence, Kamal says, religious pluralism is part of God’s plan. A third pillar of this plural theology is the insistence, so consistently stressed in the Quran, that Muslims must believe in, and make no distinction between, all the prophets, considering them all equal.

Striking at the roots of theological exclusivism, Kamal points out that the Quran does not present paradise as solely for Muslims alone. Nor does it claim that all Muslims are destined for paradise. Further, the Quran places stress not on rituals but on faith and good deeds in God’s eyes. It fervently opposes all forms of communalism, even Muslim communalism, its open, inclusive approach being clearly evident when it calls upon Jews and Christians to come together with Muslims on the basis of kalimatun sawa, a common platform based on faith in the one God. When the Quran specifies Islam as the din al-fitra, or religion of nature, and insists that no other religion than this Islam is acceptable to God, it is, Kamal writes, yet another statement in favour of universalism in that it indicates the religion submission to and obedience of God alone, implying that all those who submit to and obey God are ‘Muslims’ or those who surrender themselves to God, no matter what they call themselves and in which language.

Kamal draws on other Islamic scripturalist resources to build up his case for a meaningful Islamic theology of pluralism. Thus, for instance, he discusses the category Ahl-e Kitab, and points out that Islam requires Muslims to protect, rather than subjugate, such people, highlighting the Charter of Medina that brought together the Muslims under the Prophet and the Ahl-e Kitab of Medina as a model in this regard. Likewise, he subjects the terms kafir and muslim to intense scrutiny, showing, contrary to widely-held beliefs, that these are not to be understood in a communal sense, not being the labels of any communities. Rather, he writes, these are attributes or attitudes, and can be characteristic of any people in any community.

Of course, reformulating fiqh and developing more inclusive Islamic theologies are not enough for the enormous task of promoting better relations between Muslims and others, although they are a necessary ingredient. Kamal insists that Muslims from all walks of life taken an active interest and role in forms of inter-faith and inter-community dialogue—not just at the theological level, but, equally importantly, at the day-to-day level as well, working together with people of other faiths for a better, more peaceful, just, egalitarian and God-centred society, in which way they can truly express a contemporary understanding of Islam.

URL: http://www.newageislam.com/NewAgeIslamBooksAndDocuments_1.aspx?ArticleID=3040 (Accessed 6/29/2011)

Islam in Indonesia Democratisation from Below

Islam in Indonesia

Democratisation from Below

18.11.2010

In Indonesia, Islamic NGOs have become the backbone of the country's tolerant civil society. While Islamic women's organisations are demonstrating how the Sharia can be used effectively to combat misogynist policies, Islamist parties are losing ground in elections. Alfred Stepan and Jeremy Menchik report


The Obama seal of approval: since Suharto was toppled, Indonesia has developed into a model democracy in South-East Asia The visit of "Barry Obama" – the Indonesian nickname for the former Indonesian resident and current US president – to Jakarta is intended, as much as anything, to celebrate the achievements of the largest Muslim-majority country in the world. In the 12 years since its transition to democracy, Indonesia has regularly held local and national elections, developed a functioning free market and strengthened its culture of tolerance towards the country's Christian, Hindu, Buddhist and Chinese minorities.

Of the ten members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, only Indonesia has a "free" rating from Freedom House. The largely Catholic Philippines, Buddhist Thailand and Confucian Singapore lag behind Indonesia in providing basic democratic rights to their peoples.

American policymakers have therefore looked to Indonesia as a model for the rest of the Muslim world. But what lessons can be learned from Indonesian democracy?

Backbone of a tolerant society

The most important lesson is that Islamic organisations can provide the backbone of a tolerant civil society. Muhammadiyah and Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), mass Islamic institutions with more than 30 million and 40 million members respectively, operate more than 10,000 schools and hundreds of hospitals, run youth organisations and support women's movements. Both have connections to political parties, most of which have consistently spoken out in support of democracy and against an Islamic state.


At the gender conference organised by the Indonesian women's organisation Fatayat, Indonesian women showed that the Sharia can be used as a tool for combating misogynist policies Indeed, Syafi'i Ma'arif, the former chair of Muhammadiyah, has made pluralist arguments, grounded in the Koran, against blind obedience to Islamic classical jurisprudence. Abdurrahman Wahid, the former chair of NU, for decades advocated respect for religious pluralism, and was pivotal in mobilising democratic opposition to the authoritarian leader Suharto.

A third Islamic intellectual, Nurcholish Madjid, called for the "de-sacralising" of politics in the 1970s, advocated genuine multi-party democracy in the 1990s and personally urged Suharto to step down in 1998.

Information campaigns for women excluded from US aid

Indonesia also demonstrates how Islam can provide support for women's rights. Among the activist community in Jakarta, the most successful organisations are those that draw support from the women's wings of Muhammadiyah and NU: Muslimat, Fatayat and Aisyiyah.


Ironically, the Bush administration restricted funding for health programmes that promoted safer sex and family planning The former head of Fatayat, Maria Ulfah Anshor, has made sophisticated arguments grounded in fiqh for women's access to reproductive rights. And, thanks to a partnership between the state and Islamic scholars stretching back 40 years, Indonesia has one of the most successful family-planning programmes in the developing world.

Ironically, the US has done as much to block the efforts of Indonesia's women's rights activists as it has to support them.

Former President George W. Bush's restrictions on funding for health programs that promoted the use of condoms or other forms of contraception meant that Islamic organisations receiving any funding from the US Agency for International Development were unable to publish material promoting safe sex and family planning.

Scharia as a tool for women's rights

This could be, and often was, highly counter-productive. In one particularly absurd case, a group of Muslim feminists who wrote a book promoting women's rights based on Koranic exegesis had to publish their work in secret, because it included arguments for women's reproductive rights and a small percentage of the group's funding came from a foundation that had received money from USAID.


With 30 million members, the Islamic NGO Nahdlatul Ulama is one of the largest Islamic mass institutions in Indonesia and in the world The fact that Islamic organisations have benefited women may also help explain Indonesian women's political success. The parliament is 18 percent female (a slightly higher percentage than in the US Congress), and a woman, Megawati Sukarnoputri, was the country's fourth president. Leading organisations like Umar, Fatayat and Muslimat provide a corrective to the widespread view that the Sharia necessarily impedes women.

Indeed, Indonesian women have shown how the Sharia can provide a tool for combating misogynist policies. For example, the head of Islamic affairs in the Ministry of Religion, Nasaruddin Umar, is a self-described Islamic feminist who has published sophisticated critiques of gender bias in Koranic exegesis.

Islamists lose political ground

Religion permeates almost every aspect of life in Indonesia, including politics. But political parties advocating implementation of the Sharia have lost ground in successive elections from 1955 to 2009.


Supporters of the Islamist Hizb ut-Tahrir demonstrate for the introduction of the Sharia The parties that still support the Sharia have largely disappeared or changed their platform. Rather than taking over the state, Islamist parties have been forced by the electorate to alter their policies to account for Indonesian pluralism.

Perhaps the best way to help Muslims is not to attempt to transplant institutions from Indonesia to the Middle East, or to give aid to "American-approved" moderates, but simply to listen more closely to the voices of Indonesian Islam.

But that is difficult to do. Almost none of the writings of the intellectuals who have been crucial to democratisation and women's rights in Indonesia – for example, Abdurrahman Wahid, Nurcholish Madjid, Syafi'i Ma'arif, Siti Musdah Mulia and Maria Ansor Ulfah – has been translated into English. Perhaps more unfortunately, none has been translated into Arabic.

Alfred Stepan and Jeremy Menchik

© Project Syndicate 2010

Alfred Stepan, a professor of political science at Columbia University and the director of its Centre for the Study of Democracy, Toleration, and Religion, is a co-author with Juan J. Linz and Yogendra Yadav of Crafting State Nations: India and Other Multinational Democracies. Jeremy Menchik, a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, has spent the past two years studying Islam and politics in Indonesia.

Editor: Aingeal Flanagan/Qantara.de
http://en.qantara.de/wcsite.php?wc_c=8405 (Accessed 6/29/2011)

Interview with Franz Magnis-Suseno"Freedom of Religion Must Also Apply to Minorities"

Qantara.de - Dialogue with the Islamic World

31.05.2010

Interview with Franz Magnis-Suseno"Freedom of Religion Must Also Apply to Minorities"

Franz Magnis-Suseno is a German-born Jesuit Priest and professor of philosophy in Indonesia. In this interview with Anett Keller, the naturalised Indonesian citizen talks about Indonesia's anti-pornography law, religious tolerance, and the definition of blasphemy

A series of developments in Indonesia over the past few months has left supporters of pluralism and freedom of religion deeply concerned. The controversial anti-pornography law was upheld by the Indonesian Constitutional Court, although the court's judges turned down a review of the 1965 law on blasphemy. Once again, Christian communities have had building permits for their churches rejected. Is Indonesia becoming increasingly intolerant?

Franz Magnis-Suseno: I see two tendencies. On the positive side, there are a growing number of very pluralistic thinking, prominent members of the Muslim majority. These include, for instance, the young intellectuals in Muhammadiyah und Nadhlatul Ulama, two large Muslim mass organizations. But there are also numerous other groups promoting pluralism. There are a great variety of study and exchange programmes helping to encourage dialogue between Christians and Muslims.

In general, no one questions the basic principle of Pancasila, which states that the country belongs to all its citizens equally. What has me concerned is that intolerance at the grass roots level appears to be on the rise. Certainly, this can be attributed to a growing influence of hard-line groups such as Hizb ut-Tahrir and FPI (Front Pembela Islam = Islamic Defender Front), but there are also political movements that are increasingly playing the Islamic card.

What does this mean for the future of Indonesia?

Franz Magnis-Suseno: It all depends on how stable democracy becomes. I'm of the opinion that things in the country are much better than they appear from the outside. Economic growth has been considerable, poverty is decreasing, and President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who was re-elected last year, enjoys great popularity. Things will depend on how Indonesians see their country over the long term. When the people believe that Indonesia remains mired in corruption and poverty, the religious hardliners will of course have an easier time of it.

On 19 April, the Constitutional Court rejected a revision of the controversial law on blasphemy, which only recognizes six main religions (Islam, Catholicism, Protestantism, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Confucianism) and which has been used in the past to persecute religious minorities. You were called in as an expert to a hearing by the Constitutional Court on the revision to the law. Why?

Magnis-Suseno: I've been especially critical of the first paragraph of the law. This is where blasphemy is described as "deviant teachings". This definition is wrong. Blasphemy means to disparage a religion, which can be made a punishable offence, but it doesn't mean to deviate from a majority viewpoint. Secondly, the state does not have the right to determine which teachings are the "proper teachings" and which deviate from these. The state cannot say that Catholics are right and Jehovah Witnesses are wrong, merely because the former group has more adherents. Freedom of religion must also apply to minorities.

How do you evaluate the rejection of the revision by the Constitutional Court, which had been petitioned by a group of pluralistic NGOs and representatives of the national Human Rights Commission?

Magnis-Suseno: This is a step backwards and it is truly unacceptable. I had hoped that the judges would have had the courage to revise the law.

Why do you think they failed to do this?

Magnis-Suseno: The supporters of the law, which include the government and representatives of the large Muslim mass organizations, have argued that social peace cannot be guaranteed without such legislation. What they have actually done is blackmailed us with an indirect threat of violence. Yet, the representatives of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Confucianism have also voiced support for keeping the law, because they fear that without it, there would be no legal framework for the practice of their religion. Perhaps the petitioners should have spent more time in trying to allay these concerns.

Are there still legal options to revise the law?

Magnis-Suseno: The possibility does exist that the law could be revised through parliamentary means, but I honestly doubt that this will happen.

Then the hardliners have won?

Magnis-Suseno: The difficulty here does not lay with the relatively small number of hardliners, but rather that a wide spectrum of the population is easily stirred up, because the social problems still remain so great. Many Indonesians, for instance, support the introduction of decrees based upon Sharia law in the hope that this will lead to a decrease in crime.

In addition, many Muslims have the impression that Islam is under attack worldwide, not least because of the public mood in the West. This serves to mobilize mistrust, which the hardliners cleverly use to their advantage. And one shouldn't forget how paternalistic Indonesian society remains. Besides all this, not enough is invested in education, which is the key to more tolerance and equal rights.

What more should be done in the area of education?

Magnis-Suseno: The Indonesian school system is still much too feudal in the way it is organized. Teachers enjoy absolute power and children have to submit to their will. Instead of simply memorizing facts, much more emphasis should be placed on building character and on bringing up open, critically thinking, creative, and pluralistically-minded citizens. Most of all, teachers and parents have to convey to children a sense of courage to ask questions.

Interview: Anett Keller

© Qantara.de 2010

Editor: Lewis Gropp/Qantara.de

Qantara.de

Interreligious Dialogue
Franz Magnis-Suseno: "Every Religion Is Essentially Humanistic"
The Catholic priest Father Franz Magnis-Suseno has lived for more than 40 years in Indonesia. Almost 30 years ago, he became a citizen of Indonesia, where he has since earned a reputation as a champion of interreligious dialogue. Christina Schott reports

Muslims and Christians in Indonesia
Interreligious Dialogue in a Time of Tension
In Indonesia, political and economic crisis have led to increasing tension between Christians and Muslims. Arian Fariborz has been finding out how churches are reacting to the increasing wave of Islamisation in the country

Indonesia's Liberal Islam Network
Interpreting Islam in its Social Context
In Indonesia, eight months before September 11 2001, a small group of Muslim intellectuals got together with the aim of forming a progressive counterbalance to the conservative Islamist movements in their country. Christina Schott reports

Anti-Pornography Bill in Indonesia
March for Diversity
Human Rights Groups join the protest of Indonesian women against a new tough anti-pornography bill – the opposition to what many in Indonesia call the "Talibanization" of society is strong. Edith Koesoemawiria reports

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URL dieser Seite: http://en.qantara.de/Freedom-of-Religion-Must-Also-Apply-to-Minorities/8336c162/index.html

Interpreting Islam in its Social Context

Indonesia's Liberal Islam Network

Interpreting Islam in its Social Context

10.03.2006

In Indonesia, eight months before September 11 2001, a small group of Muslim intellectuals got together with the aim of forming a progressive counterbalance to the conservative Islamist movements in their country. Christina Schott reports


Ulil Ashbar-Abdallah on Islam: "The universal values have to be translated into particular contexts – Arabian, Malay, Central Asian and so on." Ulil Ashbar-Abdallah, coordinator of the Liberal Islam Network: "We must use ideas to combat the ideas behind violent radicalism"

Along with the democracy that found its way into Indonesia in the wake of the resignation of former dictator, Suharto, in 1988, freedom of speech too has been flourishing again in the country that is home to the world's largest Islamic population. But that there is a down side to everything has been shown by the fact that a minority of Islamist radicals have also been making themselves loudly heard since then.

"We had been discussing a liberal Islam organisation for a long time", explains Ulil Abshar-Abdalla, coordinator of the Liberal Islam Network (Jaringan Islam Liberal, JIL). "We then witnessed a revival of radical Islam in Indonesia after the 'reformasi' and realised that it was time to act."

Although the movement is relatively small it is considered to have a great deal of influence, while for conservative Muslims it is seen as highly controversial. Most of the organisations founding members were educated in madrassas (Islamic religious schools) before going on to take up Islamic Studies. For them, the liberal Islamic universities in Indonesia opened up a whole new world of interpretation with regard to religious doctrine and philosophies of life.

Preserving Indonesian Islam

Nowadays the group spends much of its time speaking out against "literalist" Islam, the tendency to an overly literal interpretation of the Koran. A literal interpretation would, they believe, be immensely destructive to Islam. And it is exactly that that they see as the biggest problem of the fundamentalists. Their interpretation is non-productive, exclusive and old-fashioned. The Islamic teachings need to be looked at in the context of the changing times and society.

For the most part, Islam in Indonesia is still very moderate, particularly with regard to the way it blends with the many local traditions and the remains of older cultures and religions. "Such syncretic forms are something I tend to view as positive, because they help to preserve the particular character of Indonesian Islam and to hold off the increasing encroachment of Arab influence", says Ulil.

"We, however, emphatically do not do not represent traditional Islam, it has very conservative roots and can easily be abused by radical movements."

Against the oppression of minorities

There is a great deal of common ground between the JIL and the teachings of Nahdlatul Ulama and Muhammadiyah, the moderate Indonesian mass organisations which, between them, represent round 70 million Muslims. The group, however, does criticize certain points as too backward, such as the lack of equal rights for women.

According to JIL, any oppression of minorities is contradictory to the principles of Islam. So the network lobbies for religious freedom and freedom of speech as well as for the rights of women. Its aim is to help strengthen democracy and create a fairer, more human politics with social structures.

"Our original objectives have not significantly altered since September 11 and the Bali bombing. Those events shocked us, but we were not surprised. We had already foreseen something of the kind and had been trying from the beginning to prepare ourselves", says Ulil, who is also director of Jakarta's Freedom Institute.

