In the book Khitthah Nahdliyyah (2005, 62), KH Ahmad Siddiq states that moderate (al-tawassuth) must be juxtaposed with al-i\'tidal (being fair) and al-tawazun (balanced).
By
AHMAD NAJIB BURHANI
·5 minutes read
The headscarf case at state vocational school SMKN 2 Padang, West Sumatra, some time ago, indicates that there are still parts of our religious community that want to impose their religious beliefs on those who are different. Tragically, they even see such coercion as a religious virtue and not as a violation, either against religion or the constitution.
The cases related to freedom of religion and belief as mentioned above are a challenge in itself for the religious moderation program that the Religious Affairs Ministry continues to work on, in addition to issues of radicalism and terrorism. For the last two problems, of course we have a lot of hope for the professionalism of Densus 88 (National Police’s counterterrorism squad) and the National Counterterrorism Agency (BNPT). Meanwhile, with regard to religious culture, religious moderation requires continuous education and implantation of awareness in order to become a new habitus in society.
In the book Khitthah Nahdliyyah (2005, 62), KH Ahmad Siddiq states that moderate (al-tawassuth) must be juxtaposed with al-i\'tidal (being fair) and al-tawazun (balanced).
As written in the guidebook issued by the Religious Affairs Ministry, Religious Moderation (2019), the meaning of religious moderation is not "moderation of the religion", but rather moderating the understanding and practice of religious communities from extreme attitudes (tatharruf, excessive) (Page 48 and 132). In the book Khitthah Nahdliyyah (2005, 62), KH Ahmad Siddiq states that moderate (al-tawassuth) must be juxtaposed with al-i\'tidal (being fair) and al-tawazun (balanced).
Of course, religious moderation is not only related to attitudes toward those of different religions but also to those of the same religion, but of different sects. In a study on "Portrait of Religious Moderation among Muslim Students", the Center for the Study of Islam and Society (PPIM) of the Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University (UIN) Jakarta sees the religious attitudes of students at UIN Jakarta, UIN Bandung, and UIN Yogyakarta with three indicators: commitment to nationality, tolerance and non-violence.
According to the study released late last month, Feb. 25, 2021, their "internal empathy" is apparently worse than "external empathy." Their attitude towards fellow Muslims from different sects, such as Shia and Ahmadiyah, is more worrying than their attitude towards non-Muslims.
The attitude of being tatharruf is so obvious when there are political contestations, such as the 2019 Presidential Election and the 2017 Jakarta Regional Election. This has led to sharp polarization, especially on social media. Denying each other, branding others as infidels, and cosmic war narratives with religious arguments were scattered in this political celebration.
Like what was done by Ma Ba Tha, a Buddhist fundamentalist group in Myanmar, who brought religious extremism to politics, the hatred against different religions that started in 2013 in that country has not been easy to stop, even today (Kyaw 2019).
Like a democratic culture, religious moderation needs to be nurtured so that it can flourish. In the past, this attitude was a mission that Abdurrahman Wahid (Gus Dur) and Nurcholish Madjid consistently spread, both through the interpretation of religious texts and through role models in their daily lives. This has also been done by Nahdlatul Ulama and Muhammadiyah, which are the two wings of Islamic moderatism in Indonesia.
Special for Muhammadiyah, "Moderate Religiousness" is the first recommendation (related to Issues on Religious Followers) from the 47th Muhammadiyah Congress in Makassar, South Sulawesi, in 2015. It is mentioned in the recommendation, "Among Muslims there are groups who like to judge, instill hatred, and commit acts of violence against other groups with accusations of being heretical, infidel, and liberal. The tendency of takfiri contradicts the character of Islam which emphasizes compassion, politeness, tawassuth, and tolerance” [Tanfidz (Executive Board) Decision of the 47th Muhammadiyah Congress, 2015, 112].Apart from the internal problems of the Muslim community, the congress also produced important decisions in response to the wishes of a group of people who continuously push for the establishment of the caliphate, reject democracy, and propose the return of the Jakarta Charter. The decision titled "The Pancasila State as Dar al-Ahdy wa al-Syahadah" (The Pancasila State as the House of Agreement and Testimony) is an effort to break the utopia of the Islamic state and the caliphate.
The congress decision is a response to accusations like this.
While Christians or Catholics are sometimes accused of being separatists or foreign minions, as in the cases of Papua, Maluku and Timor Leste, Muslims are sometimes accused of being terrorists, less nationalist, and less patriotic. The congress decision is a response to accusations like this.
Why was such an important decision formulated and “just born” in 2015? Was it not there before? Nationalism and patriotism are dynamic. With various new challenges, giving the meaning to the two is not always the same as in 1945.
Since the 2000s, religious revival in Indonesia has led to what Martin van Bruinessen (2013) calls a conservative turn with the birth of, for example, regional bylaws based on certain religions and discrimination against religious minorities.
After the conservative turn, this is followed by a wave called illiberal democracy. This, for example, is marked by the spread of the ideas of NKRI Bersyariah (Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia with Sharia), Wasathiyyah (Moderation) Democracy, and Pancasila Bertauhid (Pancasila with the Oneness of God). This is among other things why such concepts and decisions were born again in 2015, as an effort to moderate the way we exercise our religions.
Of course, acceptance of Pancasila and NKRI has occurred since this republic was founded. However, throughout history there have always been attempts to get out of mutual agreement (\'ahd) and the tendency to be tatharruf (excessive) in religion.
That is why the commitment to nationalism and Indonesianness, as well as religious moderatism, need to be continuously refreshed and become a habitus in every generation.
AHMAD NAJIB BURHANI, Research Professor at the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI)