IslamSubstantif

Discussing Moderate Islam by Some Intellectuals

2010-11-11T09:38:00.003+07:00

Here are some intellectuals' articles discussing moderate Islam being downloaded from The Wall Street Journal. Please visit http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703369704575461503431290986.html?mod=WSJ_article_related

The Ball Is in Our CourtBy Anwar Ibrahim
Skeptics and cynics alike have said that the quest for the moderate Muslim in the 21st century is akin to the search for the Holy Grail. It's not hard to understand why. Terrorist attacks, suicide bombings and the jihadist call for Muslims "to rise up against the oppression of the West" are widespread.
The radical fringe carrying out such actions has sought to dominate the discourse between Islam and the West. In order to do so, they've set out to foment anti-Americanism and anti-Semitism. They've also advocated indiscriminate violence as a political strategy. To cap their victory, this abysmal lot uses the cataclysm of 9/11 as a lesson for the so-called enemies of Islam.
These dastardly acts have not only been tragedies of untold proportions for those who have suffered or perished. They have also delivered a calamitous blow to followers of the Muslim faith.
These are the Muslims who go about their lives like ordinary people—earning their livings, raising their families, celebrating reunions and praying for security and peace. These are the Muslims who have never carried a pocketknife, let alone explosives intended to destroy buildings. These Muslims are there for us to see, if only we can lift the veil cast on them by the shadowy figures in bomb-laden jackets hell-bent on destruction.
These are mainstream Muslims—no different from the moderate Christians, Jews and those of other faiths—whose identities have been drowned by events beyond their control. The upshot is a composite picture of Muslims as inherently intolerant, antidemocratic, inward-looking and simply unable to coexist with other communities in the modern world. Some say there is only one solution: Discard your beliefs and your tradition, and embrace pluralism and modernity.

This prescription is deeply flawed. The vast majority of Muslims already see themselves as part of a civilization that is heir to a noble tradition of science, philosophy and spirituality that places paramount importance on the sanctity of human life. Holding fast to the principles of democracy, freedom and human rights, these hundreds of millions of Muslims fervently reject fanaticism in all its varied guises.
Yet Muslims must do more than just talk about their great intellectual and cultural heritage. We must be at the forefront of those who reject violence and terrorism. And our activism must not end there. The tyrants and oppressive regimes that have been the real impediment to peace and progress in the Muslim world must hear our unanimous condemnation. The ball is in our court.
Mr. Ibrahim is Malaysia's opposition leader.

A History of Tolerance

By Bernard Lewis
A form of moderation has been a central part of Islam from the very beginning. True, Muslims are nowhere commanded to love their neighbors, as in the Old Testament, still less their enemies, as in the New Testament. But they are commanded to accept diversity, and this commandment was usually obeyed. The Prophet Muhammad's statement that "difference within my community is part of God's mercy" expressed one of Islam's central ideas, and it is enshrined both in law and usage from the earliest times.
This principle created a level of tolerance among Muslims and coexistence between Muslims and others that was unknown in Christendom until after the triumph of secularism. Diversity was legitimate and accepted. Different juristic schools coexisted, often with significant divergences.
Sectarian differences arose, and sometimes led to conflicts, but these were minor compared with the ferocious wars and persecutions of Christendom. Some events that were commonplace in medieval Europe— like the massacre and expulsion of Jews—were almost unknown in the Muslim world. That is, until modern times.
Occasionally more radical, more violent versions of Islam arose, but their impact was mostly limited. They did not become really important until the modern period when, thanks to a combination of circumstances, such versions of Islamic teachings obtained a massive following among both governments and peoples.
From the start, Muslims have always had a strong sense of their identity and history. Thanks to modern communication, they have become painfully aware of their present state. Some speak of defeat, some of failure. It is the latter who offer the best hope for change.
For the moment, there does not seem to be much prospect of a moderate Islam in the Muslim world. This is partly because in the prevailing atmosphere the expression of moderate ideas can be dangerous—even life-threatening. Radical groups like al Qaeda and the Taliban, the likes of which in earlier times were at most minor and marginal, have acquired a powerful and even a dominant position.
But for Muslims who seek it, the roots are there, both in the theory and practice of their faith and in their early sacred history.
Mr. Lewis, professor emeritus at Princeton, is the author of "From Babel to Dragomans: Interpreting the Middle East" (Oxford University Press, 2004).

Don't Call Me Moderate, Call Me Normal

By Ed Husain
I am a moderate Muslim, yet I don't like being termed a "moderate"—it somehow implies that I am less of a Muslim.
We use the designation "moderate Islam" to differentiate it from "radical Islam." But in so doing, we insinuate that while Islam in moderation is tolerable, real Islam—often perceived as radical Islam—is intolerable. This simplistic, flawed thinking hands our extremist enemies a propaganda victory: They are genuine Muslims. In this rubric, the majority, non-radical Muslim populace has somehow compromised Islam to become moderate.
What is moderate Christianity? Or moderate Judaism? Is Pastor Terry Jones's commitment to burning the Quran authentic Christianity, by virtue of the fanaticism of his action? Or, is Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, the spiritual head of the Shas Party in Israel, more Jewish because he calls on Jews to rain missiles on the Arabs and "annihilate them"?
The pastor and the rabbi can, no doubt, find abstruse scriptural justifications for their angry actions. And so it is with Islam's fringe: Our radicals find religious excuses for their political anger. But Muslim fanatics cannot be allowed to define Islam.
The Prophet Muhammad warned us against ghuluw, or extremism, in religion. The Quran reinforces the need for qist, or balance. For me, Islam at its essence is the middle way in all matters. This is normative Islam, adhered to by a billion normal Muslims across the globe.
Normative Islam is inherently pluralist. It is supported by 1,000 years of Muslim history in which religious freedom was cherished. The claim, made today by the governments of Iran and Saudi Arabia, that they represent God's will expressed through their version of oppressive Shariah law is a modern innovation.
The classical thinking within Islam was to let a thousand flowers bloom. Ours is not a centralized tradition, and Islam's rich diversity is a legacy of our pluralist past.
Normative Islam, from its early history to the present, is defined by its commitment to protecting religion, life, progeny, wealth and the human mind. In the religious language of Muslim scholars, this is known as maqasid, or aims. This is the heart of Islam.
I am fully Muslim and fully Western. Don't call me moderate—call me a normal Muslim.
Mr. Husain is author of "The Islamist" (Penguin, 2007) and co-founder of the Quilliam Foundation, a counterextremist think tank.

Putting Up With Infidels Like Me

By Reuel Marc Gerecht
Moderate Islam is the faith practiced by the parents of my Pakistani British roommate at the University of Edinburgh—and, no doubt, by the great majority of Muslim immigrants to Europe and the United States.
Khalid's mother and father were devout Muslims. His dad prayed five times a day and his mom, who hadn't yet learned decent English after almost 20 years in the industrial towns of West Yorkshire, gladly gave me the impression that the only book she'd ever read was the Quran.
I was always welcome in their home. Khalid's mother regularly stuffed me with curry, peppering me with questions about how a non-Muslim who'd crossed the Atlantic to study Islam could resist the pull of the one true faith.
Determined to keep their children Muslim in a sea of aggressive, alcohol-laden, sex-soaked disbelief, they happily practiced and preached peaceful coexistence—even with an infidel who was obviously leading their son down an unrighteous path.
That is the essence of moderation in any faith: the willingness to exist peacefully, if not exuberantly, alongside nonbelievers who hold repellant views on many sacred subjects.
It is a dispensation that comes fairly easily to ordinary Muslims who have left their homelands to live among nonbelievers in Western democracies. It is harder for Muslims surrounded by their own kind, unaccustomed by politics and culture to giving up too much ground.
Tolerance among traditional Muslims is defined as Christian Europe first defined the idea: A superior creed agrees not to harass an inferior creed, so long as the practitioners of the latter don't become too uppity. Tolerance emphatically does not mean equality of belief, as it now does in the West.
Even in Turkey, where authoritarian secularism has changed the Muslim identity more profoundly than anywhere else in the Old World, a totally secularized Muslim would never call a non-Muslim citizen of the state a Turk. There is a certain pride of place that cannot be shared with a nonbeliever. Wounded pride also does the Devil's work on ecumenicalism. Adjusting to modernity, with its intellectually open borders and inevitable moral chaos, is brutally hard for monotheisms, especially for those accustomed to rule. But it happens.
When I told Khalid's father that his children—especially his daughters—would not worship the faith as he and his wife had done, he told me: "They are living a better life than we have lived. That is enough."
Mr. Gerecht, a former CIA operative, is a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.

Don't Gloss Over The Violent Texts

By Tawfik Hamid
In regards to Islam, the words "moderate'" and "radical" are relative terms. Without defining them it is virtually impossible to defeat the latter or support the former.
Radical Islam is not limited to the act of terrorism; it also includes the embrace of teachings within the religion that promote hatred and ultimately breed terrorism. Those who limit the definition of radical Islam to terrorism are ignoring—and indirectly approving of—the Shariah teachings that permit killing apostates, violence against women and gays, and anti-Semitism.
Moderate Islam should be defined as a form of Islam that rejects these violent and discriminatory edicts. Furthermore, it must provide a strong theological refutation for the mainstream Islamic teaching that the Muslim umma (nation) must declare wars against non-Muslim nations, spreading the religion and giving non-Muslims the following options: convert, pay a humiliating tax, or be killed. This violent concept fuels jihadists, who take the teaching literally and accept responsibility for applying it to the modern world.
Moderate Islam must not be passive. It needs to actively reinterpret the violent parts of the religious text rather than simply cherry-picking the peaceful ones. Ignoring, rather than confronting or contextualizing, the violent texts leaves young Muslims vulnerable to such teachings at a later stage in their lives.
Finally, moderate Islam must powerfully reject the barbaric practices of jihadists. Ideally, this would mean Muslims demonstrating en masse all over the world against the violence carried out in the name of their religion.
Moderate Islam must be honest enough to admit that Islam has been used in a violent manner at several stages in history to seek domination over others. Insisting that all acts in Islamic history and all current Shariah teachings are peaceful is a form of deception that makes things worse by failing to acknowledge the existence of the problem.
Mr. Hamid, a former member of the Islamic radical group Jamma Islamiya, is an Islamic reformer and a senior fellow at the Potomac Institute for Policy Studies.

Mystics, Modernists and Literalists

By Akbar Ahmed
In the intense discussion about Muslims today, non-Muslims often say to me: "You are a moderate, but are there others like you?"
Clearly, the use of the term moderate here is meant as a compliment. But the application of the term creates more problems than it solves. The term is heavy with value judgment, smacking of "good guy" versus "bad guy" categories. And it implies that while a minority of Muslims are moderate, the rest are not.
Having studied the practices of Muslims around the world today, I've come up with three broad categories: mystic, modernist and literalist. Of course, I must add the caveat that these are analytic models and aren't watertight.
Muslims in the mystic category reflect universal humanism, believing in "peace with all." The 13th-century Sufi poet Rumi exemplifies this category. In his verses, he glorifies worshipping the same God in the synagogue, the church and the mosque.
The second category is the modernist Muslim who believes in trying to balance tradition and modernity. The modernist is proud of Islam and yet able to live comfortably in, and contribute to, Western society.
Most Muslim leaders who led nationalist movements in the first half of the 20th century were modernists—from Sultan Mohammed V, the first king of independent Morocco, to M.A. Jinnah, who founded Pakistan in 1947. But as modernists failed over time, becoming increasingly incompetent and corrupt, the literalists stepped into the breach.
The literalists believe that Muslim behavior must approximate that of the Prophet in seventh-century Arabia. Their belief that Islam is under attack forces many of them to adopt a defensive posture. And while not all literalists advocate violence, many do. Movements like the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas, and the Taliban belong to this category.
In the Muslim world the divisions between the three categories I have delineated are real. The outcome of their struggle will define Islam's fate.
The West can help by understanding Muslim society in a more nuanced and sophisticated way in order to interact with it wisely and for mutual benefit. The first step is to categorize Muslims accurately.
Mr. Ahmed, the former Pakistani ambassador to Britain, is the chair of Islamic studies at American University and author of "Journey into America: The Challenge of Islam" (Brookings, 2010).

Open the Gates: A Rabbinical Response to the Gaza Freedom Flotilla Tragedy

2010-06-04T20:06:00.000+07:00

Below is open letter from Jews Fast for Gaza
Posted 05/31/2010 - 15:59 by Rabbi Brant Rosen

Dear Friends,

In the wake of the Gaza Freedom Flotilla tragedy, we once again feel the need to raise our voices as rabbis in the Jewish community.

According to press reports, we now know that at least 9 people have been killed and many more have been injured when Israeli Navy Seals boarded a boat that held 600 people in the middle of the night – conducting a military operation against civilian activists in the midst of international waters.

We also know that the essential aim of the Freedom Flotilla was to carry humanitarian aid to those who have been severely suffering under the effects of Israel’s crushing blockade of Gaza. We call upon our community not to turn away in denial or blame those of good will and good purpose who risked their lives to relieve the beleaguered people of the Gaza strip.

We lift up our voices and call upon Israel to conduct an independent, transparent, and credible investigation of this incident. We also call upon the government of Israel to open the gates of compassion and allow these ships to dock so that they may deliver humanitarian aid to the 1.5 million citizens of Gaza. In so doing, we note the overall context of oppression in which this incident has occurred and call upon the government of Israel to turn away from the policies of occupation, siege and indifference to international law.

Our silence now is an act of betrayal to the values we purport to live by and to the words of the prophet we read every Yom Kippur:

Is this the fast I desire? A day for people to starve
their bodies? Or bow their heads like a bulrush
or wear sackcloth and smear oneself with ashes...
No! This is the fast the Lord desires:
Unlock the fetters of oppression
Untie the cords of the yoke
Let the exploited go free, break off every chain.
share your bread with the hungry,
Shelter the poor in your own house
clothe the naked and do not ignore your own kin.

As rabbis, we believe all human beings are our kin. We cannot abide the suffering inflicted upon the people of Gaza.

We lift up our voices and say: Unlock the fetters of oppression. Untie the cords of the yoke. Open the gates.

Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb
Rabbi Brant Rosen
Rabbi Brian Walt
Rabbi Alissa Wise
Rabbi Rebecca Alpert
Rabbi Marjorie Berman
Rabbi JB Sacks
Rabbi Michael Lerner
Rabbi Arthur Waskow
Rabbi David Mivasair
Rabbi Chava Bahle
Rabbi Eyal Levinson
Rabbi Nina Mandel
Rabbi Margaret Holub
Rabbi Rebecca Lillian
Rabbi Gershon Steinberg-Caudill
Rabbi Laurie Zimmerman
Rabbi Mordechai Liebling
Rabbi Naomi Steinberg
Rabbi Haim Dov Beliak
Rabbi Arthur Segal
Rabbi Victor H. Reinstein
Rabbi Phyllis Berman
Rabbi Linda Holtzman
Rabbi Andrew Gold
Rabbi Michael Feinberg
Rabbi Diane Elliot

ACRI Admonishes Flotilla Takeover and Outcome, Calls for Investigation

2010-06-04T20:00:00.001+07:00

The Association for Civil Rights in Israel is appalled by today's military takeover of the Flotilla on its way to Gaza, and calls for an independent investigation of the event. It is unfathomable that a Flotilla whose purpose was to protest the siege imposed by Israel on the Gaza Strip, ended with nine dead and many more injured.

Hagai El-Ad, Director of ACRI: "The same guiding principles of military force that put one and a half million people under siege in Gaza for four years is what led to this military action which turned into a bloodbath. These circumstances make necessary an immediate investigation by an external body into the events and their deterioration. This is all substantiated by the electronic force-field and limited media coverage imposed on today's events."

The Association for Civil Rights in Israel repeats its call to the government of Israel to end the illegal and immoral siege which gravely damages civil society in Gaza.

Wrote with Gus Dur at The Wall Street Journal

2010-01-21T04:29:00.006+07:00

The Obstacles to Israeli-Palestinian Peace

By ABDURRAHMAN WAHID and ABD A'LA

The Wall Street Journal, May 10, 2008; Page A11

The prolonged Israeli-Palestinian conflict has a far-reaching impact not only upon the lives of those who dwell in the Holy Land, but upon virtually every nation and community on earth. On a daily basis, self-interested parties are callously manipulating the most basic values of humanity and religion in order to advance their personal or political interests. Sectarianism, violence, arrogance and deception are constantly subverting the fundamental values of life, and turning religious principles upon their heads.

This horrific process demands that every moral human being, religious community and nation throughout the world contemplate this tragedy and offer assistance, however small, to help resolve the profound human crisis in the Holy Land. Peace is both a process and a goal that the world can neither morally nor practically afford to push off into the future yet again.

We must develop and implement concrete strategies to resolve the conflict, while inspiring hope that peace can actually be achieved. The problem is that the various obstacles to peace seem nearly impossible to eliminate. These obstacles are rendered even more severe by the fact that both major parties in the conflict harbor groups absolutely convinced of the correctness of their mutually exclusive views and agendas.

Such groups reject not only the rights, but the very existence, of the other side. The corrosive effect of this phenomenon is the evocation and rationalization of the use of violence, either through terrorism or militarism. Prejudiced views on both sides, not only by those directly engaged in the conflict, but by their allies as well, further stoke the flames of hatred and violence.

These prejudices contaminate public discourse throughout the world, and are constantly exploited by Middle Eastern regimes that fuel anti-Israeli and anti-Semitic emotions for political purposes, while displaying little or no actual concern for the well-being of the Palestinians themselves.

Under such conditions, it is nearly impossible for sincere dialogue even to occur, much less to develop or flourish. Instead, the cycle of violence breeds a hardening of mutual hatred.

The Palestinian side routinely condemns its enemy as a colonial power whose entire population is demonized as "imperialists," while the Israeli side brands its political opponents as terrorists, or terrorist sympathizers.

For six decades, the peace process has been conducted primarily by self-interested political players who cannot penetrate to the heart of the underlying problems, much less resolve them. This gives rise to deeply cynical views on the part of certain groups on both sides, who view the peace process as absurd, its goals unobtainable, and continued violence better than compromise.

Yet the difficulties that have swamped every Israeli-Palestinian peace process to date do not mean that achieving peace is impossible. Rather, they point to the need for a new and more holistic path to peace in the Middle East. This path would mobilize the populations of Israel and Palestine toward this goal, with the active encouragement and support of the rest of the world.