"Of course, violent radicalism must be punished by the state. But the ideas that lie behind this must also be fought against with ideas. We have taken up this fight, though it is very painful at times."

Death fatwa against scholars

Just how painful this can be is something the group coordinator has experienced personally. In response to an essay by Ulil, published on November 18 2002 in Indonesia's largest circulation daily newspaper Kompas, the ultra-conservative Indonesian People's Ulama Forum from the city of Bandang in West Java issued a death fatwa against the scholar and supporter of progressive Islam.

"We need an interpretation of Islam which allows us to distinguish those teachings which reflect Arabian cultural influence from those which don't", is how he puts it in the aforementioned essay. "The universal values have to be translated into particular contexts – Arabian, Malay, Central Asian and so on. But any aspects of Islam which are merely expressions of a local culture, for instance, are not binding for us."

Ulil did in fact succeed in provoking a broad public debate through his article which attacked the fundamentalists and their persistent clinging to the Islamic (sharia) law, while he also defended people who chose their religion themselves.

"Islam represents generic values which can also be found in Christianity, Buddhism, Confucianism, Judaism, Taoism, or in local religions and beliefs. It may even be that there is 'Islamic' truth to be found in the philosophy of Marxism", he continues in the same essay.

I no longer look at the form, but rather at the substance. Islamic beliefs and practices which are merely 'put on' as formal dressing are not of importance. What is important are the values behind the form."

The People's Ulama Forum later denied that they had ever called for a death fatwa. Nevertheless, the JIL coordinator and his family continue to live in fear of their lives.

Interfaith dialogue in Islamic countries

None of this, however, has stopped Ulil Abshar-Abdalla and his colleagues from continuing to publish their ideas with the help of all the relevant media in Indonesia. The JIL itself maintains an active presence on the Internet as well as publishing books on the topic.

The group also organises regular discussions and a weekly radio talk show. The Liberal Islam Network has not only succeeded in building up a considerable international network of contacts to liberal Islamic groups in other countries, but also to organisations representing other religions.

"An interfaith dialogue has become relevant in connection with the West's resentments toward the Muslim world since the series of terrorist acts committed by certain extremist groups. This dialogue should be intensified in the cause of interfaith tolerance, not only in Europe and the USA, but also in Islamic countries", he said to the Jakarta Post on the occasion of the election of the new Pope.

Christina Schott

© Qantara.de 2005

Translated from the German by Ron Walker

http://en.qantara.de/Interpreting-Islam-in-its-Social-Context/7733c166/index.html (accessed 6/29/2011)

Interreligious Dialogue in a Time of Tension

Muslims and Christians in Indonesia

Interreligious Dialogue in a Time of Tension

08.02.2008

In Indonesia, political and economic crisis have led to increasing tension between Christians and Muslims. Arian Fariborz has been finding out how churches are reacting to the increasing wave of Islamisation in the country


Jakarta's cathedral stands tall, but in Indonesia, Christians have increasingly come under pressure, despite the fact that religious freedom is stipulated in the country's constitution The catholic cathedral in Jakarta is just over the road from the city's largest Muslim place of worship, the Istiqal mosque. The church is often full, with hundreds of Christians gathered in its inner courtyard for prayer. But only a few weeks ago, the scene was not quite so peaceful.

During the Christmas period, the cathedral, like many other churches throughout the country, had to be protected by a large police presence as a result of fears of possible attacks by radical Islamist groups. The fear is not unjustified. Over the last three years, according to the leadership of the Protestant and Catholic churches in the country, at least 108 church and community buildings have been looted, burnt down or been subjected to threats, especially in West Java.

Gomar Gultom is a pastor and a member of the executive of the Protestant Church in Indonesia, the PGI (Persekutuan Gereja Di Indonesia). He believes that there are many reasons for the increase in Islamist violence.

"Some of the Muslims see the presence of Christians or churches in Indonesia in the context of Christianisation," he says. "If we build a church, it means that it will be a centre for Christianisation – this is how some Muslims understand it. And they worry that most of the uneducated Muslims will become Christian."

Christians critical of government

Many of the attacks, not just on Christians, but also on Muslim sects like the Ahmadis, are the result of ignorance of religious principles, incitement to intolerance and violence, as well as the increasing poverty in the country. Many Christians criticise the Indonesian state for capitulating before religious violence, and not doing enough to uphold the constitutional guarantee of religious freedom.

The security forces are often accused of standing by and doing nothing when they see attacks by Islamist extremists. But, in spite of the conflict, liberal Muslim organisations and committed Christian leaders continue to promote interreligious dialogue.


Professor Franz Magnis-Suseno is a leading Jesuit philosopher in Indonesia. He is also one of the country's most prominent advocates for interreligious dialogue "Every year we hold a programme called 'Seminar of Religions," says Dr Erick Barus of the Batak Community in Northern Sumatra. "We invite all the participants – multi-religious – and also we invite scholars from the Muslims."

They discuss how to improve relations between the religions and they have Muslim scholars teaching Christian pastors about Islam, dealing with issues like the meaning of Jihad, or the Muslim attitude towards terrorism. "We need to learn more and more about the other religion," says Barus. "It's important for democracy."

New forms of cooperation

As well as these national initiatives, there are also activities which take place at the local level. In Central Java, for example, Christians visit Muslims to study the principles of Islam together. For a month, they live in "pesantren" – the Muslim boarding schools. Young Muslims and Christians also join together to carry out social and charitable voluntary work in the countryside. And cooperation with liberal Muslim groups and with the "Nadlathul Ulama" – the largest Muslim mass movement in the country – has improved considerably since the nineties.

But Franz Magnis-Suseno, a German Jesuit who is a long-time Jakarta resident, says that, while relations with the Muslim mass movements have improved and there's plenty of dialogue going on, there are still problems. Some liberal Muslims speak out, he says, but ordinary Muslims see them as so far on the margin that they don't have much influence. In general, it's the extremists who are making the running.

"Ever since the fall of President Suharto, extremist groups have been exploiting the country's democratic freedom," he says. "They've been the ones who've been making all the noise in public, while the moderates tend to remain silent."

Arian Fariborz

© Qantara.de 2008

Translated from the German by Michael Lawton

http://en.qantara.de/Interreligious-Dialogue-in-a-Time-of-Tension/8026c164/index.html (Accessed 6/29/2011)

Syncretism in Indonesia Where Islam Mixes with Old Rituals

Syncretism in Indonesia

Where Islam Mixes with Old Rituals

14.10.2005

Many Indonesian Muslims still practice a rather syncretistic mix of beliefs, combining Islam with other cultural and religious traditions. They are often criticized by Muslim purists for their eclecticism. Christina Schott reports


In Indonesia, various religions exist side-by-side – Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity and even animist beliefs Every year on the first Suro, Java's new year, the Sultan of Yogyakarta climbs to the top of the Merapi followed by a regal procession. At the caldera of the most active volcano in the world, located north of the central Javanese Sultan's city, pilgrims plea to the forces of nature to protect them from all kinds of catastrophes.

The gifts they bear with them – colorful rice cones, flowers and fruit – are offered up to the smoking crater. The ritual continues later on the black sand of Parangtritis Beach, where the goddess of the sea receives offerings along the raging surf.

Religious eclecticism

The first Suro happens to coincide with the first Muharram, the Islamic New Year. But this is not just a coincidence – most of the participants of this Hindu-Buddhist-animist ceremony are, like the Sultan himself, practicing Muslims. Indonesia has the largest Muslim population in the world. About 90 percent of its 240 million inhabitants are Muslim.

But many Indonesian Muslims still practice a rather syncretistic mix of beliefs, combining Islam with other cultural and religious traditions. They are often criticized by Muslim purists for their eclecticism.

Arabic and Indian merchants brought Islam to this huge archipelago of 17,000 islands. The native inhabitants were animist communities practicing cults oriented around death and ghosts. To this day, for example, animist groups still inhabit West Papua and the Mentawai Islands. Hinduism and Buddhism began to spread in the fifth century, but these two religions intermingled and then mixed with older traditions.

Islam – initially a religion for the elite

The first kingdom that converted to Islam was Perlak – which is today familiar as the tsunami disaster area Aceh, also known as "Mecca's Terrace." It was only in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries that Islam spread to the other islands, initially remaining a religion for the elite.

The people were obliged to take on the religion of their ruler, but they continued to practice a combination of old religions and local traditions. This syncretistic mix of beliefs is found still today, especially in rural areas.

On the densely populated main island, Java, the Muslims can be divided into two groups: the purist and Arabic-oriented Santri, and the followers of the Kejawen, which combines animist, Hindu-Buddhist, Islamic, and local traditions. Syncretism also exists in other parts of the country. The Muslims in Calimantan, for example, still perform many animist rituals.

