Islamic edicts rattle
Indonesians By Kalinga
Seneviratne
JAKARTA - Ever since
Indonesia's highest Islamic authority, the
Indonesian Ulama Council (MUI), issued 11
fatwas or edicts against liberal Islam, a
fierce debate has begun raging in the world's most
populous Muslim nation on what constitutes an
Islamic society.
Though Indonesia is the
world's largest Muslim nation, in these once-Hindu
and Buddhist societies the practice of Islam is
colored by the liberalism of the older faiths.
Many urban middle-class Indonesians define their
liberal interpretation of Islam as "secular". But,
MUI's fatwas have thrown a direct challenge
to both the government and to liberal Muslims in
this country of 200
million people, of which 88%
follow the Islamic faith while 8% is Christian and
3% Hindu or Buddhist. The 11 edicts, issued in
late July, include one that states that Islamic
interpretations based on liberalism, secularism
and pluralism "contradict Islamic teachings".
Also banned are inter-faith prayers
performed with people of other religions and the
intonation of amen to prayers that are led
by a non-Muslim, a ritual deemed to be
haram (forbidden under Islamic law) as also
are interfaith marriages.
Analysts say
that MUI's stance is a reaction to the aggressive
proselytizing by foreign-funded Christian
evangelical sects in the country in recent years
and the onslaught of globalize Western culture
coming in through media channels and
non-governmental organizations (NGOs).
"Challenges for the Muslims do not come
from Christian evangelism only, but also others,
such as the proliferation of pornography,
gambling, the spread of religious liberalism,
pluralism and secularism," argues Mustofa Kamil
Ridwan, a researcher at the Islamic think-tank,
the Habibie Center in Jakarta.
In an Inter
Press Service interview, Ridwan said suspicions
were being created by the activities of some
Western-funded NGOs that were "using Islam as
their basis but with questionable implementation
that is contradictory to the true teachings of
Islam - and sometimes too radical".
One
such NGO is the Jaringan Islam Liberal (Liberal
Islamic Network) an organization that is located
within Institut Studi Arus Informasi (Center for
Studies on Information Flows) and plays an
important role in spreading ideas on democratic
reformation in Indonesia.
Like other NGOs,
funded by Western donors, this one, too, is in the
forefront of campaigns against attempts by the
government to enact laws to restrict the spread of
pornography, gambling and night clubs.
"Most progressive Muslim thinkers would
not be very happy to be portrayed as liberals,"
suggested Ade Armando, a member of the Association
of Indonesian Moslem Scholars.
"I think
the term reformist will be more appropriate to
refer to progressive groups that try to
reinterpret the Islamic teaching in a more
contextual approach, that unfortunately challenges
the traditional Islamic teachings by the
ulamas [clerics]," Armando said.
Ridwan explained that from the
"conservative point of view liberalism is really a
challenge" because of the fear "liberalism will
make their children and the Muslim community leave
Islamic values they uphold highly".
MUI
has asked non-Muslims not to be upset with the
July edicts as they are only aimed at Muslims, and
are not the law of the land.
But MUI is
gearing up to promote its edicts in regions where
people are more religious, conservative and
impoverished. It is these poor communities that
have become the target of Christian evangelical
groups for proselytizing and some ulamas
have reacted by including the MUI edicts in their
sermons.
Armando argues that it is wrong
to portray those who support the ulamas as
radicals who believe in using violence to achieve
their aims. "They believe it is their sacred duty
to create a new Indonesia as a respectable Islamic
country," he explained.
"Many [MUI] groups
are working in the institution-building level.
They introduce alternative models of schools -
modern Islamic schools which differ from the
madrassas - new Islamic banking system,
special novels for Islamic youth, and they also
publish magazines, new media - such as CD, CD-ROM,
VCD - that teaches Islamic values," Armando said.
Yet, Hasyim Muzadi, chairman of Nahdhatul
Ulama (NU), which has about 40 million members and
is considered the world's largest Muslim
organization, has warned the MUI that its edicts
may have a detrimental impact of the development
of a civil society in Indonesia.
Muzadi
has asked the ulamas to define precisely
what they mean by interfaith relations and
nationhood, as "we live in a diverse society and
this country is not an Islamic state".
Muslim scholar Ahmad Syafii Maarif, a
former chairman of Indonesia's second largest
Muslim organization, Muhammadiyah, also warned
that the edicts may encourage radical groups to
take the law into their own hands.
"Although fatwas are not binding,
radical groups who have a thirst for power will
make use of them for their own interests. It is as
if they have been given religious justification,''
he told the Jakarta Post.
But, Ridwan
argues that the "edict functions as a provision
for the ummah [Muslim community] to decide
what they would do" and the ummah itself
has the "the last say for themselves".
Thus, the MUI's fatwas play a very
important role in the ummah decision-making
process. "With the fatwa the ummah
feel they have strong hands and are more certain
of overcoming the challenges in the midst of very
uncertain situation and full of upheaval,'' he
told IPS.
Armando blamed the regimes of
former presidents Abdurrahman Wahid (a liberal
Islamic thinker) and Megawati Sukarnoputri (a
woman) for allowing reformists within the Muslim
community in Indonesia to gain in popularity.
"Very progressive books were being
published in these past several years and
progressive radio talk shows were launched. And in
these movements, the forbidden organizations
[during the Suharto era] dared to also openly
surface," he noted.
"These developments, I
believe, provoked reactions from the conservative
groups. And now, they see SBY [President
Yudoyuano] as a new president that they can
perceive of as an ally or godfather.
"They
[conservatives] also see these movements as being
provoked by the activities of [Christian]
evangelists."