The December 2007 visit to Israel and Palestine by a group of Indonesian ulama from the world's two largest Muslim organizations – LibForAll Foundation and the Indonesian Peace Delegation – represents one such effort, and the first step in a larger, systematic process. Conducted under the joint aegis of LibForAll Foundation and the Simon Wiesenthal Center, members of the group consistently observed that the silent majorities on both sides of the conflict sincerely desire an end to the cycle of violence, and peace for themselves and their children. This is remarkable, given the decades of incitement to hatred and violence in Palestinian mosques, schools and mass media, and a political culture that eschews compromise.

It is tragic that the voice of the people –full of an honest and sincere longing for peace –should be drowned out by violence and the narrow interests of politicians and extremists on both sides. We have a responsibility to amplify the voices of the innocent who pay with their blood and sorrow the price of others' ambitions and hatred.

We must also strengthen and facilitate the people's efforts to pressure their political elites – in a manner that is focused, intense and vocal, yet simultaneously civilized – to create a just and lasting peace.

Palestinians and Israelis need the world's support to create a new reality, in which the highest values of religion and humanity are restored to their proper dignity. We must also help Muslim populations – not only in Palestine, but throughout the Arab world – to rise to embrace a profoundly spiritual and tolerant understanding of Islam, and a humanistic attitude toward the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that acknowledges the legacy of suffering on all sides. Such an attitude is a necessary precondition for recognizing Israel's unique history and right to exist, while truly advancing the interests of Palestinians as well.

Last year's LibForAll/Indonesian Peace mission to Israel and Palestine was designed to initiate such a process. After the religious leaders who participated returned to Indonesia, they faced intense condemnation from Muslim extremists, who accused them of having betrayed their Palestinian brethren and embarrassed Indonesia's Muslim community. Yet there is nothing shameful about working to realize the highest values of religion – which God intended to serve as a blessing, and not a curse, to all of humanity.

Although the obstacles to peace in the Holy Land may appear insurmountable, it is the responsibility of religious leaders on all sides to attempt the impossible, and to accept whatever threats, slander and stigma may follow.

Mr. Wahid is the former president of Indonesia and co-founder of LibForAll

Foundation. Mr. A'la is an associate dean of graduate studies at Sunan Ampel

Islamic State University in Surabaya, Indonesia.

World for Peace

2009-10-04T20:15:00.002+07:00

From Jewish Voice for Peace

Jewish Voice for Peace: Has President Obama heard about Mohammad Othman?
October 2, 2009

Jewish Voice for Peace has launched an online campaign to pressure President Obama to pressure Israel to free Mohammad. Here is the text of the email:

I cannot tell you how many times I have been asked whether there is an Arab counterpart to Jewish Voice for Peace. The implicit false assumptions behind the question are clear: Palestinians are violent; Jews seek peace but there is no one peaceful on the other side of the equation.

Even President Obama, in his Cairo speech, exhorted the Palestinians to seek a resolution to the violent Israeli/Palestinian conflict through the use of nonviolence—without dedicating a word to Israel’s attack on the civilians of Gaza.

I used to get frustrated when asked the question, because I know that that its framework is false. I no longer get frustrated—now I use it as an opportunity to share what I know about so many Palestinian organizations and individuals that carry out acts, both small and large, of peaceful resistance against the occupation. People like Mohammad Othman.

My list is too big to contemplate, and the acts are nothing short of heroic. In reference to the weekly demonstrations in Bil’in against the theft of that village’s land to build the wall and to expand settlements, Archbishop Desmond Tutu said, “Just as a simple man named Gandhi led the successful nonviolent struggle in India and simple people such as Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King led the struggle for civil rights in the United States, simple people here in Bilin are leading a nonviolent struggle that will bring them their freedom.”

Bil’in is not unique, of course. Neither is the crushing response from Israel.

Palestinians who travel abroad to advocate their cause are at risk too. They may be unjustly detained by Israel when they come back home. This is what happened to Mohammad Othman. He was arrested September 22 by Israeli soldiers on the Allenby Bridge Crossing, the border from Jordan to Palestine. He was returning from a trip to Norway, where he was advocating for Palestinian human rights. He is now sitting in jail. International pressure on Israel may set him free.

Thank you in advance,

Sydney Levy
Jewish Voice for Peace

Our prayer

2009-09-15T21:16:00.002+07:00

Ya Allah, how weak is our hearts. Show us the truth as truth and then we could follow it . Ya Allah, show us falsehood as falsehood and then we could stay away.

Photo Gallery

2009-04-04T21:07:00.005+07:00

THE WISDOM OF INDONESIAN ISLAM

This image criticizes the legislative candidates who nowadays are busy campaigning generally just only for their narrow and pragmatic interests. The image is so good since it has done the critique wisely, subtly, but still very sharp. It represents Indonesian Islam, picturing wise pesantren Islam, but critical one. Indonesian Islam is contextual Islam where noble values of Islam contextualized to the real history. In the photo, such wisdom looks strongly. For example, kopiah, genuine Indonesian cap lies peacefully with the mobile originated from the West.

The photo is from M. Faizi email in which he allowed it to be published

Photo Gallery

2009-04-01T22:36:00.019+07:00

COMMON PREJUDICE

It is very common for some little groups of Muslims to accuse simply people who cooperate with Westerners especially the American though for promoting humanitarianism, peace, intellectualism, and such, as a zionist or the

agent. On the contrary, they often assume someone laden with symbols of Islam as a pious and good Muslim; despite amount of his/her deeds are amoral.

Note
The 1-st picture is personal collection and the other is downloaded from indonesian daily Jawa Pos , on April 1, 2009

Letters

2009-03-26T09:12:00.010+07:00

Here another letter from a Jewish Student. I think the letter very important for us to know the Israelis holistically

Dear Abd A'la,

I am Sahar Vardi. I am 18 years old, a senior in high school in Israel. As you probably know, all Israelis must serve in the Israeli Defense Forces, starting right after our last year of high school. I and dozens of other students, on examining our values, International Law, and what we believe is best for Israel, refused to serve in the Occupied Territories and be a part of a mechanism that suppresses millions of Palestinians.

For our refusal, we were sentenced to jail. Some of us were held in solitary confinement. Sometimes we were not allowed even to brush our teeth or change our clothes.
Some of us contacted Jewish Voice for Peace for help, and they rallied so many people! People like you, who are pressuring the Israeli Military to let us out and to cooperate with international law. As a result, several of us were freed from jail, and conditions have greatly improved for all of us.
I am writing to you in this e-mail for three reasons:

1) Please know that if we could, we would write to each of you separately and thank you personally for all you did to help us. Your support produced tangible results, but also gave us the courage and commitment to continue our struggle, even to this day.

2) Please continue your support for our struggle. If you are American, your tax dollars finance our occupation. The United States provides Israel with more military aid than any other country. Given the economic turmoil in the USA, we believe that this money ought to be used for health and well-being.Israel needs to build a more democratic society, and not use the military to solve deep-rooted problems.

3) And, please support Jewish Voice for Peace. They need your financial help, in addition to your activist help, to continue their work. Take a moment right now to become a MEMBER of JVP if you aren't one already. You can do this easily online - just click this link.

Jewish Voice for Peace is such an important part of our struggle here. We are told that by serving in the Israeli Defense Force we are protecting the security of Israel, but lasting security will only come through peace and negotiations, not weapons. Inside Israel, people like us do all we can to work for peace, and we do so with hands stretched across the water, joined with you.

Become a member of JVP today Thousands of members have a stronger voice than just being on a e-mail list. Lift up your voice - we hear you and we are so thankful!

Sahar Vardi

Photo Gallery

2009-03-20T22:38:00.011+07:00

INDONESIAN DEMOCRACY (?)

Campaign for the 2009 Indonesian legislative general election has been in progress. The big question behind it, would this election bring changes for improvement of the people's fate? The historical record has been showing the most of representatives with their very big salary always sleep very well during their meeting. They manipulate democracy for their pragmatic interests. This phenomenon diametrically opposite the democracy and religion values.

(The picture was downloaded from Zamiel al-Muttaqin's email on March 20, 2009)

Letters

2009-02-27T16:05:00.004+07:00

Dear All,
Due to many works I have to deal with at Graduate Studies of IAIN Sunan Ampel Surabaya, I must apologize to all of you. I cannot update my blog for the time being. Thanks a lot for your attention

Letters

2009-02-15T08:36:00.010+07:00

SPREADING THE PEACE

Below is another letter from Jewish Voice for Peace. Please join in it to spread peace.
This is the letter:

Sign the Open Letter.
Tell Obama and Mitchell they must to talk with everybody.

(You can also download posters of these images.)
Dear Abd A'la,
A long-standing conflict divided people according to their religion and nationality, causing enormous pain and claiming many civilian lives. The US sent an envoy with a strong conviction…
"a conviction that there is no such thing as a conflict that can't be ended. Conflicts are created, conducted and sustained by human beings. They can be ended by human beings."
Sen. George Mitchell needed patience and determination to help broker an agreement in Northern Ireland. And he did.

A key to his success was his ability to talk to all parties in the conflict. He engaged Sinn Fein -- the political wing of the Irish Republican Army - even before they agreed to lay down their weapons, weapons that had killed not just soldiers but civilians.
Why?
Because they were there. They had political power. And just as they held the power to harm others, they also had the power to stop harming others. And so without them, there would be no solution.
Sen. Mitchell needs to talk with everyone, with Israel, with the Palestinian Authority, and with Hamas.
Talking to everyone does not mean denying the very real suffering experienced by both Israelis and Palestinians, suffering caused by the various involved parties.
It does mean acknowledging they have political power. And that just as they have the power to harm others, they have shown they have the power to hold their fire. Excluding any of these parties would make it literally impossible to reach a peace agreement.
Tony Blair saw first-hand the positive effects of the Northern Ireland agreement. He saw what it took to get Sinn Fein to lay down their weapons, and he knows what it will take to get Hamas to do the same. In reference to Gaza, he said that his "basic predisposition is that in a situation like this you talk to everybody."
The late Israeli Foreign Minister Abba Eban would have concurred, "You make peace by talking to your enemies."
And so do a large number of American Jews: 76% said last summer they supported negotiations even with Israelis "worst enemies."
Jewish Voice for Peace and Just Foreign Policy have been calling for talks with Hamas for some time. Last Spring, both organizations collected thousands of signatures in support of President Carter's call to that effect, a call he has renewed.
Talking with some and not to others while sealing off Gaza has been tried for a number of years. This has brought immeasurable suffering to the besieged Palestinians in Gaza and great trauma to the citizens of Sderot in Israel.
We need change.

Cecilie Surasky,
Jewish Voice for Peace

Sign the Open Letter to Obama. Tell Obama and Mitchell they must talk to everybody.
Please click:

http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/301/petition.jsp?petition_KEY=1814

Photo Gallery

2009-02-14T21:39:00.007+07:00

THE DEMORALIZING CONTEMPORARY LIFE
While some people waste money to give their passion free rein, the poor people are still very difficult just to survive. These pictures represent mostly the condition. The question, then, what have the believers done to solve the problem?. Ironically, some of them, even, have been engaged in worsening the condition.

The pictures were downloaded from Indonesian daily, Jawa Pos, published on February 14, 2009

Opinion

2009-01-31T17:40:00.004+07:00

TERRORISM, GLOBALIZATION, AND MORAL VALUES
Abd A‘la

Terrorism and other similar actions have been bringing our world and life into chaos and disorder. The number of innocent victims has been innumerable. Even though, this inhuman action is still very possible to happen again in the future. The perpetrators of this barbaric action seem to continue their deadly actions.

To overcome this savage violence of terrorism, so far we have been trapped in reactive actions. Like someone distraught, we have appeared to act foolhardy against it. We were not able to offer a systematic wise critical solution other than mere declaring war against those terrorizing actions. At the same time, we tended to ignore the root of the problem. As long as our action spins around that, the terrorism, barbarism and the like will never disappear from our life.

Globalization

Though it can be debatable, one of the roots of spreading of terrorism and barbaric action in our contemporary world interacts to the contemporary unjust world order. At the global level, a few rich countries in the North not only have dominated source of natural wealth of the poorest countries in the South, but also the lives of their communities. Not enough with that, they to a certain degree also have lived in hypocrisy as well.

This domination has become stronger in this globalization era, from when the some developed countries in the Western World –as Sindhunata expressed (Basis 01-02, 2003) –, expanded their view of life that undermines those who are weak.

Such globalization has made many communities in the Third World more marginalized and powerless. As a result, they were frustrated to face the future. They felt defeated and inferior not only to the West, but also to the life itself.

In such conditions, they tried to find refuge, which in their view could provide a strong spirit to fight against the threat. On this side, they found religious symbols, which they freed from its moral values and universal meaning. They exploited the symbols to justify merely their frustration and to develop an ideology against the West from which they were of opinion that life is not more than a fight of power. Ironically, the power they owned is only to do violence and terrorism, or to spread outrage.

The impact then is the world becomes the massacre, both allegorically which the some western country have done, and literally developed by the terrorists.

Strengthening Moral Values

On the concept level, no any religion that teaches violence, especially in the form of terrorizing murder. Accurate research on the background of terrorism and alike spreading at this time finds that the violence action is no basic theological preferences. The religion was made only as justification to support their brutal actions.

They performed their actions was more triggered by conditions not conducive for the life such as poverty, inequality and the like that from time to time have become widen. This issues –not the religion issue –we need to discuss seriously. Therefore, we have to develop humane dialogue and a policy paying fully attention on the fate of majority of the oppressed people and the general public interests.

It does not mean that inter-religious dialogue is not important. We must deal with this dialogue, but it must be directed to anchor values of universal morality in public areas. In line with that, we need to develop the dialogue of civilization emphasizing on landing the values of civility and working out of a new world order being able to achieve social equality and solidarity amongst world communities.

To reach this agenda, we need to eliminate the greed and hubris that still shackle most of our attitude and behaviors. We must be ready to share with most people at the grassroots who truly marginalized from various aspects –education, economic and political ones. Indifference to their situation is not impossible to become a boomerang taking birth for perpetual terrorism©.

Opinion

2009-01-22T20:07:00.001+07:00

THE JUSTICE THEOLOGY FOR THE VIOLENCE-VICTIMIZED WOMEN

Abd A'la

The law enforcement in Indonesia, especially for the violence-victimized women, has not been able to grant the true sense of justice. Slowness, even neglected of settlement of violence and mass rape in May 1998 is a concrete example of legal barrenness to bring justice into the community life.
The phenomenon has occurred since so far the enforcement of justice seemed to run strongly in the form of procedural justice emphasizing only on regularity and implementation of formal legal. In line with that, the substantive justice as source of procedural justice are still in partial concept not reach completely the ideas and the reality that should be intrinsic part of the justice enforcement.
In such conditions, the development and application of justice are less able to complete the problems faced by people or groups, which experienced injustice. Even it often happens, on behalf of the justice, those people or the group was more distant from the actual reach of justice. Voices of the victims as the subject who need very much the justice nearly ignored at all. This reality makes the enforcement of justice have ambivalent face peeled off from the essential values of justice, and sometimes it thrust justice itself.
Theology of Justice
To eliminate the weaknesses, it requires reconstruction of justice lied on the basics of ethical-morale principal. The moral ethics to develop is transformative morality based on the universal and perennial values from which the people have to contextualize into real human beings experience.
In Indonesian context, where religion plays an important role in the formation of people attitudes and behavior, its substantive values and teachings should be constructed as one of main basis of such justice. The Indonesian people need to lay the theological values of justice as framework for the oppression and victimization, which the people experienced. This theological justice should be in strong relationship with the other noble religious values, such as truth, sincerity, and honesty so they could achieve a holistic comprehension of the justice from various sides.
By the formulation of the justice from perspective of the victims, the victims who actually need justice would become the focus of all enforcement process. At the same time, it could touch the sense of justice and support totally the violence-victimized women.
This justice theology endows all of the nation elements with strong responsibility to completion of May-1998 mass rape and the other violence cases, holistically. For achievement of it, they –in part –will encourage the State –e. i. the Government –continuously to open the true truth, which still closed so tightly so far.
From time to time, they would urge the government to listen to the voices of those violence-victimized women who most of them currently are in the silence. They will “force” the government to be patient to get all of the voices, without prejudice, preconception, and so forth. Hence, the government would see the truth as the truth in spite of the government and the other institutions (few or many) soiled with stains.
Through anchoring the justice theology from the victim perspective, and the government's firm attitude toward justice enforcement, the victims will be able to enjoy a sense of actual justice.
Then, in the name of justice, all of the nation components altogether should build a better Indonesia now and the future©.

Opinion

2009-01-15T21:33:00.004+07:00

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF SUBSTANTIVE DEMOCRACY

AGAINST ABUSE OF POWER

Abd A‘la

Abuse of power is one of dominant phenomena that we stumble on almost everywhere in Indonesia nowadays. For instance, some leaders of political parties make the party as a just media to bring about their ambition and to strengthen their very subjective interests. Likewise are the party activists who become member of the legislative. Similarly, a number of head of provincial regions and districts imagine their powers as their own they use to secure their ambitions and interests. In the same way, those who have positions in various state institutions appear stuck in a tug to take advantage from the position they held.

The “end” of those is the pervasiveness of corruption and other dirty practices. It is almost no more institutions free of that evil practices that actually will destroy the people and this country. Even the institution managing issues related to religious affairs is almost alike.

Ironically, the public appears to let the dirty practices happen. Even many of them join in those acts by taking a short cut every time they deal with the bureaucracy. In their simple reasons, instead to get through winding roads, they choose to cut the line. For without doing so, they involved in a complicated business.

All of that show the morality degradation in the life of the nation. Noble values such honesty, responsibility, and the alike begin to disappear and place with boosting of ambition, greed, and pragmatic attitudes.

Hypocrisy

In this situation, the phenomenon of life, especially in public spaces, was full of ambivalence. Communities, especially their elites, have turned the reality upside down from which the appearance on the surface does not represent the fact. Crime has been seen as kindness, and vice versa.

Thus, it has nearly became a very normal scene when we saw someone who looked a day-to-day as a figure always preached about the importance of moral, suddenly did practices in contrast with the discourses he/she spoke out. Similarly, a formal leader appeared very devoted because he/she run diligently religious rituals in public areas suddenly engaged in mega-corruption.

In accordance with that situation, the other elites handling the problem accomplished their duty in concealment. Even in a wider level, the public institutions run a system tending to that concealment in directing all of the public affairs. They did transparency only in so formalistic and purely administrative manner. They did not lied responsibility based on morality and the substance of its meaning as a form of maintenance and development of trust from the people and the community. Thus, the action appeared to be much different with the actual goal, so that the cases are rarely can be completed in its true sense.

