Jihad call based on emotion: NU leader<\/p>\n
YOGYAKARTA (JP): The way some Muslim groups have expressed
\ntheir opposition to President Abdurrahman Wahid's views on the
\nconflict in Maluku has raised questions about their ability to
\ndefend the interests of Islam, a Nahdlatul Ulama official said.<\/p>\n
Said Aqiel Siradj, deputy chief of NU's Syariah lawmaking
\nbody, said the call for jihad by the groups was based more on
\nemotion than the desire to forge a strong nation and defend
\nIslam.<\/p>\n
\"They only create terror and do nothing meaningful in terms of
\ndeveloping Islam,\" Said said after addressing thousands of NU
\nmembers attending a Koran recital in Yogyakarta over the weekend.<\/p>\n
He said NU would deal with hard-line Muslim groups with
\npatience and would always attempt to avoid physical conflict.<\/p>\n
\"Insya Allah (God willing), we will be able to deal with the
\nexistence (of these groups),\" he said.<\/p>\n
Jihad has been misunderstood and misinterpreted by the radical
\ngroups, he said. Said cited as an example the fact that many
\nMuslims considered Indonesia's struggle against Dutch colonialism
\na war against Christians.<\/p>\n
Jihad is meant to generate goodness and peace in life, not the
\nother way around, he said.<\/p>\n
\"One form of jihad is providing aid for needy people, both
\nMuslims and non-Muslims,\" Said commented.<\/p>\n
Separately, the Islamic Forum of Ahlus Sunnah Wal Jamaah said
\nhere it could no longer respect and follow orders from
\nAbdurrahman.<\/p>\n
\"Abdurrahman is more concerned with international pressure
\nthan rescuing his own people in Maluku. He keeps saying (the
\nviolence in Maluku) is over, but in fact the war is still going
\non,\" the group's leader, Abdul Fatah, said over the weekend.<\/p>\n
\"What we are witnessing now is an Umaro (leader of the nation)
\nwho cannot be trusted,\" Abdul said, adding that his group would
\nturn to war as a last resort.<\/p>\n
The group said it was ready to send some 400 volunteer
\nfighters from Yogyakarta to Maluku, adding that the volunteers
\nhad been trained at Ihya'us Sunnah Islamic boarding school on Jl.
\nKaliurang, some 15 kilometers north of Yogyakarta.<\/p>\n
Sociologist Nasikun of Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta
\nsaid Abdurrahman's desire to accommodate different religious,
\nsocial and cultural groupings had angered certain Muslims groups.<\/p>\n
\"Gus Dur even picked Bondan Gunawan, a man who doesn't have a
\ntrack record with the Islamic movement in Indonesia, as his
\nacting Cabinet Secretary. However, I don't think people will
\nsupport radical movements like Ahlus Sunnah Wal Jamaah,\" Nasikun
\nsaid, referring to the President by his nickname.<\/p>\n
Thousands of Muslims have called for a holy war against the
\ncountry's Christian minority, who they accuse of killing Muslims
\nin Maluku.<\/p>\n
Leaders of several Islamic parties grouped in the loose
\naffiliation known as the axis force have also led protests
\nagainst Abdurrahman's proposal to lift the ban on communism.<\/p>\n
President Abdurrahman, a moderate Muslim scholar who formerly
\nled Nahdlatul Ulama, the country's largest Muslim organization,
\nhas said the ban ran counter to the spirit of democracy.<\/p>\n
Several human rights activists favor lifting the ban, but
\nAbdurrahman's National Awakening Party (PKB) is the only
\npolitical party which has come out in favor of the proposal.
\n(44\/swa\/edt)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/jihad-call-based-on-emotion-nu-leader-1447893297",
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