Indonesia's moderate muslims<\/p>\n
Mun'im A. Sirry, Project Syndicate<\/p>\n
Islam in Indonesia, whose 200 million people constitute the
\nworld's largest community of Muslims, is increasingly viewed as
\nvery different from the Islam practiced in the older Muslim
\ncommunities of the Middle East. Indeed, one distinguished
\nscholar, Bassam Tibi of Gottingen University, has described
\nIndonesia as \"a model for religiously and ethno-culturally
\ndifferent communities to live together in peace and mutual
\nrespect.\"<\/p>\n
Some historians argue that Indonesia's moderate form of Islam
\nreflects the way in which foreign traders introduced it, as early
\nas the fourteenth century. Then, the coastal culture already
\nincorporated egalitarianism, dynamism, and inter-dependence,
\nwhich affected the ideology and practice of Islam. In addition,
\nIndonesian Islam had strong Sufi influences, which emphasize the
\nspiritual rather than the legal elements of the faith.<\/p>\n
Similarly, Giora Eliraz of Hebrew University argues that the
\nIslamic ideas that arrived in Indonesia from the Middle East
\nchanged, becoming more inclusive and pluralist in character,
\nowing to the influence of the great nineteenth-century Egyptian
\nreformer Muhammad Abduh. In Egypt, Abduh's progressive ideas
\ngained support from only a tiny group of reformers. In Indonesia,
\nhowever, Abduh's vision of Islamic modernity sparked the creation
\nof the country's largest modernist Muslim organization,
\nMuhammadiyah, which represents mainstream moderate Islam in
\nIndonesia.<\/p>\n
This history of moderation continued unabated through the
\ntwentieth century, embraced by both traditionalists and
\nmodernists. The traditionalist organization Nahdlatul Ulama
\n(NU), for example, had issued a fatwa (religious decree) in the
\n1930s declaring Dutch colonial rule to be legitimate. The early
\nleaders of Muhammadiyah focused more on the spiritual improvement
\nof individual Muslims, rather than public enforcement of Islamic
\nlaw.<\/p>\n
Most importantly, this orientation toward moderation has
\nconsistently drawn support from Indonesias leading intellectuals.
\nA remarkably creative and dedicated group of young religious and
\nsocial thinkers and activists chose in the 1960s and 1970s --
\nduring the early days of Soeharto's secular New Order regime --
\nto reject the idea of an Islamic state.<\/p>\n
At the height of the New Order's political repression of Islam
\nduring the late 1970s and early 1980s, a new pattern of thinking
\nemerged among younger intellectuals. Their \"reform movement\"
\n(gerakan pembaruan), is perhaps best summed up in Nurcholish
\nMadjid's 1972s dictum: \"Islam yes, Islamic party no.\" This new
\ngeneration successfully took the idea of an Islamic state off the
\npolitical agenda.<\/p>\n
By the late 1980s, Soeharto's own stance towards Islam was
\nchanging. Government concessions to religious sentiment included
\nthe promulgation of Islamic family law in 1989, the establishment
\nof the Indonesian Muslim Intellectual Association in 1990,
\nlifting the ban on schoolgirls' wearing the jilbab (head cover)
\nin 1991, the founding of an Islamic bank (Bank Muamalat) in 1992,
\nand abolition of the state lottery. These measures persuaded
\nIndonesia's Muslims that they could live in accord with Islamic
\nteaching without Indonesia becoming an Islamic state.<\/p>\n
The state established a wide network of educational
\ninstitutions that support this moderate tendency. There are now
\n27 branches of the State Islamic University, which integrate
\nIslamic and general studies for undergraduate and graduate
\nstudents.<\/p>\n
Indonesian students and scholars actively seek to engage new
\nways of understanding Islam and exploring its relevance for
\nIndonesia. For the past two decades, increasing numbers of
\nIndonesian students have been drawn to study in the West. As a
\nresult, they have come to see Islam as a dynamic process of
\nunderstanding the world, rather than a static faith that cannot
\nchange. Those who studied in the West appear well equipped to
\npresent an \"Islam\" more adaptable and amenable to social change.<\/p>\n
Indeed, many Western-educated students now occupy the highest
\nacademic and political positions in Indonesia. They work actively
\nto develop a different image of Islam -- an Islam compatible with
\nmodern human achievements, including democracy, human rights, and
\nvibrant civil societies.<\/p>\n
It is neither exaggeration nor overly optimistic to say that
\nIndonesia's experience could pave the way for the emergence of
\nwhat might be called a \"moderate Islamic network,\" one that
\nforges strong links with the West.<\/p>\n
The writer is an Indonesian Muslim scholar and the author of
\nseveral books, including Resisting Religious Militancy.<\/p>",
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