Responding to those practices, some people appeared half-hearted resistance. They seemed not to be so sensitive to the hazard of this moral deprivation. The resistance movements against the practice was often only in a glance, sporadic, and more artificial demonstrative one not attaching on the responsible moral commitment.

It may occur, in part, because they were going to take narrow and pragmatic benefits, both from the distorted practices or from their actions did.

To a certain degree, it showed that hypocrisy have been infecting some of people’s and the powering-elites’ attitudes and behaviors. Since there is great gap between the phenomenon and the factual reality, which in turn it will spoil not only the perpetrators, but also the state and the people as a whole.

Substantive Democracy

The explanation above highlights that the resistance movement against the abuse of power must be actually accompanied with the development of a holistic system emphasizing on openness in all public institutions both the governmental and the other ones, including NGOs and community itself. Thus, the people could access and know the performance of each exactly and accurately. Besides, one to another could carry out mutual supervision.

Along with that policy, the law should be stand on the values of justice so that it can reach all of the people and all institutions, and could treat all of them equally. In this context, the law enforcement agencies are required to develop a system that truly can touch the sense of justice, in which is no room to provide an opportunity for anyone to distort the law towards something in contrast with the values of substantive justice that principally is the right for every one. At the same time, anyone who violates the law, he/she should get reward according to the values of justice, without an expense of others who are not guilty.

At this point, it lays the actual urgency for the state to develop a substantive democracy, which is not simply glued on the formal democratic procedures and symbols.

Since the core of democracy is the people, justice, equality, and alike, the public areas absolutely belongs to their own which they must manage openly and fairly. In this framework, transparency becomes one of the cores of democracy as well. Because without transparency the public space as their own from which they are responsible to maintain will only become pseudo-available.

Consecutively, the transparency requests honesty, responsibility, fairness, and ethical-moral alike from all of nation elements, including from the communities themselves. Without all of these values, the people will be the object of certain people and groups interests; and at the same time, the public will never be mature and wise. Crimes that harm the country and people will continue to be in progress.

Moreover, transparency will put whom known for her/his integrity into a perpetual strivings to maintain consistently her/his ethical-moral. For every time, there is an opportunity to depart, the public will know and take control as early as possible. Therefore anchoring values of substantive democracy will make the noble morality become system not only for personal, but also for institutional.

That is the agenda we need to develop seriously and to implant into reality of the nation life from now on©.

Opinion

2009-01-11T12:09:00.013+07:00

INDONESIA AND MULTICULTURALISM

Abd A ‘la

In the context of Indonesia, plurality is one side of the same coin called Indonesia. The other is the life itself. Since it would not be able to imagine Indonesia without plurality. Plurality of the races, ethnicities, cultures, and religions is basic element formed nationalism and pushed the communities reach the independence. Besides, the founders of this nation are the best children of the plurality.

In the broader spectrum, the diversity is the life itself. Life occurred because of variety of God's creation and creatures. Life is a couple of the day and the night, of the earth and the sky, of the sea and the land, of the West and the East, as well as of the plants and the animals. The dynamics continue to occur because natural multiplicity processed and developed by creative and clever men who also come from the variety of gender, race and ethnicity so that they construct different various cultures complementary to one another.

Multiculturalism in Theological Perspective

In the perspective of the Islamic values and teachings, diversity is character of life and the most basic nature of human being’s fitra, creation. In the al-Quran, surah al-Rum (30): 22 God explains the creation of heaven and earth, the different language, and color (race) of people are as signs of His Power. The sky has its own character as the earth has the form and nature far different from the sky.

The various differences not to differentiate, even not to contrast, but to complement each other. Al-Quran in Al-Hujurat (49): 13 states explicitly the purpose of those different creations. God created human beings from two different sexes, men and women, who later developed into a nation and tribes. All of these are intended in order to be familiar one to another to enrich their insight toward sustainable cooperation among them.

People are not only various in tribe and nation, but as consequence of those diversity, they also have a cultural property with its own character. Each has its own wisdom so that they can develop the cultures for a life represents the universal humanitarian values. Similarly, religion is not a single, from which any people do not have the right to make the single life as well. In fact, the belief emerges because of the existence of infidelity. The task of mankind is not to claim the truth, but to explain the truth wisely for the guidance not belong to men/ women, but belong to God reveals to men and women in ways that comply with human nature. Therefore Allah reminds in al-Quran surah Yunus (10): 99) the Prophet Muhammad (puh) in order not to trapped in the hatred against human beings not only because of not all human beings are believers, but also because a hatred will never solve the problem. The issue can only be solved through peaceful and humane ways.

Plurality in Indonesia

Based on those realities and the Islamic values, it can be concluded that disavowal of plurality is almost identical with denial of the life. In turn, it will bring about disaster in their lives. Honestly, one of the main factors of Indonesia multi-dimensional crisis in the last few years and is because of the new order regime (orba) disagreed with nation plurality. During its reign, the repressive regime diminished the plurality, and in the same time it forced unity in various dimensions of life. Single principle is applied so that there is no room for other cultural values to be alive. SARA (tribe, race, and religion diversity) as a concrete life of people was hatred. Discussing SARA was identical with violence disrupted the stability.

Such conditions made people lose their identity, and lose the real meaning of life. Whereas progress and welfare life only referred to little powerful elites and those who close to power, many people live in poverty and ignorance, as well as disappointment. The people life was in anomalies and in depressive atmosphere.

In turn, it usher the people to very vulnerable life, susceptible to conflicts, and easy to do violence. Pervasive mass violence in various regions as if it race, did not want to lose, with the violence that the state executed. As the result, Indonesia faced immense problems continuously keeping watch over the ethnic conflict and such that never finished up to this reformation era.

Reconstruction

To restore Indonesian nation to peaceful life (which will affect to the welfare and tranquility of life), all elements of the nation should reconstruct the paradigm of life. They have to change integralism regarding life as something that must be single uniform into pluralism and multiculturalism paradigm.

By this paradigm, cultural richness and diversity of the religions of the nation should be put in the appreciative and critical view. In this level, the nation needs to develop attitudes of mutual respect of the differences. They should respond the differences positively as a cultural treasure that will bring about to the solutions solving humane and complex problems. Hence, Indonesia Muslims need not hesitate. Since variety and appreciate of diversity are not only the reality of life, but also the Islamic core values and teachings.

At a Glance

2009-01-08T18:33:00.011+07:00

RELIGION, FLOOD AND VIOLENCE

When it rains for just an hour, Surabaya –especially IAIN Sunan Ampel campus –is almost in flood. To what extent, it refers to people’s view and attitude toward this world life.

Many of them consider the world as themselves own, not as an entrusted from God. From theological perspective, they have a religion not to get God’s moral teaching, but to legitimize apparently their greed, even hostility among themselves. Though they have religion, they are not so religious in relationship, one with another, and with the universe as well. They do not set religion as a basic source for developing worldview. In turn, they lost morality control.

This religiosity brings about tragedy in human live, such perpetual violence in Palestine-Israel, terrorism threat, and environmental disaster. It is certainly included the flood in the IAIN Sunan Ampel complex coming almost every time when it rains.

Opinion

2009-01-04T22:23:00.007+07:00

THE URGENCY OF HARMONY

AMONGST THE DIFFERENT BELIEVERS
Abd A‘la

Friction, even disagreement triggering violence among the different religious followers, especially Muslims-Christians, likely would still emerge in Indonesia and all over the world. The phenomenon around us shows that the essential harmony between them is still limited to the little elements in the community. For the rest, the harmony appeared more as a "cold war" or merely a formality not touching the essence of harmony itself. Beside, the harmony within the people shows a pragmatic nuance not based on solid theological values.

In such case, the provocation carried out against a certain group of people, or only a little friction amongst those different religions would simply ignite disagreement and hostility that could end with anarchist and other similar actions.

Mistrust amongst Different Believers

The nuance of harmony closing with unclearness to a certain degree lays on suspicion and mistrust on the different religious communities. Sardar states (2003), the suspicion of the Christians against Muslims in general is in shape of the theological distrust and the humanitarian distrust. While the suspicion of Muslims against Christians looks in the theological distrust, the experiential distrust, and the academic distrust.

Theological issue has become the place of suspicion amongst Muslims and Christians since each has a different faith, or even conflicting with one another. For instance, on the one hand, Muslims are sure that cult of Jesus, which the Christians believe is not authentic teaching. On the other hand, (some) Christians blame Islamic teaching is no more than just imitation of the Jewish law. They also argue that Islam is a religion has lost its universal values of humanity.

As far as each other put the differences on enlighten dialogue, it would not become problem for harmonious life. These differences will become serious problem when they make them accusation one to another causing hostility and alike amongst them.

The problems are going to become worse since some Muslims are burden with the historical experience they have been passing. Imperialism and colonialism in the past, which was an interrelated –directly or indirectly –with Christianity urge them in distorted imagination to bond Christian teachings with the "neo-colonialism" and such.

In accordance with that, some Muslims view simply the Islamic studies from the West, especially orientalism, no more than an effort to discriminate Islam and Muslims. This assumption is still sticky in mind of many Muslims up to now.

Based on those academic distrust, and experiential distrust, some Muslims nearly make Christianity identical with the West in which they belief that the two elements cannot be separated with dehumanistic popular western cultures.

Those suspicions and mistrust bonding to each of the different believers above actually is one of major obstacles in building a genuine substantive harmony. This situation in turn is not favorable to create sincere tolerance, particularly to build a strong perpetual cooperation between them.

Sincerity and the Dialogue

Responding the contemporary phenomenon, inter-religious dialogue and other similar programs growing fast in the present actually can be a pillar to build strong cooperation amidst those different believers. Ironically, besides the spectrum coverage of the dialogue is very limited so far, the roots of dialogue are in risk to invite suspicion. Based on his own experience, Sardar urges, the dialogue developing hitherto is more a product of fear (from the some Christian West), which they made up against Islam. It tends more simply to repress Muslims, and not to place on efforts to develop mutual understanding and mutual respect. Thus, sincerity to do dialogue is difficult to develop.

Moreover, the themes, even, do not refer to the real problems which humanity face. Furthermore, the discussion once in while only circle around the transcendental theological issues or just an effort to force the uniform views that is not possible to turn out to be in the sameness.

It is truly important that they have to discuss the theological issues in order to find the values of truth, from which they have to transform to build a strong cooperation for the sake of human being interests all over the world. Nevertheless, they must recognize the pluralistic world and human being potential conflict. Therefore, the problem is not to impose uniformity, but to widen sincere and wise attitudes being able to accept the pluralistic reality placed in the framework of a sustainable dialogue.

In this framework, the dialogue –borrowing phrase from Zebidi (1997) –always demand the respect of each other, and the will to listen one to another from which the different believers have to develop a dialogue not to be burdened by such suspicion, prejudice, and motives other than for the sake of collective interests.
At the same time, they need to expand contextual and critical dialogical issues currently challenging humankind and the world, and related with the broad public wellbeing. Thus, strategic issues, such as poverty, the moral and environmental degradation, and similar issues they should make as a priority agenda. Last but not lest, another issue they should seriously discuss is to formulate the agenda into the praxis©.

Letters

2009-01-01T22:03:00.004+07:00

Dear all,

I wish you all the best. It is moment for us to evaluate our past, and make the future better for the other and us.

Opinion

2009-01-01T21:02:00.001+07:00

THE SELF-RELIANCE OF PESANTREN

By Abd A’la

From 2002 to 2005, the US Foreign Office conducted an exchange program for leaders of pesantren (Indonesian-based Islam boarding school) from several regions of Indonesia. The United States invited the leaders to participate in workshops and comparative studies in matters pertaining to educational development.

At the initial stage of program, accusation were hurled that it was all a brain-washing program designed to change Islamic character of pesantren and to eventually mould them into US agents and supporters. They who accused also condemned those leaders –since acquiring knowledge from source –they deem “untrue and unauthentic”.

This judgmental response is essentially a challenge for pesantren to reinforce further their existence as critical and independent religious educational institutions. Indeed, pesantren that participated in this program were challenged to prove that the visits were purely based on the schools mission that is to introduce the values and teaching that conform to its moderate and transparent character. At the same time, the visit should be regarded as an integral part of pesantren traditions welcoming scientific development originating from whatever source, as long as it conforms to substantial Islamic values and teaching that are not based on the dichotomy, which assumes simply the West, is invariably bad, and the East (especially Islamic Middle East) is always good.

Confronted by this challenge, pesantren need to respond by looking back into their own history abundant with authentic values and traditions that so far provided them with a solid foundation in addressing social changes and development in human life. This retrospection reveals that one of pesantren characteristics is embedded in their independence or autonomy in developing educational institutions, and in conducting interactions with institutions outside the pesantren. It is through this independence that pesantren remain in existence and possess the opportunity to become an alternative educational institution.

The history has shown that because of their independence, the Indonesian Islamic boarding schools have always been capable of retaining their basic characteristics and innate nature but transforming in accordance with the context of the age. In the colonial period, pesantren transformed their independence into non-cooperation action against the colonizers. It underwent three different phases. First, the isolation phase it was when pesantren evacuated to rural and isolated areas in order to be out of reach from the colonial environment and atmosphere. Then they came the phase of silent and unobtrusive opposition through fostering and encouraging the spirit of resistance against the colonizers. Finally, it was the period of physical rebellion when pesantren collaborated in fighting and eventually evicting the colonizers from the home country together with communities and the founding fathers of the Indonesian nation.

When pesantren adopted the scholastic religious teaching system during the initial years of the country independence, they emphasis the meaning of independence placed on the autonomy to develop the school curricula. During the reign of the Soeharto, when the regime coerced pesantren to follow the uniform national education system, the institution still maintained their policy. Pesantren never lost the creativity to imbue significance into the values of their self-reliance as well as to contextualize them. With their creativity, pesantren were able to translate the forced national curricula into syllabi that continued to be combined with typical pesantren values and topics.

Such self-reliance enabled those Indonesian Islamic boarding schools to collaborate with the “outsider” without becoming subject to dominating influences, to safeguard the interests of their own Islamic mission in its widest meaning, and to develop a more substantial educational meaning and objective.

Within this perspective, a number of pesantren since mid of the 1970’s have carried out pioneering cooperation programs with non-governmental-organizations (NGOs) with objective to develop their mission in a more systematic, transformative, and emancipative manner, especially in empowering community. From this point, pesantren have customarily established critical working relations with other institutions, both at national and international level.

At the initial stage, insulting remark were addressed to pesantren considered to have abandoned their main mission as an Islamic institution, even accused of having imported non-Islamic missions from the outside. However, time has proved that none of the accusations has been validated. On the contrary, pesantren through community development program have successfully imbued with much more genuine meaning in the process of humanizing people as the Prophet and the Muslim generation did.

Those facts reveal that self-reliance has always been the major character accompanying pesantren activities most of all the time. It is such autonomy and influence-free from external interventions that –Abdurrahman Wahid stated –has afforded these Islamic institutions with ample space to develop necessary strategies by experimenting with ideas and concepts. In turn, this provides pesantren the flexibility to generate educational concepts that are new and fresh, playing culturally a complementary role in establishing a strong foundation for fundamental transformation, which the nation largely need.

In generally speaking, the open philosophy which pesantren adopted has never obliterated their autonomy. By means of their strong belief and noble traditions, pesantren keep on developing critical –and at the same time –“aggressive” relationships and communications with the governmental institutions and others, home and global. It is the fact ensuring pesantren to which the grasping influences of outside hegemony would never co-opt.

Based on the above-mentioned arguments, we should view the visit of a number of the pesantren leaders to US in the framework of the independence. As they stated, during their visit, they observed, discussed, and even criticized the US government, for example pertaining to its foreign policy being rife to what extent with double standard. Without embarrassment, they argued that the US should abandon its role as the “world police force”. Instead, the US should underline the prophetic mission; I e the mission of peace by implementing an approach imbibed with the spirit of caring and peace to all over the world.

Their critical attitude certainly does not erase their wisdom and as such. They have not only been able to scrutinize the negative points, but also have been able to appreciate the positive sides found in the US. They realize –for example –that the teaching methodology and learning process applying there–to some extent –have succeeded to develop the people as responsible individuals who are capable to comprehend and respect the rights and duties of other people.

Similarly, they have objectively observed the pluralism within the US communities besides a number of groups who still emphasize a radical evangelistic pattern of behavior, even foster antipathy toward Islam and Muslims.

The existing complicated reality they have viewed and discovered in the US has enabled them to empower a more critical view of the existing phenomenon around them. They have learned to be more objective and not to hastily or perfunctorily dismiss points that are indeed worthy to be introduced in to the realm of pesantren. Simultaneously, they have not lost their wisdom to criticize anything indeed contrary and against the values of substantive Islamic religion and universal humanity.

It is the point they have had to take into consideration when, following their visit to the US, they are to reconstruct the educational program and practices, and strategies of spreading Islamic values as well. Indeed, it is still much that pesantren have to do.

Published on the Point, November 30, 2006.

Letter

2008-12-30T15:46:00.007+07:00

Opening The Eyes, Broadening The Horizon

Below, a letter from Jewish community called "Jewish Voice for Peace" voicing from another side.

Dear Abd A'la,

The news about the attacks in Gaza is beyond words. "Appalling" doesn't even come close.

U.S.-supplied Israeli F-16 warplanes and Apache helicopters have fired missiles and dropped over 100 tons of bombs on dozens of locations in the Israeli-occupied Gaza Strip. Over 300 people are dead and at least 1,400 more are injured. Many if not most of them are civilians. Food and medicine were already in short supply in Gaza and all medical facilities have been completely overwhelmed by this onslaught. Access to Gaza has been cut off by Israel.

This is the most violent and heartbreaking situation that has happened to the Palestinians in recent history, and it must stop. In addition to calling for protests at Israeli consulates and federal buildings, as well as letters to the U.S. and Israeli governments, Jewish Voice for Peace staff and members are already putting together an aggressive campaign focused on Gaza. And, without a moment to waste, we call for an immediate end to attacks on all civilians.