"There is no such thing as a pure Islam"

Syncretism is often associated with negative connotations. But the phenomenon simply means that an older culture or religion overlaps with a newer one. This is only human, says Professor Machasin, Dean of the postgraduate faculty at the State Institute for Islamic Studies (IAIN) in Yogyakarta.

"I believe that there is no such thing as a pure Islam. No matter who reads the Koran, their background and their culture will influence their interpretation of it. I was born Javanese – that is, Hinduism and Buddhism and other traditions have influenced me, although I was raised as a Santri. I see syncretism as something positive, as long as we deal with it rationally."

The two major Muslim organizations in Indonesia


With about 185 million Muslims - roughly 85% of the population - Indonesia is largest Muslim nation worldwide Machasin is a leading figure in Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), which is the largest Muslim organization in the world with some 40 million members. It was founded in 1926 to defend Islam against the growing nationalist and communist currents in the country. But it also served as a counter to the reform-oriented Muhammadiyah, the second largest Muslim mass organization in Indonesia, founded in 1912.

These two organizations are still the most important and influential political forces in Indonesia today. While Muhammadiyah members come primarily from the urban middle class, NU adherents are usually from rural areas, where many forms of syncretism are still found – from animism to black magic.

It is thus not surprising that NU promotes a more traditional interpretation of Islam that at the same time tolerates older traditions, while Muhammadiyah represent a pure, moralistic brand of Islam.

"We can't simply forget our traditions"

When it originally emerged, Muhammadiyah was also more open to syncretistic elements. But in the 1990s it transformed into the hardline organization that it is known as today. "But we will once again become more tolerant," promises Professor Abdul Munir Mulkam, Vice Secretary of the Muhammadiyah Office in Yogyakarta. "I understand syncretism as a historical process. We can't simply forget our traditions."

As an instructor at the IAIN Yogyakarta as well as at the Muhammadiyah University in Surakarta, Mr. Mulkam believes in education: "Education has improved and therefore so has our understanding of natural and social phenomena. Previously the people understood natural events as a kind of magic. Although they still practice certain rituals, they have a much more realistic view of them."


With Indonesia being an island nation, the omnipresence of water inspired animist beliefs Thus the Sultan of Yogyakarta continues to take part in ceremonies like the new year's ritual, despite the fact that the ruling family has promoted a pure form of Islam for centuries. The Sultans in the neighboring city of Surakarta are even stronger supporters of syncretism for the island of Java.

"My master is neither Muslim, nor Christian nor Buddhist, nor Hindu. He respects all his subjects equally regardless of their different traditions. That's why he's a Kejawen," explained a proud tour guide at the Sultan's palace Mangkunegara in Surakarta.

Christina Schott

Translated from the German by Aingeal Flanagan

© Qantara.de 2005

http://en.qantara.de/Where-Islam-Mixes-with-Old-Rituals/7638c167/index.html (Accessed 6/29/2011)

Liberal Islamic Networks in Indonesia: A Counter-Movement to Political Islam

Liberal Islamic Networks in Indonesia

A Counter-Movement to Political Islam

09.05.2008

In recent years Indonesia has seen the development of a network of various Muslim NGOs that convey a contemporary understanding of Islam, working to counter the advance of Islamization.


For a modern understanding of Islam: Liberal Islam Network activists in Jakarta, Indonesia The island state of Indonesia has always been regarded as a prime example of tolerance in action, where ethnic groups and different religious communities coexist peacefully.

"Unity in diversity" is the self-image of the secular state based on the so-called "Pancasila" philosophy which attempts to integrate different religions such as Islam, Buddhism and Hinduism, as well as different languages and cultures.

Indonesia's Islam purists are gaining ground

However, amidst social problems that have been on the rise since the 1990s and are often stylized into religious conflicts, violent attacks on minorities have increased, and radical Islamic splinter groups threaten the country's social peace.

The end of the Suharto dictatorship and the beginning of the so-called "Reformasi" era in the late 1990s did bring tangible democratization to Indonesia's state and society. However, those who profited from the new freedoms included not only liberal parties and civil society actors committed to tolerance and democracy, but also proponents of radical Islam.

Today political Islam is gaining ground in Indonesia. Groups such as the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) and the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) preach a conservative, one-sided image of Islam. They demand the country-wide introduction of the Islamic penal code and crusade against everything in society they consider decadent and immoral.

The battle for public opinion

To offer a counterbalance to radical Islam in the world's most populous Muslim country, numerous liberal Muslim groups have been founded, such as the "Liberal Islam Network" (Jaringan Islam Liberal), which was established in 2001 in the capital of Jakarta.


The minaret of Jakarta's Istiqlal Mosque, or Independence Mosque. The edifice is the largest mosque in the largest Muslim nation - and in all of Southeast Asia The organization's stated goal is to encourage dialogue among Islamic groups with a liberal understanding of Islam and to create a journalistic platform for analysis, background reports and interviews. "We also conduct workshops, public discussions and radio talk shows to discuss the current challenges for Muslim society following the end of the Suharto era," explains Luthfi Assyaukanie, coordinator of Jaringan Islam Liberal.

The Islamic scholar and lecturer at the Paramadina University in Jakarta knows exactly what he is talking about when he emphasizes the significance of his organization's educational and publicity work: "We are now living in a democratic society. However, if we do not enrich it with our views, the radicals will try to fill this gap. We see ourselves as a reply to the rising Islamism in Indonesia."

Maintaining the existing order

Luthfi Assyaukanie's "Liberal Islam Network" is a small movement dominated by young journalists and Islamic scholars. They are committed to inter-religious dialogue and to maintaining the secularism and pluralism of Indonesian society.

The group emphatically rejects the literal interpretation of the Koran and advocates a contemporary Islam that respects freedom of opinion, women's rights and tolerance toward minorities and other religious communities.


Trying to win over the "silent majority of Muslims": Ahmad Suaedy, Executive Director of the Wahid Institute in Jakarta According to Assyaukanie, the network's activists see themselves as standing in the tradition of the 19th century Islamic reform movement. Their role models are Mohammad 'Abduh, Ali Abdel Razeq and Rashid Rida.

Similarly, for eight years the Indonesian women's rights organization "Rahima" has been taking an Islamic perspective on women's emancipation and fighting for a political voice for women in Indonesian society, among other things.

The organization sees educational work as its primary task, especially in the rural districts of Central Java. "Rahima" cooperates especially closely with teaching staff at Islamic boarding schools, the so-called "pesantren", and at other Islamic Institutions, where they advocate for a modern understanding of Islam.

Educational work on the local level

"When Rahima was founded, the primary goal of our work was to reach the Islamic boarding schools in the country and their directors (Qiay), the second step being to sensitize the teachers at these schools to our issues," explains "Rahima" director Aditiana Dewi Erdani.

At special seminars and training sessions, private lecturers are trained to act as mediators, communicating their liberal conceptions of Islam to students and teachers in the local communities.

This strategy is also shared by other liberal Islamic organizations: for instance, for years "Rahima" has cooperated successfully with the "Wahid Institute", named after the country's former president and probably its best-known Islamic scholar, Abdurrahman Wahid (Gus Dur).

Education and dialogue as the key to success

Founded in 2004, the "Wahid Institute" is another NGO committed to a tolerant, pluralistic Islam and to democratic reforms in Indonesia.

Just like "Rahima", the organization targets Islamic boarding schools (pesantren); forming an independent school system, they are largely free from state control and hence harbor the greatest danger that the advance of Wahhabism will subject students and teachers to Islamist indoctrination, says Ahmad Suaedy, deputy director of the "Wahid Institute":

"We make it easier for the 'silent majority of Muslims', the teachers at the Islamic boarding schools as well as the local leaders, to discuss Islam and peace, Islam and pluralism, and in some regions we enable them to talk together about their difficulties on the radio and in the local media", says Suaedy.

All the groups in the liberal Islamic network share one main approach toward curbing the influence of Islamist hardliners: education and dialogue as the key to mutual understanding in the multiethnic state of Indonesia.

Arian Fariborz

© Qantara.de 2008

Translated from the German by Isabel Cole

http://en.qantara.de/A-Counter-Movement-to-Political-Islam/8054c164/index.html (Accessed 6/29/2011)

Liberal Islam in Indonesia: Promoting Pluralism

Liberal Islam in Indonesia

Promoting Pluralism

25.02.2009

Conservative Muslims and moderate Islamic organizations in Indonesia are arguing about who is responsible for interpreting their religion. A coalition of moderate Muslims is emerging in opposition to the increasingly intolerant Islamists. Joanne McMillan reports from Java


Conservative Islamists accuse KH Maman Imanulhaq Fakieh (pictured here) of propagating a dangerously liberal agenda It is a sweaty April afternoon, and the community hall in Cangkol, a fishing community on the outskirts of Cirebon on Java's north coast, is packed to the gills. People have come to see former first lady, Ibu Sinta Nuriyah Wahid. Ibu Sinta, the wife of former president Abdurrahman Wahid, is touring halls like this around the country ahead of the 2009 election, listening to ordinary people talk about the problems they face in their everyday lives.

