Demands for peace abound at Idul Fitri

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Religious and community leaders took the opportunity of Idul Fitri to call for peace as violence marred the Muslim holiday in some parts of the country.

All agreed that peace was what the nation had been longing for following a series of violent outrages in the country over the past few years.

In his sermon before thousands of Muslims packing the Gasibu field in Bandung for the Ied prayer on Friday, noted young preacher Abdullah Gymnastiar maintained that as religious people, Indonesian Muslims were obliged to promote peace.

"If peace does not materialize, we are doomed to waste our lives, lives that are given to us only once," Gymnastiar, better known as Aa Gym, told the participants, who included West Java governor Nuriana, provincial legislature speaker Eka Santosa and Bandung mayor Aa Tarmana.

Gymnastiar recounted his experiences during recent trips to the conflict-torn town of Poso in Central Sulawesi and areas in Aceh, places where fear and tension were felt by the people every day.

"Let alone practicing their religious obligations, the people are not even able to conduct their daily activities," Gymnastiar, who runs the Darrut Tauhid modern Islamic boarding school in Bandung, said as quoted by Antara.

Known for his words of peace, Gymnastiar is a member of a group of cross-religious leaders involved in promoting peace in conflict-stricken areas. Having met with U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell and having held talks with U.S. Ambassador to Indonesia Ralph Boyce, Gymnastiar is now ranked as one of the most influential Muslim leaders in Indonesia.

This year's Idul Fitri came against the backdrop of the terrorist attacks that killed over 190 people in Bali on Oct. 12, and a blast on the eve of the holiday that claimed three lives in Makassar.

These acts of mindless violence capped a prolonged period of bloodshed across the archipelago that has left thousands of people dead over the past four years.

Noted scholar Azyumardi Azra asserted that Muslims were required to prove that Islam was a religion that taught peace through the way they behaved.

Azyumardi, who is the rector of the Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University, maintained that Muslims could not claim to monopolize the truth or force others to accept what they perceived to be the truth.

Speaking before hundreds of listeners, including Jakarta governor Sutiyoso, in the grounds of Jakarta City Hall, Azyumardi said that peace between people, and between people and their communities, was a prerequisite for the development of other areas of life.

He recalled that the Prophet Mohammed had brokered peace between conflicting groups in Yatsgrip before he renamed it Medina.

History recorded that the Saudi Arabian town was inhabited by people of different ethnic groups, races and religions. The prophet introduced a charter aimed at maintaining peace between the different communities.

"We expect that peace-making missions today are in line with the morals of ritual, tradition and the symbolism of Idul Fitri," Azyumardi told the congregation attending the Ied prayer.

Azyumardi said that the Prophet Mohammed had taught Muslims how to pursue peace and to treat people of different beliefs or those involved in conflicts with wisdom and affection.

"This is in line with the nature of man, who, according to (Muslim philosopher) Ibnu Sina, is a creature who likes being treated in a tender, persuasive and peaceful manner rather than through toughness and violence," he said.

Earlier on Thursday, in a televised speech on the eve of Idul Fitri, Minister of Religious Affairs Said Agil Husin al Munawar said the holiday should mark an occasion for psychological renewal among Muslims after the month-long fast.

Idul Fitri, the minister said, should invigorate social empathy, which he said had been absent in some parts of society making the people concerned prone to outbursts.

"Whereas social empathy, which is part of Islamic teaching, is the willingness to help others," Said Agil said.

He called on Indonesian Muslims to make Idul Fitri a time to look back and make amends for past mistakes.

"It's useless to adhere to religious rituals if we remain arrogant and indifferent to the sufferings of others," the minister said.

Bali deputy governor I Gusti Bagus Alit Putra congratulated Muslims on Idul Fitri and expressed the hope that the holiday would inspire a common effort to promote mutual respect among different religious groups.

"Let's create an atmosphere of peace, security and harmony in order to restore the image of Bali," Alit Putra said in a speech broadcast by state television and radio from the Bali capital of Denpasar.

He considered the Bali bombing a tragedy for the people of the island and Indonesia. Therefore, a united, national approach was needed to help the tourist island emerge from the ashes.

In Maumere, Bishop Abdon Longinus da Cunha of Ende diocese said he hoped the Muslim community would continue playing a role as pioneers of peace after Idul Fitri.

He hailed the Muslim minorities in the predominantly Catholic towns of Ende, Ngada and Sikka as communities that always maintained religious harmony and tolerance.