I am Stephanie Roth and I've been an activist with Jewish Voice for Peace for many years, including serving on the board of directors. I've been involved with social justice issues my entire adult life - both in my professional life as an editor and fundraiser, and as a volunteer and activist. There is no issue I find more important or compelling than my work to end the Israeli Occupation. I am particularly saddened by this weekend's tragedy, occurring just a week after the uplifting days when the Shministim - the young Israeli conscientious objectors - caught the world's attention with their courage to say no to violence on December 18. I know that people in Gaza will stop dying when Israeli soldiers, like the Shministim, have the courage to say NO. NO, we will not target civilians; NO, we will not follow immoral orders; NO, we will not contribute to the destruction of Palestinian society.

Together with the Shministim, and with the 1,000 Israelis in Tel Aviv and thousands of others around the world who have already come out to protest the Gaza onslaught, we say YES. YES, stepping up to speak for justice and peace makes a difference; YES, we stand with the people of Gaza, of the West Bank, of Sderot in Israel and the innocent civilians everywhere whose lives are destroyed by cynical politicians and warmakers; YES, our voices together are stronger than the voice of any one of us alone; and YES, we are committed to the longterm goal of ending the Occupation and working for justice, peace and life.

Jewish Voice for Peace's goal - MY goal - of ending the Occupation is a long-term one. Today, I will be giving the biggest gift I can to insure that they have the resources for a swift and sustained response to this most recent atrocity.

We are in this struggle for as long as it takes, and we need your help. Please make the largest gift you can, today. Every gift is put right to work, and every gift makes a difference.

"If not us, who? If not now, when?"

Stephanie Roth

P.S. I know that Jewish Voice for Peace will be asking for help in a variety of ways over the next few days, weeks, months. Please, if you believe in peace, if you believe in the Shministim, stay tuned and help when you can. Thank you.

Photo Gallery

2008-12-29T10:11:00.018+07:00

Settling Israel- Palestine Conflict

Indonesian Peace Delegation discussed seriously with some Palestinian figures and UN Peacekeeping Troop at different time and site to settle perpetual conflict of Israel-Palestine. Hostility and alike absolutely cannot solve the problem. Instead, a dialogue and mutual trust between two countries are prime medium to get the goal. Besides, the both countries should put gracious ethic-moral values in the front in which the substantive religious tenets could play significant role. Let us be committed to make no more hostility, violence, attack each other, and terrorism in the Middle East and all over the world.

Opinion

2008-12-27T14:13:00.029+07:00

NO JIHAD IN BALI BOMBING

By Abd A’la

As can be read from the mass media coverage, the advent of Amrozi and Mukhlas corpses in the village of their birth in Lamongan on November 10, 2008 greeted by some or groups of Muslim communities there as a martyrs, mujahid.

Community who view those Amrozi at al as martyrs confirm the strong impression of supporting Amrozi at al bombing the region of Legian in Bali and killing hundreds of civil society on 12 October 2002 six years ago. They seem to view that terroristic attack on Bali is not terrorism, but holy war (qital-jihadi).

This reality shows there are some people who still do not understand the whole concept of jihad. They were trapped in the naive belief understanding religious teachings partially. They may believe, doing violence to –even killing –non-Muslim in any condition and at any time is jihad fi sabilillah; the holy war.

Such views certainly had to face with the concept of jihad as in the Koran, Hadith of the Messenger, the views of ulama, and with Islam the history. Through this dialogue, we expected not too hasty in using religious symbols, especially for things that would harm Islam, people and their life overall.

The Meaning of Jihad

In Islam, the term of jihad is not a synonym words qital and harb (war/ physical battle). Meanwhile qital in the Koran always refers to self-defense and physical resistance, jihad laden with various meanings that have become the theological basis since the Meccan period. This can be tracked such from paragraph 25 of the Koran, which directs people to “fight” Mecca idolaters through the Koran. Because of this paragraph came down in Mecca, jihad clearly is not physical attacks, but argues and the like.

In addition, the hadith in Musnad Imam Ahmad stated, who called mujahid is someone who struggled against her/his desire to obey God's teachings, and the Hadith in Imam Nasai declared, jihad for adults or other, male or female, and the strong and the weak one are doing pilgrimage (hajj and 'umrah). The meaning is clearly different with qital allowed when people fled to Medina with the goal solely for self-defense.

Related to the diversity of the meaning of jihad, Hossein Nasr (2005) argues, all of the effort in noble morality, including prayer (solat) and so is the jihad. Therefore, Khaled Abou El Fadl (2005:21) is not excessive when he states, jihad is a powerful symbol of perseverance, hard work, and all the success in Islam. history To certain degree, jihad has similarity with the ethics of Protestantism. Through this jihad, Islam and civilization achieve peak performance in the scholarly and sciences during the early to mid-century.

It must be recognized, jihad during the first generation of Muslims often be connotated with qital. This is because the world at that time, i.e. Arabs, Byzantium and the other were in the state of war. Such reality making the Prophet Muhammad (puh) and Muslims after flight to Medina were allowed to resistance against the polytheists. However, qital-jihadi (holy war or physically resistance) was allowed only for defense, and self-exemption from the fetters repression. More than that, connoting resistance with jihad means that it must be based on moral grandeur, and as last way when other efforts have been closed entirely.

In the next period, the fuqaha (Islamic legal experts) both the Sunni and Shi’ah formulated the requirements of qital-jihadi strictly. Based on the Koran and Sunnah of the Messenger, they assert that physical resistance by the people of Islam should never direct to the civilian population. In addition, only leaders have the right to declare the implementation and enforcement of resistance. In the context of the Sunni, the leader is the head of state, while of the Shi’ah is the priest.

If it is drawn to the contemporary context, when the world is no longer in the state of war, and conflict between two or more countries should be solved through international agencies, the requirement of qital-jihadi must be more closely strict. Conversely, jihad in comprehensive and humanistic perspectives, and with its morality meaning need to be disseminated.

No Jihad in Terrorism

Based on the meaning of jihad above, we believe the attack carried out by Amrozi et al has no relation, even contrary, to the true jihad. Moreover, the tourists to whom Amrozi at al targeted, according to al-Qardhawi, not only cannot be attacked, but also not to be disturbed. Furthermore, al-Jabiri (2003) asserts, the verses of the sword (qital), which is often used as the basis for certain Muslim groups to conduct terrorism is highly contextual, associated with the condition of Islam at that time. Even al-Faqih Ibn al-Arabi -quoted by al-Jabiri -states, the unbelievers (kafir or mushrikun) stated in the revelations is related to the unbelievers of Mecca in that time. Thus, the infidel, especially the other non-Muslims, nowadays, cannot be make simply the same as unbelievers of Mecca.

In this perspective, explaining jihad accordance with the substance of the teachings of Islam is very urgent to be done. Thus, the existence of Islam as a religion of peace and as grace for all (rahmatan lil alamin) is no more an apology, but as reality anchored in the life firmly. Through the ideals of jihad, Muslims charged hard to build and develop civilization in order to reach the welfare for themselves and the humankind as a whole. For that reason, sincerity, honesty, and building firm-commitment between Muslims and Western countries to achieve the goal are a certainty that cannot be ignored©.

Originally published in Indonesian on Jawa Pos daily, November 19, 2008

Photo Gallery

2008-12-27T09:57:00.002+07:00

The Urgent of Peace and Justice

Cooperation among people with their various backgrounds to promote justice and peace in the world is no more we be able to avoid.

Photo Gallery

2008-12-27T08:12:00.007+07:00

Jerusalem between War and Peace

How important do all of the nation and people in the world to engage in promoting conflict resolution and spreading peace in this area and rest of the world.

Opinion

2008-12-26T20:04:00.008+07:00

MDGs, PESANTREN MAY COUNTER NEGATIVE IMPACTS OF GLOBALIZATION
By Abd A’la

Many people acknowledge that besides ushering in number of positive changes, globalization has also had negative impacts for humankind, especially for the people of Second and Third World countries. Sardar (2003), for example, is of the opinion that globalization exerts great pressure on those people as it follows the economic and culturally imperialistic path of the West.
Sardar further stated that globalization has developed a number of dominant cultural practices and value that are based on the concept that life should be pursued by causing damage to other parties. This concept produces serious consequences in that not only are local tradition and non-Western cultural practices destroyed, but also it also completely negates a future that that is non-Western oriented or affiliated. The only possible future available is that which must be moulded through a single line of pursuit.
This phenomenon is triggered not only by Western domination, but also more importantly by poverty and the rudimentary condition of education in most world communities, except in the West. Pertaining to this, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) a program to reduce the number of poor people in the world is, directly or indirectly, of great significance in decreasing the negative impacts of globalization.
Within this context, MDGs are expected to play an optimal role on the condition that this UN program truly extricates poor people from their deprived position, improve their education standards, and ultimately enable them to become responsible member of society. It is therefore important that this global project be developed along situations that really exist in society, and within the overall framework of community potential.
In time, the improved and enabled community would be able to address critically the on-going globalization process and thus would not become mere victims of the acquisitive transnational companies supported by Western countries.
Within the Indonesian setting, where the majority of poor and backward people live in the rural areas, pesantren (islamic boarding schools) that are widely scattered in the villages can definitely play an active role in the implementation of the program. These schools have always been close to the community because of their basic education philosophy, which is from, for and by community, and as such, they are great assets to support the MDGs program. Furthermore, the successes achieved by those Islamic schools in community development during the 1780s and 1980s certainly need to be recreated.
However, in order to achieve those ideal conditions again, pesantren need to upgrade themselves and make internal improvements because the fact of the matter is that currently pesantren are still facing an assortment of problems making it doubtful whether they could play an effective role in addressing globalization in critical manner. One pressing problem that must be taken care of immediately is the fact that the education curriculum of pesantren is trapped by one or other of the following two extreme poles. A number of pesantren still adhere to an education curriculum that is too inward-looking, limited and seemingly exclusive. Another group is entangled within network of aimless and copycat curricula, which undermine the very principle, and values of pesantren.
Both situations are equally disadvantageous, making it difficult for Islam Boarding Schools to respond positively to the developments and changes in social life especially because of globalization. Those pesantren that are sucked down by an archaic curriculum will definitely be mesmerized by historic romanticism, which would make them uncertain in pursuing and untangling the complexities of life.
Similarly, those pesantren with purposeless and copycat curriculum would lose their identity, and quite possibly lose their noble values, becoming trampled by pragmatic considerations and the like.
Another problem facing pesantren is the dissolution or diminishing of their independence, with more and more of them becoming increasingly dependent on outside institutions. Already quite a number of pesantren have been co-opted by the state causing these education institutions, which in the past played a significant role in developing and strengthening civil societies, to lose their courage and become powerless.
A number of pesantren, usually through their leaders, have also been observed to be actively involved in politics, causing the institutions to lose their ability to develop democratic and nationalistic policies and instead fall into the trap of primordial sentiments and sectarianism. The interests of the people and the nation, which had been one of the objectives of pesantren, have been traded for the interests of groups and cliques.
This current situation inhibits pesantren from making positive contributions to Indonesia and her people in critically addressing the transformation phase of globalization. It has become necessary to exercise an introspective reconstruction.
Reconstructing pesantren requires a number of unconditional prerequisites to be established. Such as to have a critical open mindset in which pesantren are expected to open up and be willing to observe all kind of development that are taking place. At the same time, pesantren need also to develop their expertise to select those useful items and events, which they should develop and absorb into their institutions, without prejudice, preconception, or apologies. It is upon such foundation that the educational and social reconstruction should be carried out.
The aforementioned reconstruction steps are expected to lead to pesantren, and ultimately also the community, to have a critical and creative retrospective attitude in observing, addressing and generating policies in response to the problems of life, particularly those that arise from globalization and its negative impacts. It is important that pesantren and the community should not run away from the facts of life, be dragged into a sea of difficulties or become trapped into an apologetic attitude that can never solve problems. Globalization as a reality can no longer be regarded as a threat, but should be accepted as a challenge that must be addressed. Islamic Boarding Schools and their respective communities should be able to control globalization and eventually render it into a more human, moral and truly welfare-generating lifestyle.
However, it should be noted that this all depends on the competence and readiness of pesantren to conduct self-correction followed by self-improvement. If they fail to do so, the ideal situation will remain Utopian, an unattainable dream, and instead of taking control of globalization, pesantren and their communities would become easy prey for negative impacts of globalization.

Published on The Point, Desember 20, 2006

Opinion

2008-12-21T20:42:00.009+07:00

PESANTREN ANNUQAYAH AND EDUCATIONAL NETWORK WITHIN PESANTREN

Abd A`la

As actualization of what have got during Pesantren-ITD workshop at Amherst, Massachusetts on September-October 2002, Pesantren Annuqayah of Guluk-Guluk Sumenep Madura[1] has developed a program having the form of network within pesantrens in district of Sumenep. The network has been held periodically with its venue consecutively from one pesantren to other pesantren.

Its mission is to originate pesantren to its genuine values such as spreading self-sufficiency, appreciating of local wisdom, and affirming religious moderation, including empowering community. Besides, it focuses on maintaining education as process of transformation in three main aspects, intellectual, spiritual, and emotional quotient.

From this point, the network discusses how to anchor it in the life world changing time to time. It is very urgent to conserve and develop such these values since some pesantren tends to neglect them.Main activities of the network are both discourse and praxis putting into workshop, seminar and likewise, besides doing advocating of communities in facing educational problems, and solving them in turn. In some workshop having been held so far, the participants recognized urgency of reformulating the pesantren education based on noble pesantren principles on one side, and contextualization the ideals into concrete realities on the other side.

To some extent, its activities have been being enchanting. Within the pesantrens, there has been enthusiasm to criticize the recent teaching methodologies, curriculum, and the concepts in it[2] as well as to assess the state policy not supporting development of the real education. Parallel with it, in the 2004 regional general election the network held political education for people to vote only in accordance with their own preference. The impact is very wonderful since about 30 percent of the voter did not join in the election.

This phenomenon showed emerging of consciousness among the people to empower their own life. Next to that, it demonstrates strong effort to maintain pesantren's autonomous and community's tending disappear recently. Minimally, they have had more appreciation of education significances from which they hope they reach the better condition in all aspects of the life.

Anyhow, it does not tell all the condition. Beyond its limited successful, the network has some weaknesses. One of them is its strong dependence on key persons. Related to this, another problem emerges laying on its continuity of the network. The other thing is its inertia to respond some problem. Still another problem is that this pesantren network reached only territory of Sumenep and small part of Pamekasan.

Based on the description above, the network has to change the weaknesses as challenges to which the network would respond creatively. The network should arrange strategies and plan agenda holistically to make pesantren solid entities in developing education significantly for empowering rural communities to face contemporary life critically, but still in civility, and can appreciate the local wisdom. From this point, the communities can spread substantive Islamic values peacefully together with other groups and organizations, Muslim and non-Muslim, both in Indonesia and overseas©.

* Presented at International Conference on Islamic Education in Contemporary Indonesia and the Philippines, University of Southern Mindanao, Kabacan, Cotabato, Philippines, September 11-14, 2006.

[1] Madura is an island, part of East Java Province. Madura its self consist of four territories, Bangkalan, Sampang, Pamekasan, and Sumenep. Sumenep lays in the eastern part of the island.

[2] The participants, for example, had a strong critique against meaning of akhlaq (ethic) being biased as mere such a courteous, even just lip service. They proposed to interpret to its genuine meaning covering justice, equality, maintenance of peace etc.

Photo Gallery

2008-12-19T22:27:00.007+07:00

Genting Highland, Malaysia
Talking about Genting Highland, we do not to be captivated by the casino and the like, but the spirit of developing the country.

Opinion

2008-12-12T21:55:00.013+07:00

THE OBSTACLES TO ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN PEACE

By Abdurrahman Wahid and Abd A’la

May 10, 2008;
Page A11

The prolonged Israeli-Palestinian conflict has a far-reaching impact not only upon the lives of those who dwell in the Holy Land, but upon virtually every nation and community on earth. On a daily basis, self-interested parties are callously manipulating the most basic values of humanity and religion in order to advance their personal or political interests. Sectarianism, violence, arrogance and deception are constantly subverting the fundamental values of life, and turning religious principles upon their heads.
This horrific process demands that every moral human being, religious community and nation throughout the world contemplate this tragedy and offer assistance, however small, to help resolve the profound human crisis in the Holy Land. Peace is both a process and a goal that the world can neither morally nor practically afford to push off into the future yet again.
We must develop and implement concrete strategies to resolve the conflict, while inspiring hope that peace can actually be achieved. The problem is that the various obstacles to peace seem nearly impossible to eliminate. These obstacles are rendered even more severe by the fact that both major parties in the conflict harbor groups absolutely convinced of the correctness of their mutually exclusive views and agendas.
Such groups reject not only the rights, but the very existence, of the other side. The corrosive effect of this phenomenon is the evocation and rationalization of the use of violence, either through terrorism or militarism. Prejudiced views on both sides, not only by those directly engaged in the conflict, but by their allies as well, further stoke the flames of hatred and violence.
These prejudices contaminate public discourse throughout the world, and are constantly exploited by Middle Eastern regimes that fuel anti-Israeli and anti-Semitic emotions for political purposes, while displaying little or no actual concern for the well-being of the Palestinians themselves.
Under such conditions, it is nearly impossible for sincere dialogue even to occur, much less to develop or flourish. Instead, the cycle of violence breeds a hardening of mutual hatred.
The Palestinian side routinely condemns its enemy as a colonial power whose entire population is demonized as "imperialists," while the Israeli side brands its political opponents as terrorists, or terrorist sympathizers.
For six decades, the peace process has been conducted primarily by self-interested political players who cannot penetrate to the heart of the underlying problems, much less resolve them. This gives rise to deeply cynical views on the part of certain groups on both sides, who view the peace process as absurd, its goals unobtainable, and continued violence better than compromise.
Yet the difficulties that have swamped every Israeli-Palestinian peace process to date do not mean that achieving peace is impossible. Rather, they point to the need for a new and more holistic path to peace in the Middle East. This path would mobilize the populations of Israel and Palestine toward this goal, with the active encouragement and support of the rest of the world.
The December 2007 visit to Israel and Palestine by a group of Indonesian ulama from the world's two largest Muslim organizations – LibForAll Foundation and the Indonesian Peace Delegation – represents one such effort, and the first step in a larger, systematic process. Conducted under the joint aegis of LibForAll Foundation and the Simon Wiesenthal Center, members of the group consistently observed that the silent majorities on both sides of the conflict sincerely desire an end to the cycle of violence, and peace for themselves and their children. This is remarkable, given the decades of incitement to hatred and violence in Palestinian mosques, schools and mass media, and a political culture that eschews compromise.
It is tragic that the voice of the people – full of an honest and sincere longing for peace – should be drowned out by violence and the narrow interests of politicians and extremists on both sides. We have a responsibility to amplify the voices of the innocent who pay with their blood and sorrow the price of others' ambitions and hatred.
We must also strengthen and facilitate the people's efforts to pressure their political elites – in a manner that is focused, intense and vocal, yet simultaneously civilized – to create a just and lasting peace.
Palestinians and Israelis need the world's support to create a new reality, in which the highest values of religion and humanity are restored to their proper dignity. We must also help Muslim populations – not only in Palestine, but throughout the Arab world – to rise to embrace a profoundly spiritual and tolerant understanding of Islam, and a humanistic attitude toward the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that acknowledges the legacy of suffering on all sides. Such an attitude is a necessary precondition for recognizing Israel's unique history and right to exist, while truly advancing the interests of Palestinians as well.
Last year's LibForAll/Indonesian Peace mission to Israel and Palestine was designed to initiate such a process. After the religious leaders who participated returned to Indonesia, they faced intense condemnation from Muslim extremists, who accused them of having betrayed their Palestinian brethren and embarrassed Indonesia's Muslim community. Yet there is nothing shameful about working to realize the highest values of religion – which God intended to serve as a blessing, and not a curse, to all of humanity.
Although the obstacles to peace in the Holy Land may appear insurmountable, it is the responsibility of religious leaders on all sides to attempt the impossible, and to accept whatever threats, slander and stigma may follow.