Today, however, there are some technical difficulties in hearing those voices. The sound system is playing up, and while technicians fiddle, the MC, a popular and charismatic young kyai, an expert of Islam, KH Maman Imanulhaq Fakieh, keeps the crowd entertained.

The captive audience presents a perfect opportunity for him to push his favourite issue of the moment: freedom of religion, a hot topic in Indonesia thanks to recent attacks on Ahmadiyah mosques and calls to outlaw the sect.

Cheerful anti-violence propaganda

"Is Islam a religion of violence?" he cries, raising his fist in the air. "No!" The crowd, largely comprised of jilbab-wearing housewives, responds with enthusiasm. "Does Islam permit violence by anyone?" "No!' "Towards anyone?" "No!' "On any grounds?" "No!" "Do we want the government to uphold the rights guaranteed in the constitution?" "Yes!"


Kyai Maman, seen here speaking at a community meeting in Java, is a proponent of a liberal and tolerant interpretation of Islam Kyai Maman, 35, is the spiritual leader of Al-Mizan Pesantren in Jatiwangi, West Java. Outside Indonesia, thanks to coverage of terrorism cases, Indonesian pesantren, or Islamic boarding schools, have earned a reputation as extremist havens where young students are indoctrinated in fundamentalist teachings and groomed to become terrorists.

While it is true that many pesantren teach conservative, literalist interpretations of Islam, only a tiny number have links with terrorist organisations and in fact the pesantren world is the source of some of the most progressive Muslim voices in Indonesia and indeed the Muslim world.

The best known progressive kyai is former president Abdurrahman Wahid, but surrounding Wahid are a number of increasingly vocal and influential progressive pesantren leaders. Kyai Maman is a protégé of a group of kyai and pesantren alumni in West Java that includes KH Syarief Usman Yahya, head of Kempek Pesantren and KH Husein Muhammad of Dar al-Tauhid Arjawinangun Pesantren.

The late KH Fuad Hasyim of Buntet Pesantren and KH Yahya Masduki of Babakan Ciwaringin Pesantren were role models for this group. They preach values of pluralism and encourage their students, or santri, to reread religious texts contextually. The vision of Islam that they promulgate is grounded in the Qur'an, Sunna and classical Islamic texts and advocates justice for all human beings.

Muslims protecting Muslims against Muslims

Earlier this year, the Ahmadiyah issue became a rallying point for progressive Muslim leaders. While fundamentalist groups such as the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) and the Indonesian Mujahidin Council (MMI), along with many moderates, called for Ahmadiyah to be outlawed, progressive kyai, including Kyai Maman, were organising community events with Ahmadiyah in order to emphasise a message of tolerance and pluralism.


Radical message of intolerance: the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) called for Ahmadiyah to be outlawed When police and local government failed to protect Ahmadiyah from increasing incidents of vandalism and violence, progressive kyai offered paramilitaries recruited from Nahdlatul Ulama, Indonesia's largest Islamic organisation, to protect Ahmadiyah mosques and homes.

For those like Kyai Maman who defended Ahmadiyah, the issue was never really about Ahmadiyah, but about upholding the rights of citizens, guaranteed in the constitution, to practice their respective religion and beliefs. The issue also had the potential to set a precedent for the religious beliefs of the majority to become the basis of laws that discriminate against other groups.

This potential looked set to be realised when in April 2008, a government-appointed body of prosecutors, religious scholars and government officials recommended that the government outlaw the sect, declaring that its members "had deviated from Islamic principles".

Peaceful rallies in support of religious freedom

Whether Ahmadiyah members have deviated from Islam is not the point, argues Kyai Maman: "I have never defended Ahmadiyah's teachings," he says. "What we are defending is their rights as citizens, as set out in the constitution. I would defend FPI if they were being oppressed and terrorised. This issue is not about Ahmadiyah but about people whose rights as human beings, as citizens, have been denied."

For their defence of Ahmadiyah's rights, progressives have themselves become targets of violence by extremist groups. The most high profile incident occurred at the National Monument (Monas) in Jakarta on 1 June last year, the anniversary of Sukarno's famous 1945 speech where he formulated Indonesia's state ideology, known as pancasila. With the government's decision regarding the fate of Ahmadiyah due to be handed down any day, dozens of demonstrators, among them Kyai Maman, held a peaceful rally in support of religious freedom.

"We came to Monas for two reasons," Kyai Maman explains. "One was to celebrate pancasila, our national philosophy, which is all about living in a plural society. The second was to urge the government to uphold the constitution."

Violent zealots

"We were just about to get started," Kyai Maman recalls, "when suddenly a group of people wearing white robes and carrying FPI banners arrived, shouting 'Allahu akbar!' (God is great)".The FPI supporters attacked the demonstrators with sharpened bamboo stakes and stones. Nineteen people were injured, some seriously. Kyai Maman was among the most badly hurt.

He recalls being beaten on the head with bamboo stakes until he fell to the ground where he was repeatedly kicked and stamped on by at least ten people. He was hospitalised with concussion and head wounds.


Most of Indonesia's 191 million Muslims live peacefully alongside other religious communities; in recent decades, however, radical Islamists have become more active and are making their presence felt The incident shocked many in the Indonesian public. The attack on Kyai Maman in particular was significant in swaying public opinion because FPI had, deliberately or unwittingly, dared to attack a kyai, the moral equivalent in Muslim Indonesia to attacking a priest or a nun. In the days after the incident, calls to disband Ahmadiyah were replaced in the headlines by calls to disband FPI. Fifty-seven members of FPI, including leader Rizieq Shihab, were arrested following the incident, and the group is now seriously weakened.

The government's eventual decision on the Ahmadiyah case was neither an outright victory for anti-Ahmadiyah campaigners nor a win for pluralism. The joint ministerial resolution, released on 9 June, did not "ban" Ahmadiyah per se but demanded that they stop practising their beliefs and strongly encouraged them to "return to mainstream Islam".

Kyai Maman sees the decision as an excessive and ambiguous form of intervention by the government, designed to get them out of a difficult political situation. "The government's job is to guarantee freedom of religion," he argues, "not to meddle in matters of belief."

From puritan to progressive

Kyai Maman has not always defended the values of pluralism. There was a time when he supported, rather than opposed, violence in the name of religion. Kyai Maman grew up in a puritanical pesantren where he mixed in narrow circles and studied only traditional religious texts. His understanding of the world, he explains, was black and white, and anyone different from himself was a sinner. Just seeing a church or a Christian cross, he confesses, would make his blood boil.

He was involved in militant groups that participated in "cleansing" gambling and prostitution dens in the Majalengka area. In 1998, he stood by while members of his congregation destroyed churches, shops and houses belonging to Chinese Indonesians in Jatiwangi. "At that time," he says, "I thought that there was only one truth: only we were right and everyone else was wrong."


A burning church in Ujungpandang on the island of Sulawesi: Christians have repeatedly been the focus of violent attacks at the hands of Islamist extremists not only on Sulawesi, but also in other parts of the Indonesian archipelago But the violent events of 1998 proved a turning point in his life. Witnessing the effects of violence perpetrated by Muslims convinced him that there had been something wrong with his readings of religious texts. The texts, he explains, always refer to Islam as a blessing for the whole universe, not just for Muslims. The goal of Islam, he reasoned, could not be to make people afraid of it.

On this basis, he says, he decided to start listening to the voices of "the other". He began inviting leaders of other religions to his pesantren – priests, pastors and Buddhist monks – for inter-religious dialogue. He also invited them to come along to religious and cultural ceremonies at his pesantren, and even to teach classes to his pupils. It was a move that initially met with disapproval in his community and in his own family.

"My father didn't like me associating with non-Muslims," says Kyai Maman. "They were dirty unbelievers. But eventually my family began to see that, 'Oh, it turns out priests are cool, and Buddhist monks are cool.'"

He also began to read from a variety of sources including philosophy, socialist thought and Christian liberation theology, and mixed with artists, writers and musicians. He dabbled in writing his own poetry. In his view, art has values that are congruous with religious values, such as freedom from contamination by worldly power or earthly desires. "From art," he says, "people can understand how to live a more harmonious life, not just see in black and white."

