Ahmad Wahib Award

Ahmad Wahib Award
A Memorabillia for Muslim Intellectual

Fifi Yulianti
The Jakarta Post
Jakarta

His eye-opening idea on moderate Islam as an open, releasing and
unbinding faith probably won the hearts of many Muslim
intellectuals during his time. His insight has made him part of
the Muslim intellectual circle in Indonesia.

Although not so well known among Indonesians, the name Ahmad
Wahib is influential and respectable in the history of Islam
development in this country.

To mark the 30th anniversary of Ahmad Wahib's death, the
Muslim Students Association (HMI) and the Freedom Institute and
the Economic Social and Education Research Institute (LP3ES)
jointly held an essay competition called the Ahmad Wahib Award,
the winner of which would receive a cash prize of Rp 30 million
(US$3534).

Zezen, an executive committee member, explained the reason
behind naming the award after Ahmad Wahib.

"Ahmad is a man who gave new meaning to Islam and on being a
Muslim here. Although he's not so famous and not many young
people know of him, his ideas have provided new meaning to Muslim
thinking," Zezen said.

Born to a staunch Madurese Muslim family in the small town of
Sampang in 1942, Ahmad Wahib was fortunate to have been enrolled
at Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta, where he could sharpen
his young intellectual's mind.

During his studies, Ahmad Wahib was involved in HMI, but he
was not a typical conservative Muslim activist. Among his peers,
he was known for his rebellious ideas. Young Ahmad Wahib was
hungry for the truth. He was dedicated in his efforts in seeking
and trying to formulate new ideas to develop Indonesian Islam.

Ahmad Wahib later became known among a larger circle of
intellectuals after his diary was published posthumously as
Pergolakan Pemikiran Islam (The Dynamics of Islamic Thoughts) by
LP3ES in 1981.

Wahib is described in the book as a Muslim activist who
struggled with a discourse on modern Islam in the Indonesian
context.

He believed that every Muslim should contextually understand
the Koran, saying, "We will understand the meaning if we know the
context," and that one of the biggest problems in Islam was that
its meaning was misunderstood.

One of his main ideas is that a religion is a freedom that
every human being is entitled to.

"Religion is not an obligation ... it is a human right," he
wrote.

He also said that "God is rational, so people can't find God
with an irrational mind."

The winner of the award, the first of its kind, was announced
on Wednesday during the association's 56th anniversary
celebration at Wisma Antara in Central Jakarta.

A young, talented writer, Muhammad Ja'far, won the award with
his essay Surat Buat Tuan Wahib (A letter for Mr. Wahib), which
explored the deeper meaning of Ahmad's ideas on Islam.

Noted scholars Dawam Rahardjo, Moeslim Abdurrahman, Budhy
Munawar Rachman and Hamid Basyaib sat on the competition's jury.
They selected Ja'far's essay, written as a letter addressed to
Ahmad Wahib, as the winning composition as it did not only
explore, but also critically questioned, Ahmad Wahib's thoughts.