Published on The Wall Street Journal, Saturday, May 10, 2008

Opinion

2008-12-12T15:29:00.005+07:00

THE CURRENT PHENOMENON OF YOUNG INDONESIAN MUSLIMS AND THE SIGNIFICANCE OF CRITICAL EDUCATION

Abd A’la*

It has become matter of fact that youth all over the world and along history has always been becoming agent of changes. From time to time, they dynamically urge reformation and such for their communities. The young generations always come out as pioneer for the changes and development.
Speaking on Indonesia, as early as twenty century, on October 1928 AD youths from several areas where later known as Indonesia showed their significant role by organizing and delivering pledge. In this historical moment known as Sumpah Pemuda 1928, (1928 Youth Pledge) they stated that they are really one nation, one language, and one fatherland. In Indonesia history, the pledge has become one of movement triggers toward Indonesia independence in 1945.
In independence days, the Indonesian youth –most of them are Muslim –still play considerable role. In 1974, they brought about mass demonstration against the policy of totalitarian regime. The culmination of their role showed in 1998 where they were successful to overthrow the Soeharto from its presidency.
In spite of that, their activities do not always aim at and run for the sake of people and the concern of the state. Some of them tend to metamorphoses as an idea and movement being in contradiction the universal values, and even tend to threaten public areas. This condition emerges since they have such as vested interest, narrow horizon, or certain ideology making them trapped in primordial, sectarian, or radical movement referencing to complex problems, which one of it is due to dogmatic and or formalistic education. The Moslem Youth in Indonesia is one of being snared in the condition. Such phenomenon is that become stronger nowadays.
The current phenomena
Toward Soeharto step down in 1998, radical Muslims began to spring up in Indonesia. On August 17, 1998, FPI (the Islamic Defender Front) was established. Entering the twenty-first century, the fundamentalists had more domains to develop in the area due to prevalence of freedom being enjoyed by Indonesian people. On behalf of the freedom, some radical Muslims founded organizations that in turn were going to seize that freedom. Majelis Mujahidin Indonesia (MMI) was established in Yogyakarta on August 2000 with Abu Bakar Ba’asyir as the head. This organization had armed wing called Lasykar Mujahidin. Previously, in 1994 Ja’far Umar Talib, a veteran of Afghanistan war established Forum Komunikasi Ahli Sunnah wal Jamaah (FKASWJ) with its paramilitary wing, Lasykar Jihad.
In general, these radicals group and such strive to uphold Islamic shari’ah in their strict understanding. Internally, they implemented the Shariah such as Lasykar Jihad stoning to death its member proved adultery. Together with this, they urge the State to implement it formally for Indonesian people, particularly the Muslim. In this frame, they perform actively amar ma’ruf nahi munkar (command of kindliness and prevention of denial) such as wickedness control.
The Islamic radical groups as literalist assume that their ideas about Islam represent strongly the Islamic tenets. In the same time they emphasis on Islamic symbols, as it exist in early Arab-Islamic tradition because of their believing that it is Islam itself. They argue that this symbol is intrinsic of Islam itself. Nuance of Arab-Islam become strong phenomena among them. As far as correlated to this only performance, there is no noteworthy problem to discuss. The problem emerges since they hold on to one-sided claim truth, from which they blame other opinions differing from theirs as deviate and unislamic having to wipe out. These views are benchmark of almost the radical fundamentalist. Due to such views, they often perpetrate violence and act of damaging in public areas.
Ironically, the State apparatus seem neglect it in one case, and act so slowly in other cases. Even, the State had link with some Islamic radicalism. Hefner –citing ICG – showed that after the formal founding of the Lasykar Jihad in February 2000, out-of-uniform member of the Indonesian National Military helped to train Jihad fighters at a training camp outside of Bogor, West Java.
In concert with such phenomenon, terrorism and destructive power took place in some regions such as Bali bombing of 12 October 2002, which killed 202 people and hundreds more, lethal blasts at Jakarta’s Marriott Hotel on 5 August 2003, blast near the Australian Embassy on 9 September 2004, and bombing in Bali on 1 October 2005.
To what extent, there is relationship between the violence and the Indonesian Islamic radicalism. As the fact shows, some of the perpetrators of the first Bali bombing are alumna of the Ngruki Pesantren, the head of which is Abu Bakar Ba’asyir who is widely regarded as the spiritual leader of Jamaah Islamiyah, beside formally as the president of MMI.
The Islamic Youth, Radicalism, and its Roots
Many members of the Islamic radicalism groups consist of the youth. This trend parallelize with strengthening of islamisation in Indonesia happening since eighty decade of the twelve century. On those times, the students sent to Middle East who were influenced with Muslim Brotherhood came back to the country. Coming to Indonesia, they promoted the ideology and dakwah methodology of Muslim Brotherhood within such as Indonesian Students Association (PII) having close link with the Indonesian Council of Islamic Predication (DDII), the committee sending the students to the Middle East. From this cycle, the ideology spread in the secular universities in Indonesia. Some Muslim students there develop their identity through the symbols regarded as Islam originating from Arab as well as studying Islamic fundamentalist dogma.
However, the number is less than moderate one, but from time to time, their number increases significantly. After Soeharto stepped down, some of them become as truly as radical fundamentalists. Not only are interested in Arab-Islamic symbols, but due to effect of radical dogma they also carry out violent and activities. For instance, most –if not all –of perpetrators of Bali bombing – such as Imam Samudra and Muhlas –are the youth. Likewise is in other violence.
The involving of Muslim youth to radicalism roots in complicated factors. Globalization with it negative impact, certainly, contribute to the trend. The globalization metamorphosing to neo-colonialism make the people of the third world, most of them are Muslim; react to this phenomenon with their own ways. Some of them respond it by wise strategy, and the rest counter it through an instant way.
Regarding to Indonesian Muslim youth, some of them are fascinated in the latter. They are interested in fundamentalism since this thought give utopia-like promise unavailable in moderate one. In perspective the radicalism, religion is perceived as model of reality, representation of object, concrete, displaying congruence with the depicted object. Therefore, they strive to make lives in the whole world as similar as the “concrete” religion tenets they understand.
Besides, they construct the religion as media for rallying factor for the mass, and the religious symbol as crying banner to provoke the mass enthusiasm. They carry out all of this as instant reaction against the globalization, or the West generally which they perceive as the causes of world crisis, chiefly in Muslim world. The result, then, is the rampant violence, anarchism, and riots over the country.
It looks that they have a narrow horizon, and prejudice-based perception. They identify the life in dichotomy, in biner opposition. They argue Islam and its religiosity are always right, and others, particularly the West is ugly, as representation of modern jahiliyya.
The Importance of Education
To solve the problem, then, the education could play an important role. The education has to prepare man/women with knowledge and substantive religious values from which they have great possibility to increase their ability mainly in three aspects, spiritual, emotional, and intellect. In the same time, the education could transform them into attitude in which they can develop live and world conforming to sunnatullah. Through this education, people not only understand and respond reality holistically, but also comprehend human problems in global and regional contexts, and Indonesian as well.
Based on that goal, this institution need to reconstruct its system, curriculum, syllabus, as well as teaching method. The system must completely stand on the education vision in which the elements are developed as firm unity supporting the system. The subjects in the curriculum must contain of theories supporting individual life and social one, with the results people with their plurality could live in togetherness, but at the same time they do not lost their autonomous as an individual or a group differ from the other. In term of syllabus, the topics should represent the subject matter as well as its correlation with life phenomena. The teaching method, then, ought to maintain all of them through dialogical process.
This reconstruction strongly requires wise policy, which both of the government and the private organization must implement it based on the only educational values, and engage not with power-based political interests and such. We have to stress this issue since the politicization of education become stronger nowadays resulting weaknesses of education to generate educated man and women ready to respond modernity, and life in general. In this condition, the youth are interested in fundamentalism since it promises hopes which educational institution cannot do. Conversely, if the education institution could reconstruct the system, it would breed the youth generation ready to become agent of changes, they could contribute to the world positively.

Opinion

2008-12-07T11:56:00.004+07:00

READING ON ISLAM OF PESANTREN

Abd A’la

Beside as a social religious institution, pesantren (an Indonesian-based Islamic boarding school) also represents dominant Islamic religiosity in Indonesia with its characteristics as moderate one. Since it existed in about fifteen century, pesantren has been introducing and disseminating Islam with its core values emphasizing peace, moderation and its derivations, such as hospitality. Actually, this religiosity has been becoming main characteristic of islamization in Nusantara –later called Indonesia –when early Muslims missionaries introduced it to local communities there.

To spread and anchor such Islam, the institution always put the dialogue with local cultures and traditions in the front as well as made them as media of islamization. Put as an example, Sunan Kalijaga –one of Walisongo (nine Muslim saints), the early Muslim missionaries and the founders of pesantren in Java –made wayang kulit (traditional Javanese visual art) as media of propagating. Through the wise approaches and the strategies adapting communities’ condition, many people in Nusantara were not only interested in Islam, but also they did not consider it as something alien.

In compliance with that, pesantren tried to avoid one sided truth claims as well as not simply to accuse another religious sects as heresy and alike. It is right that pesantren professed –to some extent –strict religiosity called in Islamic term as fiqh oriented, but this institution put it together with sufistic, mystical Islam, aspect. As Abdurrahman Wahid (1994) stated, sufistic fiqh was characteristic of pesantren scholarly.

Based on this scholarly, religiosity of pesantren stressed on both implementing rituals and internalizing spiritual aspects of religion. Emphasizing on the spirituality brought pesantren into religiosity full of modesty, and sincerity. Besides, it put the institution and its people on ability to respond life problems changing continuously. They responded the changes wisely and peacefully, though they did not always approved it.

Those characteristics have been solidifying pesantren as contextual Islam anchoring noble Islamic values into life realities. Before Indonesia independent, pesantren communities has considered that nationalism as an effect of modern world is a part of political aspects Muslim people especially in Nusantara must accept it. When Indonesia became independent, they stated that Pancasila with its democratic elements is final state for Indonesian Muslims.

So far, pesantren generally still hold those gracious characteristics. The rampant of an unhistorical –even utopian –transnational Islam nowadays just have an effect on a few pesantren and on a few figure of pesantren. Their spellbound usually refers to political matters as well as their weaknesses of understanding tradition and history of Indonesian Islam. Most of pesantren and its people are almost impossible to follow simply such radical Islam since they have a strong root of local traditions and of substantive Islamic values as well.

At this point, pesantren clearly have ability to distinguish Islam in the holy Text and Islam in Muslim thoughts. The first as God “words”, as revelation is universal, absolute, and metahistoric, and the latter is interpretation of the Text linking historically to certain locus and definite moment. Based on this, pesantren strives to contextualize the universal one to concrete lives. Islamic universal values must be brought to realization into realm of Indonesia. At the same time, the institution appreciate various Muslim thought as far as they conform to basic Islamic values.

Islam of pesantren actually represents Islam of Indonesian Muslim majority always trying to bring peace into reality. Hatred, violence and alike in the name of Islam do not come from those majority. On the contrary, they will condemn such hostility whenever and wherever. They believe that the present of Islam is for blessing for all creation.

However, in the present world loaded with hatred and violence, pesantren meet strong challenge to perpetuate –even to develop –its wise religiosity. Due to economic and politic problems to which many Muslims are so in weaknesses to face, pulling to get short cut (such as through violence in the name of God) is going more and more stronger. To face the problems with its impacts, the institution have to develop its education matching the present conditions from which pesantren and its communities have wide horizon and enough capability to respond the dynamic situations. This development surely must base on the noble Islamic values which pesantren hold firmly from time to time. Thus, Indonesian Islam from now on would still have cool face and comfort not only for Indonesian people, but also for all over the world.

* Alumnus of Pesantren Annuqayah Sumenep Madura

Photo Gallery

2008-12-03T21:35:00.006+07:00

Islam and Dance

Is the dance erotic or no? Does Indonesian Ulama Council view as porn? The nice muslim dance from Mindanao, the Philippines. (No judgment simply)

Opinion

2008-12-03T20:59:00.006+07:00

MANUSIA INDONESIA DAN PERSOALANNYA

Oleh Abd A`la

Era refomasi yang dimasuki bangsa Indonesia sejak tahun 1999 abad yang lalu ternyata berjalan tidak sebagaimana yang diimpikan. Terlepas dari beberapa fenomena yang mengarah kepada perbaikan, berbagai persoalan mencuat ke permukaan. Dalam kasus-kasus tertentu sejumlah persoalan telah melemparkan bangsa ke dalam lubang nestapa yang menerjang secara telak eksistensi mereka sebagai suatu bangsa yang demokratis dan religius. Realitas yang ada di hadapan kita adalah realitas cukup buram yang merepresentasikan suatu kehidupan yang mulai tercerabut dari akar-akar nilai-nilai moralitas yang sejatinya sangat diperlukan dalam pengembangan kesejahteraan kehidupan bangsa dan umat manusia secara keseluruhan.

Salah satu fenomena yang cenderung menguat saat ini adalah terjadinya penyalahgunaan kekuasaan. Dengan mata telanjang kita dapat melihat di mana-mana kekuasaan sering bergandeng lekat dengan korupsi dan praktik-praktik kotor yang lain. Ambil contoh, satu persatu, ketua DRPD dan anggotanya, serta penguasa daerah diseret ke pengadilan dengan tuduhan memakan uang negara atau rakyat. Hampir tidak ada lagi ranah publik yang kosong dari tikus-tikus yang menggrogoti lumbung kekayaan negara.

Persoalan tambah runyam ketika persoalan moral ini terkesan sekadar menjadi permainan yang dapat dilacak melalui vonis bebas terhadap pelakunya. Apakah negara ini memang milik koruptor?. Sebuah pertanyaan yang sulit dibantah, tapi jangan sampai menjadi realitas yang tidak mungkin diubah lagi.

Persoalan korupsi menjadi persoalan krusial yang harus dibincang pertama kali karena secara politis korupsi menopang perkembangan rezim dan sistem politik yang otoritarian dan sebaliknya para diktator (pengusa) dalam sistem politik yang berbau otorianistik mudah terperangkap dalam penyalahgunaan kekuasaan. Rezim masa demokrasi terpimpin dan orba membuktikan interplay antara kekuasaan otoriter dan korupsi[1]. Korupsi yang terus merebak ke mana-mana ini menunjukkan bahwa senyatanya otoritarianisme dan sebangsanya masih berkutat kuat dalam negara, serta pada saat yang sama memperlihatkan, proses demokratisasi yang berjalan saat ini masih berada pada tataran permukaan formal dan artifisial semata. Demokrasi yang berjalan saat ini belum menyentuh inti demokrasi yang sejatinya bersifat moral. Dengan demikian, demokrasi prosedural yang saat ini berkembang memberi peluang bagi petualang politik dan pemburu kekuasaan untuk masuk ke dalam jejaringan kekuasaan sekadar untuk meraih kepentingan-kepentingan sempit dan sesaat yang bertentangan dengan kepentingan umum dan mayarakat luas.

Dalam kondisi yang demikian, proses-proses demokrasi yang sedang berjalan sering membias ke arah yang tidak sejalan, atau bahkan bertentangan dengan nilai-nilai substansial demokrasi. Pemilihan langsung, misalnya, yang sebermula sekali dirancang sebagai ajang aktualisasi aspirasi rakyat serta untuk menyerap kehendak masyarakat memetamorfosis menjadi sekadar ajang pertarungan para elit untuk memperebutkan kekuasaan. Dominasi partai politik dalam penentuan calon penguasa menjadikan proses pemilihan direkayasa sedemikian rupa sehingga hanya figur-figur yang dikehendaki para elit politik yang bisa lolos dalam pencalonan. Sedangkan suara rakyat dibungkam atau digiring ke satu pilihan (tepatnya, ketentuan) yang sulit untuk dihindari akibat kepolosan rakyat di satu pihak, dan penggunaan budaya paternalistik, simbol-simbol agama dan sejenisnya di pihak lain.

Partai politik yang seharusnya merupakan media artikulasi rakyat dan harus berwatak populis, akibat ambisi dan keserakahan para elitnya, banyak yang telah meninggalkan sifat dan wataknya yang genuine dan berkembang menjadi semacam mafia para preman yang di dalamnya hanya dipenuhi dengan diskursus dan aksi seputar kekuasaan dan sejenisnya. Sedangkan kepentingan rakyat tak lebih dari sekadar retorika yang hanya dimunculkan dalam momen-momen tertentu manakala partai politik memerlukan dukungan mereka. Lewat dari itu, partai politik kembali melupakan rakyat, meninggalkan, dan membiarkan mereka dalam gelutan persoalan yang terkadang cukup pelik dan rumit sehingga seringkali menggerus akal sehat mereka dan meluluhkan ketulusan hati nurani mereka.