Politics and public image

Despite having what he claims is a fundamental disinterest in politics; Kyai Maman has recently become an active member of the National Awakening Party (PKB). "I was invited [to join the party] by Gus Dur [Abdurrahman Wahid], so I decided to see whether politics could be made into a tool to fight for pluralism." Certain goals, he realises, can only be achieved through parties and through policy:

"We must take steps that push our friends in the legislative assembly to ensure that pluralist values continue to be upheld and defended." The Ahmadiyah case, he says, has reinforced this conviction in him.


A peaceful image of Islam: "When Maman saw the effects of the violence perpetrated by Muslims, he realized that he must have been mistaken about the way he had been interpreting the religious texts." However, he continues to see his main work as being at the grassroots level. This is not just a matter of seeding pluralist values, he maintains, but about improving people's welfare. "Who can be influenced or provoked by radical groups?" he argues. "Usually they are people who have trouble making ends meet, so our job is not to oppose those groups with violence but to try to create community prosperity and end poverty."

The Ahmadiyah case and his own brush with celebrity following the Monas incident have also taught him the power of the media in shaping public opinion. "The failure of progressive Muslims, in my opinion," he says, "is that we don't dominate the media. Maybe this is a problem with the media itself: you know 'bad news is good news'. So it means that if a priest eats in my pesantren, or I break my fast in a church or a monastery, that will never get in the newspaper. But if a priest beats me up, or if I poison a priest's altar wine, that's the kind of thing that makes the newspaper."

Joanne McMillan

© Inside Indonesia 2008

Joanne McMillan works as a translator and editor for Fahmina Institute in West Java and is currently completing a Masters of Applied Anthropology and Participatory Development at the Australian National University.

Photos courtesy of Al-Mizan Pesantren

http://en.qantara.de/Promoting-Pluralism/8159c163/index.html (Accessed 6/29/2011)

Religious Diversity instead of Intolerance

Interview with Yenny Zannuba Wahid

Religious Diversity instead of Intolerance

30.12.2009

Yenny Zannuba Wahid, daughter of the former Indonesian president Abdurahman Wahid, is the head of the Wahid Institute in Jakarta, which promotes a tolerant, pluralistic Islam and social reforms in Indonesia. Zaki Amrullah spoke to her


Wahid: "Among the ordinary people, there's a greater acceptance and consciousness of the need to protect tolerance and diversity in Indonesia as part of the heritage of the founder of our nation" Ms Wahid, your organisation works for pluralism and moderation in Islam. What programmes and activities do you carry out to make your ideas better known among the people?

Yenny Zannuba Wahid: We've developed a variety of social and popular programmes which are directed at helping ordinary people, such as the Riyanto stipendium for chílldren up to twelfth grade. Riyanto, after whom the stipendium is named was a member of the Barison Ansor organisation, and was killed by a terrorist bomb in 2000 as he was helping to guard a Christian church building.

My father Abdurahman Wahid had issued a directive to the Barison Ansor troop [a paramilitary organisation attached to the Muslim lay movement Nahdlatul Ulama, of which Abdurahman Wahid was chairman] to guard a number of churches, since there had been bomb threats against several churches in major Indonesian cities. The bombs were said to be hidden in Christmas parcels.

Christmas parcels were being delivered to the church in which Riyanto was on duty, and as he was taking one out to check it, the bomb went off and killed him. We want to commemorate his actions, since he is a model of jihad – and not in the narrow sense of jihad which is used to intimidate the members of other religions.

You've been the head of the Wahid Institute for nearly five years. How far are you and the organisation accepted by the people?

Wahid: I believe the acceptance is considerable. Our activities, especially at the grass-roots level, are received with enthusiasm. Many religious leaders are involved – not just Islamic scholars, but also representatives of other religious communities. Among the ordinary people, there's a greater acceptance and consciousness of the need to protect tolerance and diversity in Indonesia as part of the heritage of the founder of our nation.

If the population already has such a positive attitude, what are the chances of the Wahid Institute securing the principle of pluralism in the Indonesian people?

Wahid: In my opinion, pluralism and tolerance have deep roots in the Indonesian people. When our nation was founded and Islam came to Indonesia, the religion was accepted out of conviction. It was not forced on the people, as in many other countries. Islam came via trade and culture, and was developed further and found acceptance in a positive way.

One just has to think of the Walisongo [the so-called "nine saints," who were the first ambassadors of Islam in Indonesia, and who ensured the spread of the faith by building mosques and transmitting Islamic teachings]. They used local cultural traditions, such as figure theatre, to spread the teachings. That was done to convince the people. When we consider the small groups in society which are intolerant, we all have to ask ourselves where they get such an attitude from.

On the one hand, it is said that tolerance towards other religions is minimal, but on the other hand, can't one say that it's the endless tolerance shown by part of the Muslim community which has made space within the religious community itself for the development of radical attitudes which have in the end led to terrorism?

Wahid: There have always been these ultra-conservative groups which have had the desire to make Indonesia into an Islamic state. Some of them – including anarchist groups – consider that any means are allowed to reach their ends. But most of the Indonesian population rejects this approach.


Zannuba Wahid regards the organisation "Liberal Islam Network" (JIL) as traditional and principled: Members of the JIL-staff in Jakarta The Wahid Institute is not the only organisation of its kind. Others, such as the "Liberal Islam Network" (Jaringan Islam Liberal) have similar positions. Where do the differences lie?

Wahid: There's a decisive difference between the "Liberal Islam Network" and the Wahid Institute. The "Liberal Islam Network" tends to push through values which are regarded as traditional and principled – including some which some people would call radical. With its social and popular programmes, the Wahid Institute is directly involved in the daily life of the lower classes in society.

What would be the most suitable way, in your opinion, to promote pluralism in Indonesia?

Wahid: The most effective method was and is a cultural one, working with good means and the power of conviction – just as the Walisongo used to do in the past. For example, the Wahid Institute makes an effort to use educational classes to provide a direct dialogue with ordinary people. Aside from that, we deal with economic problems. We're planning a programme to improve people's economic situation by providing the poor with cheap credit. Education is also important. We see every kind of education as a priority investment in the promotion of pluralist ideals.

But the radical groups continue to find it possible to gain a public audience with certain issues. Isn't there a danger that, against this background, the idea of pluralism which the Wahid Institute promotes will receive less attention?

Wahid: These groups package their ideas cleverly and they offer forms of dialogue in which they paint everything either black or white. When the debate on the anti-pornography law was taking place, for example, all those who spoke out against the law were described as supporters of pornography. Another example is the current discussion about polygamy. Those who oppose polygamy are being slandered as supporters of marital infidelity. It's suggested to the people that there is only a choice between polygamy and adultery.

Unfortunately, people in Indonesia don't always have the time to listen to things more carefully. Our people is turning into a people of television viewers, with merely superficial knowledge about everything. This I see as a challenge for the future.

How do you see the role of women in the campaign for pluralism?

Wahid: Women could become mediators, promoting the pluralist spirit in society. When a society closes its mind, women are always the first victims. In Aceh for example, women have recently been subjected to raids because they've been wearing tight jeans.

It seems as if women are always destined to be the guardians of morality in society. But that's nonsense: the morality of society does not depend on the behaviour of women, but on what goes in the heads of the people – both men and women. That's why the involvement of women in spreading the message of pluralism is of essential significance.

What is the biggest challenge to pluralism in Indonesia?

Wahid: The biggest current problem is the socio-economic situation, especially since the economic situation of the majority of the people is still below an acceptable level.


Painting everything either black or white: Radical groups, like "Hizbut Tahrir", continue to gain a public audience with certain religious or political issues This is an opportunity for certain groups to win over people who live below the poverty line for their anti-pluralist ends – for example, with the claim that poverty and unemployment are injustices which have been created by other groups. We have to commit ourselves to ensuring that this is prevented.

The membership of the largest Islamist party in Indonesia, the "Partai Keadilan Sejahtera" (PKS) is growing rapidly, as one could see at the last parliamentary elections. What's your view of this phenomenon? Are you worried that the growth of this party, which promotes conservative Islamic values, could hinder the campaign for more pluralism?

Wahid: In general, the parties which form the Islam platform are losing votes, while the nationalist parties are winning them. The PKS has also been forced to take on more moderate views. At least, that's how it presents itself in public. What it's like behind the scenes, I don't know. But they certainly don't take up topics like the Islamic state in public any more. They seem to interpret public opinion as being that Indonesia should remain a state based on law, and not an Islamic state.

Could Indonesia go that way?