Masyarakat ternyata memiliki caranya sendiri dalam menyikapi persoalan yang menghadang mereka. Penyalahgunaan kekuasaan serta premanisme yang dilakukan para elit dan penguasa nyaris sejalan dengan kekerasan yang ditampakkan sebagian masyarakat. Di berbagai daerah, kekerasan dalam beragam bentuknya, dari sifatnya yang telanjang dan kasat mata hingga yang bernuansa teroristik mencuat secara fenomenal menjadi pemandangan keseharian. Sering hanya karena persoalan yang dari tataran permukaan dianggap sangat sepele, kelompok-kelompok di masyarakat lalu terlibat dalam pertikaian berdarah dan saling membantai satu terhadap yang lain. Ketika ada maling ayam dan sebangsanya tertangkap basah, massa langsung menghakiminya sendiri melalui cara-cara yang sangat biadab dan sangat kejam. Kekerasan yang muncul tentu tidak sebatas itu. Kekerasan dalam bentuk lain yang lebih mengerikan, dalam bentuk terorisme, menyebar di berbagai daerah dan menancapkan kuku-kuku mautnya dalam ranah publik.

Kompleksitas Persoalan

Tentunya masyarakat bukan sekadar rumput kering yang mudah terbakar manakala ada setitik api yang menyulut mereka. Keliaran dan brutalitas yang ditampakkan mereka merepresentasikan seutuhnya persoalan yang dihadapi bangsa yang rumit dan berkelindan satu dengan yang lain. Ia memperlihatkan tentang persoalan politik yang sering mengabaikan rakyat kecil, atau bahkan sering menindas masyarakat akar rumput. Sekian puluh tahun mereka sekadar dijadikan obyek kepentingan segelintir orang dan kelompok yang mengklaim diri sebagai pemilik otoritas dan kebijakan. Tindakan anarkis masyarakat yang terjadi secara beruntun dari saat ke saat mendeskripsikan masalah ekonomi yang hanya berpihak kepada pemilik modal dan kian meminggirkan masyarakat yang lemah. Hal itu juga mengungkapkan tentang persoalan pendidikan yang selain “tidak mendidik” juga telah menjadi barang komoditas yang hanya dijangkau oleh kelompok masyarakat yang memiliki duit. Dengan demikian, pendidikan tidak dapat menjangkau seluruh segmen yang ada dalam masyarakat sebagaimana pula nilai-nilainya tidak menyentuh nurani mereka.

Di atas semua itu, kekerasan dalam dan oleh masyarakat menunjukkan betapa kekerasan telah nyaris menjadi budaya kehidupan kita. Kekerasan adalah setali tiga uang dengan penyalahgunaan kekuasaan dengan segala dampak negatifnya yang merambah kuat dalam institusi pemerintahan. Serupa, dalam arti kekerasan dan praktik-praktik kotor itu sama-sama merugikan masyarakat secara keseluruhan. Ironisnya, kondisi semacam itu begitu melekat dalam kehidupan bangsa sehingga begitu sulit untuk dikurangi, apalagi dihilangkan.

Menilisik Akar Persoalan

Jika kita jujur, semua itu muncul ke permukaan sebagai salah satu penanda memudarnya moralitas dalam kehidupan bangsa. Penyalahgunaan kekuasaan, kekerasan dan sebangsanya menunjuk kepada kebobrokan kedirian kita sebagai manusia. Meskipun moralitas menjadi wacana kita, dan merupakan ungkapan yang tidak pernah terlewatkan dari satu ceramah ke satu seminar, tapi kehadirannya tak lebih dari sebatas retorika dan belum menjadi bagian dari sikap dan perilaku umumnya masyarakat, apalagi elit kita. Moralitas tak lebih dari sekadar boneka pajangan yang tak memiliki roh dan makna signifikan dalam kehidupan konkret bangsa.

Merebaknya kejahatan sosial dan kemanusiaan yang berjalan seiring dengan melemahnya moralitas berakar pada berbagai persoalan yang sangat kompleks, yang satu dengan lainnya saling berkelindan. Untuk menguaknya, hal itu dapat dimulai dari penerimaan bangsa atas modernitas yang sampai derajat tertentu bersifat pasif. Mereka menerima modernitas tanpa ada upaya untuk mengkritisinya secara sungguh-sungguh, mengapresiasi aspek-aspek positif yang perlu dikembangkan secara kreatif, dan dampak negatif yang harus dihilangkan, serta pada saat yang sama mengkontekstualisasikan dengan budaya dan nilai-nilai luhur yang dianut mereka.

Padahal modernitas itu sendiri mengandung sejumlah persoalan cukup serius. Modernitas dengan rasionalitas yang melekat di dalamnya memang telah mengantarkan umat manusia (khususnya di Dunia Barat) kepada pengembangan sains dan teknologi yang cukup menakjubkan. Melalui dua pilar utama itu, manusia menguak misteri dan rahasia alam, dan pada saat yang sama muai mencoba menguasainya. Hal ini, menurut Soroush, berdampak besar pada pandangan mereka terhadap dunia dan dirinya. Akibat penguasaan mereka yang subyektif itu, mereka memiliki kesempatan untuk mengubah dunia dan pandangan tentang diri mereka secara radikal. Mereka yang sebelumnya menganggap sebagai tamu di dunia ini dengan segala kewajiban yang harus dipenuhi, sekarang mereka berkeyakinan telah menjadi tuan rumah dan sekaligus arsiteknya. Dengan demikian, mereka melihat diri mereka sebagai pemilik hak-hak tinimbang sebagai hamba yang memiliki kewajiban[2]. Mereka seakan-akan mentahbiskan diri sebagai satu-satunya penguasa di jagad raya dan kehidupan. Tidak ada lagi penguasa dan pemilik selain diri mereka sendiri yang telah menguasai sains dan teknologi.

Dalam bahasa Armstrong, kemajuan sains dan teknologi melahirkan semangat autonomi dan independensi baru yang mendorong sebagian orang untuk mendeklarasikan kebebasan manusia dari Tuhan[3]. Modernisasi semacam itu merupakan anutan dominan (sebagian) masyarakat di Dunia Barat pada abad dua puluh yang lalu yang saat ini mulai mendapat kritik tajam dari kalangan mereka sendiri.

Dalam perjalanan yang dilalui, “keangkuhan” mereka itu selain tidak mampu menyelesaikan segala persoalan yang mereka hadapi, ternyata juga telah menambah persoalan terhadap umat manusia dari belahan dunia yang lain. Dengan keangkuhannya itu, mereka berusaha untuk menguasai bangsa-bangsa lain. Dari sana lahirlah kolonialisme dari bentuknya yang klasik hingga yang bersifat neo-kolonialisme yang membuat manusia, terutama di negara-negara berkembang, nyaris sepenuhnya bergantung kepada bangsa-bangsa maju yang modern di Dunia Barat. Neo-kolonialisme yang berkembang saat ini memaksakan, mendekte kepada masyarakat Dunia Kedua dan Ketiga “kebutuhan-kebutuhan” kehidupan mereka. Korporat sejagad di Dunia Pertama menjadikan apa yang sebenarnya belum menjadi kebutuhan masyarakat sebagai sesuatu yang tampak dibutuhkan dalam kehidupan mereka. Kenaifan dan ironi lalu sering menimpa kehidupan mereka.

Pada posisi demikian masyarakat kita umumnya menerima modernisasi. Kenyataan itu membuat masyarakat dikejar-kejar “kebutuhan” yang sejatinya belum menjadi keperluan hidup mereka. Mereka lalu menjadi makhluk konsumtif yang memangsa dengan rakus segala yang berbau atau datang dari Barat. Kendati tidak seluruh masyarakat tergila-gila dengan Barat, tapi konsumerisme nyaris menjadi bagian dari hidup mereka. Bagi mereka, modernitas –tidak lebih dan tidak kurang –adalah Barat;. Bahkan sebagian lagi mereduksinya dengan mengidentikkannya dengan sekadar budaya populer yang di Barat sendiri mulai dikritik dan dipersoalkan.

Di balik pola hidup konsumtif, pragmatisme menyeruak atas, dan merebak ke dalam kehidupan sebagai anutan hidup masyarakat dalam berbagai lapisannya. Sikap ini membuat mereka tidak mampu melihat hal-hal yang jauh, dan menjadikan mereka kurang peka terhadap hal-hal yang bersifat substantif. Mereka lalu terbiasa dengan kehidupan yang hanya tampak di depan mata yang kebanyakan lebih bersifat semu. Pragmatisme menyebabkan mereka terbuai dengan hidup kekinian, kesesaatan semata, serta mendorong mereka untuk selalu mendapatkannya. Untuk itu, mereka sering terperangkap ke dalam cara-cara yang tidak sejalan atau bahkan bertentangan dengan nilai-nilai moralitas universal atau kearifan budaya lokal. Mereka lebih mementingkan kesaat-inian dan kedirian mereka sendiri, tanpa suatu pegangan yang kokoh bagaimana menatap masa depan yang lebih humanis, bermoral dan menjanjikan bagi semua.

Konkretnya, masyarakat tampak mudah terombang-ambing dalam menyikapi perkembangan kehidupan dan perubahan sosial yang berjalan begitu cepat. Mereka kurang memiliki pegangan yang kokoh. Bagaimana pun juga, setiap perubahan sosial dengan laju dan skala yang besar tentu akan mengakibatkan krisis yang besar pula. Di antaranya adalah goyahnya sistem nilai yang selama ini diterima dan dihayati dirasakan (atau tepatnya, dianggap) tidak lagi relevan atau responsif terhadap keadaan yang telah berubah[4]. Dalam kondisi seperti itu, hanya sedikit masyarakat yang dapat mengembangkan secara kreatif nilai-nilai lama yang mereka pegang dan mengkontekstualisasikan ke dalam hidupn kekinian. (Ini pun dalam pengembangannya masih sangat terbatas, parsial, serta belum mampu dijadikan tawaran untuk pijakan kokoh masyarakat luas). Selebihnya, dalam jumlah yang besar, terseret ke dalam pusaran arus besar yang di dalamnya nilai-nilai moral dan kearifan kehidupan mengalami penggerusan sehingga nyaris terkelupas dari kehidupan itu sendiri.

Pendidikan yang seharusnya menjadi tumpuan harapan untuk meneguhkan moralitas, selain pengembagan ilmu pengetahuan dan ketrampilan, justru ikut terjebak ke dalam pola pandangan yang berbatas tipis dengan paragmatisme. Banyak lembaga pendidikan yang hanya dapat mengembangkan manusia yang lebih berorientasi kepada aspek formalitas semata, serta sekaligus kurang memiliki komitmen dalam penanaman nilai-nilai luhur yang responsif terhadap perubahan sosial dan perkembangan kehidupan. Lebih dari itu, banyak institusi pendidikan yang kehadirannya lebih sebagai alat –disadari atau tidak –untuk memperteguh kondisi yang ada dalam bentuk kurangnya perhatian kepada pengembangan generasi penerus yang mandiri dan memiliki jati diri yang tegar yang relatif antisipatif terhadap kehidupan di masa depan. Meminjan konsep Freire, pendidikan yang berjalan dominan –kendati rekonstruksi kritis terhadap dunia pendidikan saat ini sudah mulai dikembangkan –masih bersifat pendidikan gaya bank yang menjadikan peserta didik sebagai obyek yang terus dijejali ilmu pengetahuan. Akibatnya, mereka menjadi tidak kreatif dan kritis dalam menyikapi segala hal yang mereka terima[5]. Pola pendidikan ini hanya menjadikan manusia mengetahui kebenaran, nilai-nilai, dan sebangsanya sebatas mengetahui, tanpa memahaminya secara kritis sehingga sulit untuk meyakininya. Ketika mereka berada dalam dunia konkret dan menyaksikan perubahan kehidupan yang begitu cepat dan dahsyat, mereka mengalami kesulitan untuk mengkonktekstualisasikan semua yang mereka ketahui, mereka yakini ke dalam kehidupan konkret sebagaimana pula tidak pernah mengalami internalisasi nilai-nilai itu ke dalam kedirian mereka. Mereka lalu menjadi gamang, dan akhirnya mudah terbawa arus. Karakter demikian merupakan karakter kuat sebagian masyarakat dan para elit kita.

Kondisi yang demikian membuat krisis demi krisis melanda bangsa. Krisis berjalan dalam bayang-bayang memudarnya moralitas yang dari saat ke saat tampak kian memprihatinkan. Maka sebuah rekonstruksi holistik menjadi sebuah keniscayaan, atau bangsa ini akan ambruk, cepat atau perlahan©.

[1] Arbi Sanit. “Korupsi Sebagai Sistem Politik Penjarahan” dalam A. S. Burhan et. al. (ed.). Korupsi di Negeri Kaum Beriman. Cetakan I, (Jakarta: P3M –Kemiotraan Partnership, 2004), hlm. 6.

[2] Abdul Karim Soroush. Menggugat Otoritas dan Tradisi Agama. Terjemahan, Cetakan I, (Bandung: Penerbit Mizan, 2002), 87.

[3] Karen Armstrong. A History of God: The 4,000-Year Quest of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. (New York: Ballantine Books, 1993), hlm. 346

[4] Nurcholish Madjid. Islam Agama Kemanusiaan: Membangun Tradisi dan Visi Baru Islam Indonesia. Ceakan I, (Jakarta: Paramadina, 1995), hlm. 87.

[5] Lihat Paulo Freire. Pendidikan Kaum Tertindas. Cetakan I, (Jakarta: LP3ES, 1985), hlm. 49 ff.

Photo Gallery

2008-12-03T20:12:00.008+07:00

Arab and its Religion

Although the expression is in Arabic, ya Maryamu, ya mumtaliah ni'mah, yet it is not in the mosque, but at the church in Bathlehem (Walaupun bertulisan arab dengan ungkapan alaikis salam ya Maryamu, ya mumtaliah ni'mah bukan di masjid lho, tapi di gereja di Bathlehem)

Photo Gallery

2008-12-03T08:47:00.007+07:00

Women with Their Veils
The picture shows Christian Orthodox women are ready to conduct rituals in the church in Bethlehem (Please do not simply judge it)

Gambar ini memperlihatkan perempuan Kristen Ortodoks bersiap-siap melakukan ritual di gereja di Betlehem (Mohon jangan dibaca dengan telanjang)

Book Review

2008-12-03T07:42:00.003+07:00

KOLABORASI AGAMA, BAHASA DAN KEKUASAAN;
BERBINCANG DENGAN DAN MENGKRITISI ARKEOLOGI PEMIKIRAN ADONIS
Oleh Abd A’la

Pendahuluan
Dalam pemikiran ke(ber)agamaan, orisinalitas, autentisitas dan sejenisnya merupakan unsur yang sama sekali tidak bisa diabaikan. Autentisitas dijadikan kriteria utama untuk menentukan keabsahan dan ortodoksi keberagamaan suatu kelompok dan aliran keagamaan atau seseorang. Bahkan keberagamaan yang autentik nyaris diidentikan dengan agama itu sendiri; sebagai sesuatu yang ortodoks dan absah yang sering, bahkan selalu, menafikan pola keberagamaan lain dan meletakkannya sebagai kesesatan yang tidak sejalan dengan nilai dan ajaran agama.
Persoalan yang kemudian mengedepan terletak pada kriteria dan ukuran untuk menjelaskan apa saja yang masuk, dan apa saja yang berada di luar autentisitas. Dalam perjalanannya, otoritas untuk menilai dan mengontrol hal itu terkait erat dengan kekuasaan, yang dalam perspektif sejarah pemikiran Islam mewujudkan diri, di antaranya, pada khilafah. Dalam bahasa Adonis, khilafah tidak saja merupakan titik temu antara agama dan dunia, tapi juga merupakan simbol dominasi agama atas dunia, dan sekaligus praktik dominasi tersebut. Karena itu, apa yang muncul dari kekuasaan sering diyakini, atau dipaksakan sebagai bagian intrinsik agama yang memiliki kebenaran (nyaris) absolut. Untuk memperkuat dominasi –atau sampai derajat tertentu, perselingkuhan –itu, kata dan bahasa memainkan peran yang cukup signifikan. Pada sisi ini –meminjam ungkapan Dhakidae –terjadinya titi temu antara agama dan kekuasaan. Melalui interplay ketiga unsur itu kebenaran, keberhakan dan sejenisnya dibentuk dan distandarisasi. Pada gilirannya, keberhakan adalah milik kekuasaan dominan; keberhakan adalah kemapanan atau kekuasaan itu sendiri. Dominasi ini tentu tidak selamanya bergulir di atas dukungan seluruh masyarakat. Realitas menunjukkan, dari saat ke saat selalu ada kelompok yang menolak dominasi, menentang atau menantang kemapanan.
Seluk beluk persoalan semacam itu yang diangkat Adonis melalui karyanya al-Tha>bit} wa al-Mutah}awwil: Bahth fi al-Ibda` wa al-Ittiba>` ‘ind al-‘Arab dalam tiga volume. Karya penelitian ini mengangkat persoalan kemapanan dan kedinamisan yang terjadi dalam seluruh perwujudan budaya dan peradaban masyarakat Arab yang mencakup politik, keilmuan, terutama ilmu keagamaan, dan ilmu-ilmu kebahasaan dan kesusasteraan. Dalam konteks kekinian dan keindonesiaan, kajiannya mengenai pemikiran keagamaan dalam hubungannya dengan politik dan bahasa sangat menarik untuk dibincang karena hal itu sampai batas tertentu merupakan fenomena yang terus terjadi dalam kehidupan bangsa. Kendati sejak awal perlu dipahami bahwa di sana sini ada perbedaan yang tidak mungkin digeneralisasi secara simplistis.
Tradisi Arab-Islam; Kemapanan Sebagai Autentisitas
Sejak kehadiran Islam di tanah Arab, Islam tumbuh berkembang sebagai keyakinan dan dasar pijakan dalam sikap dan pandangan masyarakat Arab dalam merajut segala aspek kehidupan mereka. Islam menjadi tradisi yang terus mempengaruhi mereka dari saat ke saat. Tradisi yang berasal dari Islam itu dibingkai bersama dengan kearaban mereka, terutama aspek kebahasaan. Dari sana, mereka memulai dan mengembangkan kehidupan mereka. Bagi mereka, Islam dan Arab telah disikapi sebagai satu entitas yang tidak mungkin dibedakan, apalagi dipisahkan antara yang satu dari yang lain.
Berpijak pada Islam-Arab itu, peradaban Islam –khususnya pemikiran –“dikembangkan”, dilestarikan, dan kemudian dikokohkan. Pemikiran yang niscaya untuk dikembangkan adalah yang genuine yang dalam anggapan mereka mencerminkan keislam-araban. Strategi ini menemukan momentumnya, salah satunya, dalam pemikiran keilmuan fiqh. Bahkan dalam pandangan al-Jabiri, peradaban Islam adalah peradaban fiqh. Fiqh tanpa diragukan lagi merupakan produksi ciptaan Arab Islam murni yang sangat berpengaruh dalam dunia Islam. Karena posisinya yang sentral itu, disiplin ilmu-ilmu yang lain, ilmu yang berkaitan dengan al-Quran dan Sunnah, ilmu bahasa, bahkan ilmu pasti dikembangkan dan diabdikan untuk ilmu fiqh. Dalam kitab fiqh ini kitab-kitab mukhtasar dan sharh ditulis; kitab fiqh yang besar diringkas, dan pada saat yang lain juga dikomentari. Pola ini dalam rentang waktu yang sangat panjang berkembang menjadi tradisi dari intelektualisme Islam.
Sejatinya, menurut Makdisi, fiqh sebagai sistem pemikiran menempati posisi di antara dua aliran ekstrem dalam pemikiran ilmu-ilmu keislaman. Fiqh menengahi dominasi dengan memanfaatkan akal sebagai pendukung. Pemikiran ini berupaya membangun jalan tengah antara rasionalisme moderat dan tradisionalisme progresif dengan menahan laju dominasi teologis filosofis, dan sekaligus menghalangi gerak fanatisme yang berlebihan kepada Hadith.
Posisi fiqh seperti itu tampaknya seutuhnya terangkat dalam kenyataan konkret. Sebab realitas sejarah yang dilalui menunjukkan betapa fiqh sering mewujudkan diri sebagai kekuatan dominan yang cenderung menyikapi kebenaran agama sebagai kebenaran fiqh dan jalan tengah yang diupayakannya terantuk kepada absolutisme. Hal ini terjadi ketika seseorang atau kelompok –memodifikasi penjelasan El Fadl –menggunakan otoritas Tuhan untuk menjustifikasi despotisme. Dengan berlindung di balik kehendak Tuhan, mereka mengganti posisi Tuhan dan menjadikan diri mereka sebagai satu-satunya suara otoritas. Fiqh lalu menjadi iron law of authoritarianism yang cenderung meletakkan penafsiran dan hasil pemikiran sebagai Teks itu sendiri dan menafikan adanya gerak dan dinamika perubahan dalam kehidupan.
Tafsir sebagai bagian ilmu-ilmu al-Quran yang kehadirannya –sebagaimana diangkat sekilas sebelum ini –untuk mendukung fiqh juga terletak dalam bingkai dan kriteria sebagaimana yang ada dalam fiqh. Hal itu tampai jelas dalam Tafsir al-T}abari yang dikembangkan berdasarkan pengambilan terhadap riwayat-riwayat tertentu, dan pada saat yang sama menolak yang lain. Sejalan dengan itu, koleksi Hadith juga dikonstruk menjadi sumber otoritatif bagi fiqh.
Persoalan seputar itu merupakan area yang ingin diulas dan dikritisi oleh Adonis. Dalam analasisnya, pemikiran semacam itu kemudian berkembang sebagai al-tha>bit, sesuatu yang dibangun atas dasar masa lalu yang ditafsirkan sedemikian rupa, sehingga orang dan kelompok yang pemikirannya berada di luar al-tha>bit akan mengalami pengasingan. Dalam ungkapan yang lain, al-tha>bit berkembang sebagai sesuatu yang berhimpitan dengan dogma yang tidak boleh diganggu gugat.
Al-tha>bit yang dalam istilah Arkoun berwujud dalam bentuk Nalar Islam Klasik (NIK) meletakkan bahasa, kebenaran, hukum dan sejarah dalam satu kesatuan. Nalar ini menjadi nalar ortodoks yang tidak mengakui kemungkinan nalar-nalar pesaing untuk mencapai kesahihan yang sama dengan kesahihannya, atau hal-hal lain yang terkait dengan itu.
Nalar Saingan
Dalam sejarahnya, al-tha>bit ini selalu berhadapan dengan al-mutahawwil, sesuatu yang dikembangkan orang atau kelompok tertentu untuk menolak otoritas atau keberhakan yang distandarisasi pendukung al-tha>bit. Al-mutah}awwil sebagai saingan hadir untuk menggugat kemapanan yang ada, atau bahkan dalam rangka menghancurkan al-tha>bit yang selama ini nyaris dijadikan satu-satunya kebenaran. Sementara nalar ortodoks berlabuh dalam keilmuan fiqh, nalar saingannya mengokohkan diri dalam keilmuan yang lain, terutama teologi Islam dan gerakan yang bernuansa sufistik.
Dari penelusuran yang dilakukan, Adonis menunjukkan pemikiran teologis Khawarij sebagai nalar saingan yang muncul pada masa-masa awal Islam. Nalar ini menemukan pijakan yang kokoh di tangan Mu’tazilah yang berupaya merumuskan kembali persoalan agama secara rasional. Bagi kelompok ini, agama adalah akal itu sendiri. Karena itu, agama tidak memiliki signifikansi apa pun jika bertentangan dengan akal. Keberpegangan pada nalar ini, pada saat yang sama, menjadikan manusia sebagai subyek sentral dalam seluk beluk kehidupan. Dalam bahasa budayawan yang bernama asal Ali Ahmad Said itu, kecenderungan tah}awwul adalah menempatkan manusia sebagai poros dan tujuan, dan menjadikan alam sebagai kreativitas kemanusiaan. Sejalan dengan itu, tah}awwul menekankan pada dialektika berbagai pihak yang tidak saling menafikan satu sama lain, tapi justru saling melengkapinya.
Tentunya sifat-sifat dan kecenderungan tah}awwul tersebut, bila dikaitkan dengan nalar Islam-Arab, lebih bersifat teoritis yang lebih banyak berada di atas kertas dan belum berlabuh secara kokoh dalam realitas sejarah. Sepak terjang Mu’tazilah sebagai agama resmi wangsa Abbasiyah pada periode awal memperlihatkan dengan nyata keberadaannya sebagai nalar yang memiliki karakteristik yang sulit dibedakan dengan NIK, terutama dari segi represi dan klaim kebenaran sepihak. Tah}awwul lalu tak lebih dari sekadar proses yang berlabuh kepada al-thub>ut yang ironisnya akhirnya tampak begitu kerasan dalam kemapanan itu. Fenomena semacam itu yang kurang diulas secara kritis dan holistik oleh Adonis.
Bangunan Epistemologi Arab-Islam; Kolaborasi Agama, Bahasa dan Kekuasaan
Membincang tradisi masyarakat Arab-Islam, aspek bahasa merupakan tradisi yang berperan sangat menentukan dalam perjalanan kehidupan mereka. Bahasa merupakan sistem dan mekanisme yang menjadi dasar dalam pembakuan hampir keseluruhan peradaban mereka. Untuk itu, konservasi bahasa melalui berbagai cara –dari yang alami hingga ke pengalihan dalam bentuk tulisan –sebagai proyek besar mereka. Dari bahasa, atau dengan menggandeng bahasa, peradaban mereka yang lain, nalar Arab dibentuk, “dikembangkan”, dan dilestarikan.
Berdasarkan penelitiannya, Adonis menegaskan bahwa dalam prespektif paradigmatik dan ideologis mereka yang ortodoks kebenaran –adalah sistem bahasa di mana manusia selalu berada dalam kerangka kebahasaan. Dengan demikian, kebahasaan menjadi rumah yang memuat seluruh alam yang ditinggali setiap orang. Dalam bahasa mereka hidup, dan melalui bahasa mereka menyikapi kehidupan dan merajut nyaris segala aspek kehidupan mereka.
Puisi Jahiliyah –sebagai bagian dari bahasa –menjadi rujukan dalam bentuk bukan hanya bagi puisi Arab-Islam, tapi juga bagi keilmuan Islam yang lain. Hal itu dapat dilacak dari metodologi baya>ni> yang menjadi dasar epistemologi hampir semua nalar Arab dari yang ortodoks hingga pesaingnya. Struktur baya>n ini pada saat yang sama dalam pandangan para pakar bahasa Arab berdasar dan merujuk kepada tashbi>h. Dari struktur ini kemudian dikembangkan qiyas dalam fiqh, dan konsep istidla>l bi al-sha>hid ‘ala> al-gha>ib dalam teologi Islam.
Bagi kalangan ortodoks, bahasa ujaran merupakan manifestasi terhadap makna. Puisi yang baik (yang kesempurnaan bentuknya ada dalam jahili, pen.) adalah ungkapan yang sejajar dengan maknnya. Dalam kerangka itu pula, ungkapan yang baik adalah yang tidak ada metafora, tapi ilustrasi. Karena itu, di dalam al-Quran tidak ada metafora, tapi hakiki semua. Mereka menolak metafora karena metode ini identik penafsiran; padahal ini yang harus dihindari dalam memahami agama. Karena penafsiran/ta’wil relatif, sedangkan agama adalah absolut.
Peneguhan ortodoksi ini sama sekali tidak bisa dilepaskan dari politik kekuasaan. Konkretnya, ada kolaborasi antara agama, dan kekuasaan. Hal ini dapat dibuktikan –menurut budayawan intelektual yang kontroversial itu –ketika kekhalifahan menjadi institusi keagamaan yang mengetahui bukan hanya kehidupan lahir manusia, tapi juga mengetahui aspek batin manusia. Khalifah selain menentukan tindakan manusia, juga menentukan pikiran mereka. Dari sini kekuasaan menjadi penentu pemikiran mana yang dianggap benar dan mana yang dianggap sesat. Pemikiran keagamaan yang berbeda dan tidak mendukung terhadap kekuasaan dipinggirkan dan dianggap sebagai heterodoks.
Ironisnya, epistemologi semacam itu pula yang digunakan nalar saingan, dan pada saat yang sama ia juga berselingkuh dengan kekuasaan. Agama di tangan kelompok ortodoks-konservatif dan di hadapan kelompok penantangnya menjadi rebutan yang sering berujung kepada persoalan kekuasaan. Ketika berada dalam lingkaran kekuasaan, banyak dari kedua pendukung nalar yang pada awalnya berbeda itu lalu sama-sama terjebak ke dalam konservatisme. Lambat atau cepat, ia menjadi nalar yang nyaris sama dengan nalar pendahulunya.
Pertarungan yang saling menafikan itu mengantarkan Adonis kepada pandangan yang cukup radikal. Ia berargumentasi, untuk mengatasi krisis persoalan, masyarakat Arab-Muslim memerlukan kepada perubahan substantif yang menyeluruh yang hanya dapat dilakukan melalui revolusi. Revolusi ini adalah revolusi kebudayaan yang tidak hanya bersifat permukaan, tapi merupakan pembebasan dalam segala tataran dan segala aspeknya.
Analisis dan tawaran semacam itu sangat menggugat keberadaan nalar Arab-Islam. Dengan demikian tidak berlebihan jika ia pada gilirannya menjadi tokoh cukup kontroversial yang pemikiran dan ide-idenya sulit diterima kalangan masyarakat Arab-Islam.

Catatan Penutup
Menyikapi kritisisme Adonis, persoalannya lalu terletak pada kemungkinan-tidaknya upaya merealisasikan proyek besar tersebut. Sejauh mana ia mampu meyakinkan bangsa Arab bahwa ide yang dikembangkan bertujuan untuk menjadikan Arab-Islam dapat mengembangkan modernitas dan kreativitas di atas nilai-nilai dasar luhur mereka. Dari sini kemudian mereka mampu mengembangkan diri sebagai bangsa yang modern, sejajar atau melebihi bangsa-bangsa yang maju, tanpa harus kehilangan identitas mereka.
Sejatinya, persoalan yang diangkat Adonis –sampai batas tertentu –merupakan persoalan yang juga dihadapi masyarakat Muslim di kawasan yang lain, atau bahkan masyarakat berkembang secara umum. Hubungan antara modernitas dan tradisi, antara kreativitas dan kemapanan adalah isu yang tidak pernah selesai. Dalam konteks Islam, persoalannya bertambah runyam ketika kearaban dengan segala unsur pendukungnya dianggap sebagai bagian intrinsik dari keislaman.
Dalam menyikapi hal, banyak kelompok yang terjebak kepada pola pandang dikotomi yang beroposisi biner. Maka yang berkembang kemudian adalah pertarungan tanpa henti yang saling meniadakan. Pada tahap berikutnya, persoalan yang dihadapi bukan lagi pada pengembangan nalar, atau agama itu sendiri, tapi pada pola dan gerakan sekadar untuk melumpuhkan nalar di luar nalar yang dipertahankan. Artinya ada kepentingan praktis atau bahkan pragmatis yang menjadi bingkai pola pandang mereka yang sering mewujudkan diri dalam kekuasaan.
Kekuasaan memang bukan satu-satunya akar masalah. Fenomena itu muncul dari sebuah sistem yang sangat kompleks yang mengeram dalam unsur-unsur peradaban Islam itu sendiri, dari budaya, pendidikan hingga ekonomi. Karena itu, upaya melepaskan diri dari cengkeraman itu –sebagaimana dinyatakan Profesor bahasa Arab dari Sorbonne itu –melalui rekonstruksi yang menyeluruh yang membebaskan. Pada tataran ini, tawarannya perlu didiskusikan secara lebih kritis. Revolusi yang diancangkan sebagai upaya perubahan yang holistik tidak selamanya menyelesaikan persoalan. Jika tidak hati-hati hal itu justru sering memperkokoh pola pandang oposisi biner.
Mencermati pola pemikirannya, tokoh kontemporer asal Syria itu senyatanya terpengaruh dengan dekonstruksi derridian. Melalui dekonstruksi ini seharusnya yang dicari dan dikembangkan adalah tatanan alternatif di luar tatanan oposisi biner hirarkis, tapi juga bukan sintesis hegelian yang mendamaikan antara tesis dan antitesis. Menurut Derrida –sebagaimana dikutip Sumarwan –perbedaan yang tampak dari oposisi itu tidak dapat didamaikan, dinaturalisasi, atau dihilangkan. Perbedaan adalah kondisi bagi sebuah sistem pemaknaan melalui tanda-tanda. Tanpa perbedaan seluruh sistem penandaan akan runtuh dan tidak akan memiliki makna lagi. Secara prinsip, dekonstruksi merupakan cara untuk membuka mata, telinga, dan pikiran bagi perbedaan, bagi pihak lain dengan tetap menghormati kelainan pihak lain itu, tanpa upaya mereduksi yang lain menjadi sama. Prinsip-prinsip ini sesungguhnya yang harus dikembangkan dalam menangani masalah al-tha>bit dan al-mutah}awwil. Namun hal itu belum diolah-kembangkan secara kritis oleh tokoh yang juga sebagai profesor sastera Arab di Lebanese University.
Persolan lain yang perlu dibincang adalah pandangannya yang menyatakan bahwa orang Arab –apa pun aliran atau kelompoknya –dipastikan tunduk kepada ukuran-ukuran yang lalu, pewarisan tradisi, dan perujukan al-salaf. Namun ia tidak banyak mengurai posisi pemikiran Wahhabi, yang dilihat dari sudut mana pun merupakan salah satu representasi dari fenomena tersebut.