Wahid: If you mean: could Indonesia be ruled by an ultra-conservative with radical tencencies – yes, that could certainly happen. But looking at the current political tendencies, we are still very far away from that right now.

Interview: Zaki Amrullah

© Qantara.de 2009

Translated from the German by Michael Lawton

http://en.qantara.de/Religious-Diversity-instead-of-Intolerance/6964c154/index.html (Accessed 6/29/2011)

Putting an End to Intolerance

Religious Minorities in Indonesia

Putting an End to Intolerance

28.07.2010

Jurnal Nasional journalist Luther Kembaren examines a host of factors that have led to sectarian and religious violence in Indonesia, and calls for all elements of Indonesian society – including the government and media – to help empower religious minorities


The natural tolerance that has existed among Indonesia's religious communities is under threat, says Luther Kembaren. Pictured: a woman during church services in Medan, Indonesia The beginning of 2010 saw much violence directed towards Indonesia's religious minorities. On 3 January, a group called the People Communication Forum burnt down the Filadelfia Church, a house of worship for the Protestant Batak Christians in Bekasi, West Java. In a separate instance, extremist groups, such as the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) and the Taliban Brigade, forcefully shut down an Ahmadiyyah mosque and community centre.

Most evident in the outskirts of Jakarta where the FPI compels officials – by threatening attacks or disturbing the peace – to implement a conservative interpretation of Islamic law, this type of aggression undermines the natural tolerance that has existed among Indonesia's religious communities until recent decades.

Roots of intolerance

Jeirry Sumampow, Secretary General of the Indonesian Christian Participation, a group that spun off from the Indonesian Christian Party in the 1970s, believes that there are three fundamental problems causing this increase in religious and sectarian violence.


"Theological and socio-economic challenges": a Muslim couple pass by a Christmas tree in a Jakarta shopping mall First, inter-religious violence is often tied to political factors. Certain groups exacerbate religious and ethnic differences to gain support in local elections, influencing voters to cast ballots along religious or ethnic lines.

Second, the movement of people from villages to cities has contributed to greater unemployment in urban areas. Those from rural areas generally have less education and thus face greater difficulties finding employment. The resulting economic gap and jealousy directed towards the wealthy has shifted popular sentiment towards certain religious groups that provide the poor promises of economic fulfilment.

The implicit trade-off of course is that those who are helped are then encouraged to adopt their benefactor's agenda, which often marginalises other religions. Thus, efforts to build a strong sense of inter-religious community face not only theological but also socio-economic challenges.

Inter-religious tensions

Finally, some people take an exclusivist view on religion, claiming that their beliefs are superior to others'. Such attitudes can lead to inter-group violence, with certain followers attacking others because they are perceived as deviating from "true" Islam.

Though some local groups are already hard at work to address the tensions between faiths and prevent inter-religious violence, Indonesians must do more.


Authorities and the government in Indonesia have to accommodate the aspirations of Indonesia's multi-religious community, Luther Kembaren stipulates. Pictured: Security Police forces in Indonesia The Wahid Institute, an organisation espousing a moderate and tolerant view of Islam and working for the welfare of all Indonesians, in cooperation with the Center for Marginalized People (CMARs), are giving a voice to religious minority groups and engaging with them in national dialogues and anti-discrimination campaigns.

These campaigns allow minority groups to share their perspectives as "potential victims" among the larger population. And, at the same time, the Wahid Institute and CMARs are helping to tackle issues of religious violence in the country by embracing marginalised groups to prevent them from becoming extremist.

Mutual respect between religious adherents

Persistent promotion of peace and tolerance among religious groups – and in the media – is needed. This includes highlighting innovative initiatives that are shifting attitudes toward mutual respect between religious adherents, regardless of beliefs.

The Indonesian government also has a role to play. Establishing a national commission – representative of Indonesia's diverse religious makeup – to accommodate the aspirations of Indonesia's multi-religious community would promote the development of intensive studies on factors influencing conflict and pluralism.

Towards a pluralistic society

The results from these studies would allow the commission to make informed and effective policy recommendations to the government that would promote the political and social empowerment of religious and ethnic minorities. The commission's recommendations could also be applied at the provincial level.

Without deliberate steps towards the creation of a pluralistic and mutually inclusive society, the violence against religious minorities will continue to tear apart the diversity that has moulded and enriched Indonesia. Religious organisations, the media and the government must work together to make peace and tolerance a priority in Indonesia.

Luther Kembaren

© Common Ground News Service 2010

Luther Kembaren is a journalist for the daily Jurnal Nasional newspaper and a participant of the January 2010 training on intercultural reporting organised by the UN Alliance of Civilizations and Search for Common Ground in Jakarta.

Editor: Lewis Gropp/Qantara.de

http://en.qantara.de/Putting-an-End-to-Intolerance/7053c154/index.html (Accessed 6/29/2011)

Indonesia's "Multicultural Laboratories"

Teaching Religious Tolerance

Indonesia's "Multicultural Laboratories"

17.01.2011

Indonesia is an incredibly diverse country in terms of religion. While some private faith schools, universities and NGOs are making inspirational efforts to promote inter-religious understanding, state schools are lagging far behind. Lyn Parker reports


According to the Indonesian school curriculum: students of all religions should learn to "be tolerant, and to guard harmony in personal as well as social life" The ethnic, religious and linguistic diversity of Indonesia is built into the concept of Indonesia. Under Suharto, however, it was forbidden to explore differences of class, ethnicity, "race" and religion. The government made strenuous efforts to construct a homogeneous national culture, notably through the education system.

Since Suharto, the freeing of the press, democratisation and the policies of regional autonomy and decentralisation have given free rein to the heightened expression of local ethnic and religious identities.

Political elites of all stripes have played up such differences for their own advantage, leading to violent conflicts in several well-known trouble-spots around the country. Fundamentalisms of most faiths have flourished, but it has been the Islamisation of the public sphere that has attracted the most attention internationally.

Indonesia is not an Islamic state, but it is expressly religious. The first principle of Pancasila, the state ideology, is belief in one God. The constitution of 1945 guarantees religious freedom, but not the freedom not to be religious.

Indonesia recognises only six religions: Islam, Protestantism, Catholicism, Hinduism, Buddhism and Confucianism. All citizens must identify one of these six religions as their religion on their identity cards and in many official documents such as birth and marriage certificates.

Indonesia has a significant minority of Protestant and Catholic Christians; adherents of Balinese and other variants of Hinduism such as Kaharingin Hinduism in Kalimantan and Tenggerese Hinduism; Buddhists and Confucians, as well as millions of adherents of local and other world religions.

All of these peoples, with the exception of the last group and adherents of some sects such as Ahmadiyah, are now free to practise their religions. These final exceptions show that Indonesia still has quite a way to go.

Since 1998, relations between religions have become fraught. Perhaps an indicator of this is that Law 20/2003 legislated that school children should be taught their own religion by teachers of their own faith.

The tension – and sometimes friction – between religions is obvious in many other fields: in inter-religious marriage, the building of houses of worship for minority religions in majority neighbourhoods and even the choice of greeting.

In 2005, the Indonesian Council of Ulama (MUI) decreed that praying together with non-Muslims was prohibited for Muslims. In 2005, they issued a fatwa forbidding Muslims from marrying non-Muslims and in 2006, MUI outlawed the Islamic minority sect, Ahmadiyah, and pluralism, secularism and liberalism in general.

These are some of the structural obstacles that stand in the way of those who are concerned that Indonesia is becoming less religiously tolerant, and for those people who see inter-faith education, interaction and "mixing" as one way forward for Indonesia.

Teaching religion in state schools


Suharto's government made great efforts to create a homogeneous national culture. In recent years, political parties have been playing up ethnic and religious differences, leading to tension between the religions. Now, 87 per cent of religion teachers in Indonesia do not advocate the study of other religions. Religion has always been a compulsory subject for school children at all levels in Indonesia. In most schools, two religion classes have usually been taught per week. In 2003, the new Education Law stated that each school must provide teachers of the same religion for its students: Muslim teachers for Muslim students, Hindu teachers for Hindu students, and so on. Even private faith-based schools have to provide for their minority other-faith students, for example, a private Catholic school should provide Muslim teachers for its Muslim students.

This legislation can be seen as a good thing, because the religious minorities in a school are acknowledged and receive proper education in their religion. What's more, it should ensure that each religion is taught respectfully and knowledgeably.

However, there are also stories of students of religious minorities having to move school or even move house, to new towns and cities, because schools have not been willing to provide teachers for minority students. It can be expensive for schools to provide one or two students with a special teacher, and some schools do not comply with this regulation.