Opinion

2008-12-02T21:27:00.004+07:00

MISI PROFETIK ISLAM vis-à-vis KLAIM KEBENARAN SEPIHAK
Oleh Abd A`la*
Hadirnya agama dalam kehidupan umat manusia dimuati sepenuhnya dengan misi pencerahan; pencapaian kesempurnaan hidup dalam bentuk membumi dan langgengnya kebahagiaan individu dan masyarakat. Tilikan Armstrong dalam The Battle for God (2000) menyebutkan, agama-agama yang muncul pada zaman aksial yang merentang dari sekitar tahun 700 sampai dengan 200 SM memiliki banyak kesamaan dari sisi teologis dan misi yang diemban. Semuanya berdasar pada tradisi lama (dan wahyu, aa) untuk membangun konsep tentang Zat transenden yang esa dan universal dengan misi mempertajam spiritualitas, dan pengembangan kasih sayang.
Misi profetik semacam itu yang dikembangkan dalam ajaran Islam. Sebagaimana ditegaskan al-Quran, agama ini diturunkan dalam rangka mengembangkan nilai-nilai kemanusiaan universal, kebaikan perennial. Melalui nilai-nilai itu umat Islam dituntut dapat mengemban amanat Tuhan sebagai khalifah Tuhan di muka bumi dengan peran memakmurkan dunia, serta mensejahterakan kehidupan. Sebagai representasi konkret dari ajaran itu, Tuhan mengutus Muhammad (saw) sebagai rahmat bagi sekalian alam dengan membawa ajaran dan nilai Islam yang bersifat universal seperti keadilan, kesetaraan, solidaritas sosial, dan perdamaian.
Manusia dalam kapasitasnya sebagai khalifah Tuhan dituntut dapat menerjemahkan serta mengembangkan ajaran dan nilai-nilai universal Islam tersebut dalam sejarah konkret umat manusia. Nilai dan ajaran Islam yang bersifat absolut itu perlu diterjemahkan ke dalam dinamika dan perubahan kehidupan yang terus berkembang. Dengan demikian universalitas Islam akan menemukan lahan yang nyata pada kehidupan umat dalam bentuk konkretisasi ajaran dalam sejarah.
Namun dalam realitasnya, tidak semua umat Islam menerima kenyataan sejarah tersebut. Sebagian kelompok justru mengingkari terhadap keberadaan Islam sebagai agama yang memiliki dua dimensi: normatif dan historis. Mereka menafikan historitas keberagamaan umat dari masa ke masa, atau antara satu tempat dengan tempat lain melalui sudut pandang yang dikotomis. Mereka mereduksi agama dari esensi yang sebenarnya melalui pola pandang dari sisi normatif semata yang dalam anggapan mereka telah direpresentasikan nyaris secara utuh oleh keberagamaan mereka. Sedangkan segala pola keberagamaan yang tidak sesuai dengan pola yang dianut mereka dianggap tidak merepresentasikan normativitas agama dan karena itu dianggap heterodoks, bid`ah, sesat yang harus diperangi dan dihancurkan.
Adanya kelompok yang menafikan aspek historis tersebut dapat dilacak pada kemunculan sekte Khawarij. Sekte ini dengan klaim kebenarannya yang eksklusif merupakan contoh konkret sebagai salah satu aliran yang mengabaikan realitas kehidupan dengan segala pluralitasnya. Mereka mengingkari keberadaan dan keabsahan aliran-aliran Islam yang lain melalui pengkafiran terhadap aliran yang berada di luar kelompok mereka. Pola keberagamaan ini –sebagaimana sejarah membeberkan –berujung pada tragedi kemanusiaan yang sangat mengerikan; pertumpahan darah yang sulit dihentikan dalam waktu sesaat.
Kelompok atau dan orang semacam itu tidak menyadari bahwa keberagamaan umat sangat dipengaruhi oleh dimensi pendidikan, sosial, politik yang melatarbelakangi kehidupan mereka. Latar belakang itu menjadi faktor penentu bagi umat beragama dalam menafsirkan dan memahami pesan dan nilai agama. Karena itu, Islam tidak dapat dilepaskan dari dimensi historis yang mewujudkan diri dalam keberagamaan umat sepanjang sejarah mereka. Sejatinya agama dalam bentuk keberagamaan umat adalah identik dengan interpretasi dan pemahaman mereka terhadap agama. Religiusitas bukan agama normatif itu sendiri yang absolut, tapi bersifat historis yang penuh dengan kenisbian, tapi sekaligus harus mampu dipertanggung-jawabkan.
Berdasarkan hal itu, absolutisme dalam beragama merupakan bentuk ekstremitas yang dilihat dari sudut mana pun kurang memiliki pijakan yang kokoh dalam nilai-nilai Islam yang sangat mengedepankan moderasi dan nilai-nilai sejenis. Selain akan merugikan umat Islam secara keseluruhan, pola itu juga tidak akan pernah dapat mengembangkan suatu kehidupan damai sebagaimana menjadi tujuan agama Islam dan agama-agama besar yang lain. Justru misi profetik Rasulullah dengan Islam-nya sebagai rahmatan lil alamin menjadi ternoda. Bahkan melalui pola keberagamaan semacam itu, Islam akan mengalami stigmatisasi yang cukup parah. Bencana besar telah dan akan menimpa umat Islam. Dengan one-side truth claim, mereka terjebak ke dalam sikap ekstrem yang tidak ketulungan, sehingga mereka tidak segan-segan untuk memerangi atau membantai sesama Muslim, serta umat manusia yang lain yang berada di luar kelompok mereka.
Al-Qardhawi dalam Membedah Islam Ekstrem (2001) menyebutkan, salah satu ciri khas dari kelompok ekstrem adalah fanatisme yang berlebihan sehingga hanya mengakui pendapat diri sendiri semata, serta tidak mengakui dan menolak hak pendapat lain. Kelompok ini hanya memiliki satu pilihan bahwa yang memiliki hak untuk berbicara dan menetapkan sesuatu hanya mereka, sedangkan orang atau kelompok lain wajib mendengarkan dan mengikuti. Mereka mengklaim, pendapat mereka selalu benar, sedangkan pendapat yang lain salah.
Pola semacam itu –menurut al-Qardhawi –merupakan teror dan intimidasi yang lebih dahsyat dan lebih menakutkan ketimbang teror yang dapat dirasakan secara inderawi. Sebab hal itu akan memberangus kebebasan, serta bersifat koersif yang memaksa orang lain untuk mengikuti kehendak mereka. Padahal telah menjadi kesepakatan dalam Islam bahwa setiap orang, siapa saja, boleh diambil atau ditinggalkan pendapatnya selama didasarkan pada argumen yang kuat dan dialog kemanusiaan yang mencerahkan.
Di sini adalah tugas kita bersama untuk menyebarkan misi profetik agama, dan pada saat yang sama menghentikan segala bentuk ekstremisme yang mengedepankan klaim kebenaran sepihak melalui cara-cara arif dan dewasa serta jauh dari segala bentuk kekerasan. Dalam konteks itu, suatu dialog yang dialogis yang melibatkan relasi antar subyek (bukan antara subyek dan obyek), serta jauh dari kepentingan yang sempit dan sesaat perlu dikembangkan. Umat Islam Indonesia secara khusus, dan bangsa Indonesia secara umum perlu membuktikan bahwa mereka dapat mengembangkan kehidupan damai yang jauh dari segala bentuk dan aksi yang bersifat represif, teror, licik, dan tidak terpuji©.
***

Photo Gallery

2008-12-02T20:06:00.005+07:00

At Kotabaco, The Philippines

Photo Gallery

2008-12-02T19:57:00.004+07:00

At al-Aqsa Mosque, Qubbah al-Shakhra'

Opinion

2008-12-02T19:23:00.002+07:00

AGAMA LIPSTICK
Oleh Abd A`la
Sejumlah persoalan besar terus menghadang di hadapan bangsa, dari penyalahgunaan kekuasaan yang rama-ramai dilakukan kaum politisi dan penguasa hingga kekerasan teroristik yang tidak ketahuan lagi ujung-pangkalnya. Sejatinya, semua itu merupakan tantangan yang harus dihadapi dan dilawan oleh bangsa ini. Namun tampaknya masalah itu terlalu lamban disikapi dan ditindaklanjuti penyelesaiannya. Akibatnya, hal itu berubah menjadi ancaman serius yang menggugat eksistensi kita sebagai bangsa yang beradab.
Saat ini penyalahgunaan kekuasaan tampak begitu fenomenal menjangkiti kalangan politisi dan penguasa. Sementara kaum politisi menjadikan partai politik sebagai ajang perebutan kepentingan di kalangan mereka, serta menjadikan rakyat sebagai obyek kepentingan, para penguasa dan aparat negara yang lain memperalat institusi untuk meneguhkan kekuasaan dan mencari peluang yang bersifat pragmatis. Ujung-ujungnya, korupsi dan praktik-praktik kotor yang lain terjadi di mana-mana melibatkan beberapa kepala daerah, anggota legislatif dan lain-lainnya. Terakhir kasus di Kejaksaan Agung benar-benar menampar wajah bangsa.
Ada kesenjangan cukup lebar antara perkataan dan tindakan, antara penampakan dan kenyataan yang sebenarnya. Ironisnya, para politisi yang mengeksploitasi rakyat, dan para pelaku kejahatan yang mengeruk uang negara dan rakyat itu terkesan kuat hampir tidak merasa bersalah, atau merasa malu dengan kesalahan mereka. Justru ada kecenderungan, mereka tampak menganggapnya sebagai persoalan lumrah; atau paling banter, mencari orang lain untuk dijadikan kambing hitam.
Di tengah-tengah menguatnya fenomena itu, gejala lain yang tidak kalah kotor dan jahatnya juga merebak. Tindakan yang berbau teroristik terus menggema dalam kehidupan bangsa. Jika dulu, pelaku teror masih bersifat gentle (kendati tetap tidak dapat dibenarkan) dengan mengaku bertanggung jawab atas tindakan mereka, sekarang terkesan kuat para pelakunya lebih bersifat pengecut. Bahkan ada kecenderungan pelaku ingin menimpakan atau mencari kesalahan pada orang lain.
Ironi
Kenyataan itu menyisakan ironi yang cukup dalam. Sebab penyalahgunaan kekuasan dalam beragam bentuknya serta kekerasan biadab yang dilakukan orang atau kelompok yang tidak bertanggung jawab justru terjadi di tengah-tengah menguat dan semaraknya keberagamaan masyarakat. Di berbagai tempat ada greget cukut kuat untuk menegakkan agama formal. Dari saat ke saat ritual-keagamaan dijalankan secara patuh oleh sebagian besar masyarakat, dari yang awam hingga para petinggi. Dari bulan ke bulan, upacara peringatan keagamaan marak di adakan di berbagai tempat, dari tingkat kampung hingga pusat. Bahkan upaya formalisasi syariah menjadi fenomena di berbagai daerah. Namun pada saat yang sama, hampir mereka pula yang melakukan kejahatan. Setidaknya, mereka mengabaikan terjadinya tindakan yang tidak bermoral itu.
Agama (tepatnya, keberagamaan) yang mereka jalankan ternyata tidak mampu menyekat mereka dari perilaku-perilaku jahat yang merugikan orang lain; atau minimal, agama yang mereka anut tidak bisa menjadikan mereka peka terhadap degradasi moral dalam beragam bentuknya yang terjadi di sekeliling mereka. Mereka beragama dan taat menjalankan ajaran-ajaran agama yang bersifat eksternal, tapi sekaligus mereka juga melakukan kejahatan dan perbuatan munkarat yang dari perspektif agama mana pun tidak akan pernah dibenarkan.
Dengan pola semacam itu, mereka senyatanya menganut agama lipstick. Mereka menjadikan agama sebagai alat untuk mempercantik diri, untuk menyembunyikan borok-borok yang melekat pada sikap dan perilaku mereka. Yang tampak dalam sesaat dan selintas adalah wajah mereka yang bersih putih, tapi di balik kulit tipis itu sedang bersarang virus akut yang mematikan, bukan hanya terhadap diri mereka sendiri, tapi juga terhadap orang lain, rakyat dan negara.
Agama lipstick ini, menurut Allport –sebagaimana dikutip Jalaluddin Rakhmat (1986: 26) –merupakan keberagamaan ekstrinsik. Agama dianggap sebagai something to use, but not to live. Agama digunakan untuk menunjang motif-motif yang berkaitan dengan kebutuhan akan status, rasa aman, harga diri, dan semacamnya. Dengan demikian, para penganutnya berpaling kepada simbol atau ritual agama dan kepada Tuhan, tapi tidak mau berpaling dari diri mereka sendiri yang penuh dengan kebejatan, keserakahan, dan sikap atau perilaku jahat yang lain.
Mereka berpaling kepada Tuhan sekadar mencari perlindungan diri atau menutup aib. Mereka berpaling kepada simbol dan ritual agama lebih sebagai penebusan dosa sosial mereka yang senyatanya tidak akan pernah terampuni tanpa mereka melakukan pertobatan sosial pula. Bahkan mereka terkadang menjadikan agama sebagai justifikasi terhadap perilaku mereka yang bejat. Pada satu pihak, mereka nyaris melegalkan praktik-praktik kotor yang merugikan masyarakat dan rakyat dengan alasan sebagai tindakan kepepet yang dilegalkan agama. Pada pihak lain, mereka yang melakukan tindakan teroristik berdalih bahwa tujuan tindakan mereka adalah luhur, demi menegakkan agama, mengungkap atau menghancurkan konspirasi kejahatan kelompok lain, dan sebagainya.
Rekonstruksi Keberagamaan
Terkait dengan itu, persoalan mendesak yang perlu diselesaikan adalah upaya pengembangan suatu sistem holistik yang tidak memungkinkan siapa pun untuk melakukan praktik-praktik kotor dan tindakan jahat. Pada saat yang sama, akar persoalan yang menyebabkan semua kejahatan itu perlu diangkat dan diselesaikan secara serius dan sistematis.
Dalam kerangka itu, persoalan ke depan yang perlu mendapatkan perhatian serius adalah rekonstruksi keberagamaan kita. Meminjam ungkapan Allport, kita perlu merekonstruksi keberagamaan esktrinsik menjadi keberagamaan intrinsik. Nilai agama, bukan formalisasi agama perlu dikembangkan sebagai komitmen komprehensif, serta motif pendorong utama yang dapat mengintegrasikan kehidupan dalam nilai-nilai etika-moral luhur. Kita tidak sekadar cukup beragama, apalagi mengedepankan simbol dan formalisasi agama. Namun kita dituntut untuk menemukan Tuhan dan membumikan sifat-sifat-Nya yang relevan dengan kemanusiaan ke dalam kehidupan. Dengan demikian keadilan, kejujuran, tanggung jawab, solidaritas sosial, serta nilai luhur yang lain akan menjadi watak utama bangsa. Setelah itu, kita niscaya untuk mengusung nilai-nilai moral luhur itu ke ranah publik dengan mengembangkannya sebagai dasar sistem kehidupan yang mengikat kokoh segala tindakan individual dan sosial kita.
Pada tataran itu, dialog antar-agama yang intens dan berkesinambungan mutlak diperlukan sehingga semua penganut agama menjadikan nilai-nilai itu sebagai milik bersama, dan berkomitmen untuk melabuhkannya dalam kehidupan konkret. Tanpa itu, agama hanya akan menjadi pemerah bibir yang tidak berperan signifikan dalam kehidupan.
Di sini tentunya diperlukan suatu ketulusan bersama dan membuang jauh klaim kebenaran sepihak dengan segala turunannya. Melalui proses itu, kita bisa memberantas –minimal mengurangi secara signifikan –praktik-praktik kotor dan kejahatan sosial kemanusiaan lain yang telah menjadi wabah menakutkan di negeri ini©.

Opinion

2008-12-02T08:39:00.002+07:00

CIVIL ISLAM DALAM PESONA KEKUASAAN
Oleh Abd A`la*
Kekuasaan ternyata nyaris serupa dengan gadis cantik sangat memikat yang hidup di istana. Ia mampu menebarkan pesona ke mana-mana sehingga setiap orang yang mengenalnya tergoda untuk mendekati, merangkul, dan ingin memilikinya. Saat rezim orde baru (orba) berkuasa, kekuasaan dipingit sedemikian rupa. Siapa pun –kecuali rezim dan lingkaran kelompok yang ada di sekitarnya –sulit dan tidak boleh mengencaninya.
Ketika orba ambruk, dan era reformasi tiba, kekuasaan berubah menjadi gadis centil yang mampu menyedot perhatian semua yang mengenalnya. Semuanya –yang sok alim, yang alim betulan, dan si hidung belang –ingin menjadikan “si gadis” sebagai bagian dari hidupnya meskipun dengan dorongan dan tujuan yang berbeda-beda. Ada yang ingin “menikahi”-nya dengan tujuan agar kekuasaan tidak binal lagi dan bisa menjadi “istri setia”, mendampingi sang “suami” dalam membangun rumah tangga bangsa yang lebih kokoh menuju kehidupan demokratis yang sejahtera.
Sementara yang lain begitu berhasrat untuk berhubungan intim dengan kekuasaan lebih dilatar-belakangi oleh syahwat politik yang menggelora. Dengan kekuasaan di tangan, mereka membayangkan suatu kehidupan yang penuh dengan prestise, dihormati setiap orang, dan bergelimang dengan fasilitas. Kelompok yang terakhir ini tampaknya adalah mayoritas. Sedangkan yang pertama hanya bak sebutir pasir di pantai lautan yang sangat luas.
Pesona yang sangat memikat itu merupakan unsur yang sama sekali tidak dapat diabaikan yang membuat banyak kelompok umat Islam terkesan harus bertekuk lutut di hadapan kekuasaan. Bahkan kelompok yang pada masa-masa sebelumnya tampak bisa menahan diri, cukup elegan, atau paling banter “sekadar” berkencan dengan melakukan cubitan sayang dan sejenisnya dan tidak mudah dipergoki dengan mata telanjang orang lain tiba-tiba tidak mampu menahan godaan untuk ikut meminang si gadis cantik yang bernama kekuasaan.
Masyarakat kaget dan terperangah. Masyarakat tidak percaya jika kelompok-kelompok Muslim yang selama ini menjaga jarak dengan kekuasaan, dan mendaku sebagai salah satu anak terbaik dari civil society, memiliki wawasan luas, dianggap teguh pendirian dan mandiri bisa menjadi anak yang tampak nakal dan manja serta mulai suka bermain mata dengan kekuasaan. Kekuasaan telah membuat satu persatu masyarakat sipil kehilangan anak-anak terbaiknya, termasuk civil Islam.
Masyarakat sipil mungkin tidak menduga sama sekali akan kehilangan anak-anak kesayangannya. Ketika telah hidup bersama dengan kekuasaan, kelompok-kelompok civil Islam itu sulit diharapkan lagi bisa hidup serumah dengan civil society. Sebab mereka telah menjadi bagian dari negara yang pekarangan dan segala perangkatnya berbeda dengan pekarangan yang dihuni masyarakat sipil.
Dalam sebuah rumah tangga bangsa yang demokratis, dua pekarangan yang berbeda itu –istana kekuasaan negara dan rumah rakyat –seharusnya sama-sama berdiri secara kokoh. Hilang atau rapuhnya salah satu dua komponen itu akan mengakibatkan terganggunya eko-sistem politik yang dapat berdampak jauh pada terjadinya pemanasan iklim politik yang tidak kondusif.
Dengan demikian, kedua domain itu perlu diurus secara serius, intens, dan tidak asal-asalan oleh penghuninya masing-masing. “Istana negara” memang penuh dengan tarikan dan pesona yang cukup menggoda, dan terkadang cukup genit sehingga membuat terpikat penghuni yang diam di rumah rakyat. Tanpa “iman” yang kokoh, visi dan misi kerakyatan yang kuat, masyarakat sipil cenderung ramai-ramai ingin hidup di istana dan berkencan dengan kekuasaan.
Fenomena semacam itu yang sedang menggejala dalam kehidupan politik Indonesia. Terlepas dari motivasi yang melatar-belakangi atau tujuan yang ingin dicapai, passion politique yang sedang menggelora dalam hati anak-anak masyarakat sipil untuk bermain mata dengan kekuasaan, apalagi sampai pindah ke “istana kekuasaan negara” dipastikan akan membuat rumah rakyat kosong dan tidak terpelihara. Lamban namun pasti, pembiaran itu akan membuat lapuk dan goyah tiang-tiang yang menyangga masyarakat sipil, jika tidak ambruk. Hancurnya masyarakat sipil berarti hancurnya rumah tangga bangsa dalam arti yang sebenar-benarnya.
Karena itu, kita tidak bisa membiarkan rumah rakyat kosong melompong akibat anak-anaknya asyik berpacaran dengan kekuasaan, menikahinya dan pindah ke “istana negara”. Alasan apa pun yang ingin diangkat kelompok-kelompok umat Islam tidak akan pernah bernilai strategis untuk masa depan Islam, umatnya, civil society, dan masyarakat Indonesia secara keseluruhan. Ketergodaan civil Islam kepada kekuasaan akan membuat umat Islam hanya ber-asyik-masyuk dengan pemuasan semacam ambisi dan sejenisnya, serta berpeluang besar untuk lupa untuk mengurus rumahnya sendiri.
Kekuasaan laksana gadis centil yang sulit ditaklukkan. Niat kelompok Muslim bisa saja suci dalam rangka memberikan nilai-nilai Islam terhadap kekuasaan. Namun niat itu bisa saja tidak terlaksana. Si gadis cantik hanya mampu pakai jilbab, mau berpuasa, dan solat, tapi sikap dan perilakunya tetap suka menggoda dan main mata dengan siapa saja yang menemuinya. Bahkan kemungkinan besar, bukan gadis itu yang bertekuk lutut, tapi mereka yang tergoda bersimpuh di hadapan kekuasaan. Na`udzubillah©