The approach to teaching religion in state schools is a "within religion" or confessional approach. The curriculum for each religion stresses the doctrines and morals of that religion. However, according to the curriculum, students of all religions should learn consistently, from primary through to senior high school, to "be tolerant, and to guard harmony in personal as well as social life". They should learn to be "steadfast in facing the challenges, obstacles, and changes that arise in social interaction, in local, national, regional as well as global environments".

However, "tolerance" cannot be said to receive much attention in religion classes. In the three years of Islamic education in senior high school, for instance, tolerance only gets a mention once in the year 12 curriculum. In the Protestant curriculum, the word does not appear, although "Christian values" (unspecified) are taught intensively.

In addition, year-12 students are to "develop a critical attitude towards democratic values and human rights" and to facilitate the introduction of "good news and prosperous peace in private life and in the community".

The curriculum for the school subject Citizenship Education advises that students should be taught to value equally the various ways of life of other citizens in the country, "without distinguishing race, religion, gender, group, culture and ethnicity". However, this is the only mention of religion in the subject's curriculum.

In all of these subjects there is no attempt to teach across religions or about other religions in a way that promotes an understanding that other religions might have value. There is a recognition that other religions have the right to exist in Indonesia, but no curiosity about them. There is very little structural support for teaching that enables students to understand and value other religions.

Given the inflamed national situation, it is not surprising that religious education has become politicised. Several Indonesian scholars have weighed into the debate. In 2003, RELIEF, Journal of Religious Issues, published by Gajah Mada University, ran an editorial which concluded that "our religious education is becoming increasingly dogmatic, exclusive [and] rigid".

In 2008, the National Islamic University in Jakarta's Centre for Islamic and Social Studies conducted a survey of 500 religion teachers in senior high schools (including vocational schools) in several cities in Java. Results indicate general opposition by religion teachers to teaching religious pluralism in schools, with 87 per cent not advocating the study of other religions. It also revealed a less-than-tolerant attitude generally, with the majority not wanting a non-Muslim school principal.

According to the Centre's director, Dr Burhanuddin, this "anti-pluralist view" of school religion teachers is reflected in their school lessons and contributes to the growth of conservatism and radicalism in Indonesian Muslim circles. It seems that the Ministries of Religion and National Education are failing to come to terms with what religious tolerance and pluralism might mean, especially in relation to meeting the challenges of global citizenship.

Teaching for tolerance


"Education has a contribution to make in helping the different religious communities live together peacefully," writes Lyn Parker Some individual teachers make an enormous effort to promote inter-religious tolerance. A religion teacher at a private Islamic school in Yogyakarta bases her teaching on life experience and social issues such as abortion, domestic violence and polygamy. She might bring a clipping from a newspaper dealing with a current issue, or she might show a documentary film then ask her students to reflect upon it critically and try to develop a response from within their own discussions.

Her students' attitudes are testament to the efficacy of her teaching for religious pluralism. As one student put it, ideally, Indonesians would "respect one another and value one another. In Indonesia there are many cultures: we should all become one. Indeed God was just in creating humankind with a variety of cultures and religions."

Sometimes it is the school that makes the effort, or at least provides a whole-school environment that encourages the peaceful co-existence of different religions. The teacher at a private Catholic school who teaches his students humanism, rather than doctrine or comparative religion, has the support of the principal and the school administration.

When prospective students and their parents are interviewed, they are warned that the school does not teach Catholicism. Instead, the school says it will teach the "meeting" of religions, as a dialogue, using an interactive approach and teaching materials that are not from any particular religion. The foundation that runs the school wanted it to be a "multicultural laboratory" that would value all people, of any background: it was to be an inclusive school, that bridged differences.

Students are encouraged to "dig" for themselves. In one lesson they interviewed strangers on the street, to find out what their faith meant to them. Many students chose to interview people from the middle to lower classes. They receive praise for this from their teacher, who believed that the well-off students at this school needed to learn how to mix with "people of all types and classes".

Reflecting on this experience, one student concluded that "This person taught me to value other people's spirituality and opinions, no matter who they are." Another said, "I learned that spirituality is useful in everyday life, helping people to overcome their problems".

However, these laudable efforts at teaching for tolerance are isolated efforts that rely on the goodwill and energy of individual teachers, and sometimes the school. These are limitations, and it would be a good idea for some of these experimental projects to be evaluated. It would also behove state schools to take a look at these "multicultural laboratories".

Action in universities

There are also interesting initiatives in some universities. Gajah Mada University in Yogyakarta has an impressive Centre for Cross-Religious Studies for postgraduate students. This is a really active research centre which hosts seminars and conferences and sponsors research, with good links to the Yogyakarta Sunan Kalijaga State Islamic University.

Postgraduate students from here and other state Islamic universities are doing some excellent work in this "space between religions". They not only produce theses on traditional religious topics such as theology, but also look across religions at comparative theology or work on the sociology of religion.


According to Lyn Parker, NGOs such as the highly respected Interfidei, which plays a prominent role in the promotion of inter-faith dialogue, are leading the way in terms of educational work aimed at peaceful co-existence The state Islamic universities, notably in Jakarta and Yogyakarta, have long been active in the inter-faith area. Sunan Kalijaga University has joined with the Duta Wacana Christian University in Yogyakarta to run a joint course for postgraduate theology students. This innovative course, known as the Cross-Religion School, runs for the academic year, during which the students (and other interested individuals) visit places of worship, attend religious services and study a range of different religions.

Some of the next generation state Islamic universities are making major efforts in this area too. For example, the Alauddin State Islamic University in Makassar hosted a conference on Multicultural Education last October and another earlier this year on Islam and Democracy.

In Surabaya, Petra Christian University has designed an innovative programme to promote understanding of Islam by having two classes of business students visit a pesantren (Islamic boarding school) in Surabaya. Most students in this university are Chinese. The students and teachers at the pesantren warmly welcomed the Chinese Christian students and took part in interviews and small-group discussions with them. Some students followed up with more discussions, and when the business students presented their results, some of the people from the pesantren returned to form part of the audience.

The student presentations and assignments were very revealing: many of the Christian students come from very comfortable, upper middle class families, and they were as much confronted by the living conditions at the boarding school as by the different faith. Nevertheless, as their class presentations showed, the interaction produced a demonstrable shift in their attitudes towards Muslims.

Some of these universities are elite and are producing the next generation of Indonesia's political, academic, economic and social leaders. It is encouraging that at least some of their students are being encouraged to learn how to live in harmony with people of other religions.

NGOs lead inter-faith dialogue

NGOs are playing an important role in initiating, mediating and organising such experiments. In Jakarta, organisations such as the Indonesian Conference on Religion and Peace, The Wahid Institute and Kapal Perempuan run a range of activities that include seminars for young people and women, publishing, library services, training courses and research on inter-faith communication, tolerance and peace-building.


"NGOs conduct programmes that are not specifically inter-religious but nevertheless foster inclusivity, multiculturalism and inter-religious communication," writes Lyn Parker One of the most important and enduring NGOs is Interfidei, in Yogyakarta, which is organising and leading the Cross-Religion School. Interfidei has played a prominent role in the promotion of inter-faith dialogue, publishing, commissioning research, organising visits by international experts and leading seminars. Its work is specifically inter-religious, and it is highly respected.

Other NGOs conduct programmes that are not specifically inter-religious but nevertheless foster inclusivity, multiculturalism and inter-religious communication. For instance, in fervently Islamic South Sulawesi, Christian activists prefer to work alongside Muslims on anti-poverty and development projects rather than in explicitly inter-faith groups.

The Institute for Islamic and Social Studies, a long-standing NGO in Yogyakarta, runs creative writing courses for young people, which produce the well-known magazine Coret, as well as workshop courses for high school students on video documentary-making.

Apart from the skills of film-making, the course aims to give young people the opportunity to socialise with the opposite sex and with others from different schools and to have them experience an egalitarian, student-centred, activity-based, cooperative learning process.

Much good educational work aimed at peaceful co-existence appears to be happening outside state schools, not inside. NGOs are leading the way. While it is great that individuals, NGOs, universities and some teachers at private schools are making valiant efforts, it is also worrying that inter-faith education and teaching for religious tolerance are not better embedded in school curricula and structurally supported in the national school system.

There are some valuable experiments in teaching for religious tolerance being made around the country. Education has a contribution to make in helping the different religious communities live together peacefully.

Lyn Parker

© insideindonesia.org 2010

Editor: Aingeal Flanagan/Qantara.de

Lyn Parker is a Professor in Asian Studies at the University of Western Australia. She is leading a large ARC-funded project on education for a multicultural Indonesia.

http://en.qantara.de/wcsite.php?wc_c=8425 (Accessed 6/29/2011)