Islam navigates 2 currents in RI

Islam navigates 2 currents in RI

By Muhammad A.S. Hikam

This article is based on a paper presented at a conference on
Indonesia in New Orleans, United States on March 13, 1995.

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana, U.S.: The present and future
development of Islam in Indonesia has been shaped by three
interrelated elements. First is the global trends of Islamic
movements. Second is the particularity of historical background
of Islam in Indonesia. And third, the one which I think most
crucial, is the approaches through which the Moslem community in
general, and its leaders in particular, respond to the problems
brought about by challenges in Indonesian society. The failure to
take into account these elements in our analysis will result in,
at the least, one-sided views of Islam in Indonesia and be
incapable of coming to grips with its complexities.

The global trend of Islamic movements affects directly and
indirectly the Indonesian ummah (the community of believers). In
recent years, thanks primarily to modern communication
technologies, in the forms of mass-media exposure, global
information networking and modern transportation systems, the
events of Islamic resurgence in other parts of the Islamic world
can be followed almost instantaneously. Yet, while it is true
that Indonesian Moslems share with their fellow Moslems' feelings
around the world, it would be misleading to picture the
development of Islam in Indonesia solely in light of the current
global trend.

The distinct historical background of the Islamization
processes and the characteristics of Indonesian society make any
sweeping generalization untenable. The distinct patterns and
various sources of Islamization in the archipelago, since the
14th century, have been responsible for the accommodative and
receptive character of Islam in Indonesia. Also, the
heterogeneous nature of Indonesian people necessitates various
interpretations in the doctrines and practices.

Finally, Indonesians are also the recipients of many
traditions and influences originating from different
civilizations prior to, and during, the process of Islamization.
Such cultural traditions as indigenous traditions, Hinduism,
Buddhism, Confucianism and later Christianity have coexisted with
the Islamic tradition. As a consequence, even though Islam is the
religion of a majority of the Indonesian population, it has
sociological and historical characteristics which in many ways
differ from those of Middle Eastern, African and other Asian
countries.

It is no surprise that many strands of Islam emerge as a
result of doctrinal reflections responding to the existing
social, economic and political changes. Religious reform
movements in the early 20th century, for example, have resulted
in the emergence of the spirit of puritan Islam as a critique of
the traditionalist practices. Anti-colonialism and the struggle
for independence made Islam as one of the major forces in
society, which shape ideological and political developments in
Indonesia.

The current phenomenon of Islamic resurgence in Indonesia can
be seen as a dynamic response to the challenge of modernization.
As a process which rapidly transforms the existing order of
things, it has resulted in mixed feelings and insecurity among
the Islamic leaders. On the one hand, modernization has brought
about unprecedented outcomes, which make it possible for the
ummah to escape from backwardness and enables Moslems to better
perform religious obligations. On the other hand, the threat of
secularism, as one of the by-products of modernity, is seen by
many leaders as a threat to religious values and traditions.

Different approaches have been taken by Islamic leaders to
respond to such a challenge. Three major trends can be found in
this respect: legalistic, cultural, and social transformative
ones. The legalistic approach aims at revamping the existing
order in society, under the blue-print of Islamic legal, ritual
and formalistic precepts. Islamic doctrines and laws become the
sole arbiter and the standard of references in all practices and
affairs in society. Neo-orthodox Moslems have opted for such an
approach with varying intensity, ranging from gradualist,
persuasive to radical ones.

The cultural approach is aimed at distilling methods from
Islamic teachings, which are capable of integrating the non-
religious sphere (secularistic part) into a new totality, of
Islamic framework, of development. This is similar to what Gilles
Kepel (The Revenge of God, 1994) calls the idea of Islamization
of modernity. The efforts to develop such parallel institutions
under Islamic teachings (banking, scientific enterprises, etc.)
are contemplated by the advocates of such an approach.

The transformative approach aims to seek solutions to the
problems of modernity by avoiding exclusive attitudes both toward
neo-orthodoxy and non-Islamic aspiration. It advocates
accommodationist attitudes and introduces disturbing questions
addressed to the central doctrines of orthodoxy. Therefore, the
advocates of this strategy reject legal formalistic and
interpretations of the doctrines, including literal adherence to
Quranic prescriptions and Prophetic traditions, without
reformulating the fundamentals of religious beliefs, so as to
guarantee that those beliefs take into account the empirical
dimensions of life.

It is the third approach which needs our attention. Such
leading Moslem intellectuals as Abdurrahman Wahid, Djohan
Effendi, Moeslim Abdurrahman, Masdar F. Mas'udi and others have
pursued this strategy, advocating non-confrontational
understanding of Islam and modernity, seeking for open dialogs
with other groups, aimed at reaching mutual understanding of
problems faced by society in general, and encouraging the ummah
to work together with others in resolving such pressing questions
as massive poverty, abuses of human rights, the stagnation of
democratization and others.

Thus, amid the current trend of Islamic resurgence in the
Islamic world, which commonly takes radical, legal formalistic
forms, the development of Islam in Indonesia shows a different
experiment. It attempts to navigate through the two streams,
modernity and traditionalist and neo-orthodoxy, offering more
adequate approaches that are more beneficial for Indonesian
society in general. Some of the manifestations may be found in
the attempts to establish forums for dialogs, such as Interfaith
Dialogs, Religious Forum for Human Rights and activities from
young intellectuals, to question the traditionally regarded
sensitive issues such as whether or not secularization is a
detriment for religious life.

Obviously the experiment is bound to face resistance, coming
from both inside and outside the Moslem communities. The
repercussions of such a transformative approach are tremendous at
theoretical and practical levels. It questions the viability of
the use of religion as a political ideology and the conventional
claim that Islamic values can only be fully implemented through
power and formal legislations. The idea of putting Islamic values
as a complementary and not as the single source in the making of
modern Indonesian nation will face a tremendous opposition from
the neo-orthodox proponents.

At the political realm, the experiment will also run counter
to ongoing efforts by some members of the Indonesian ruling elite
to mobilize Islamic force to back-up their struggles for power.
Both co-optation and repression can be expected to happen among
those proponents of this transformative approach.

Yet there are some reasons to be optimistic that the
experiment can be carried out in the long run. There is
organizational and mass-based support for such an endeavor. The
Nahdlatul Ulama and Muhammadiyah, for instance, are the two
largest Islamic organizations, whose rural and urban bases can
become a fertile ground for the implementation of the
transformative strategy. In addition, there are figures such as
Abdurrahman Wahid who represent the kind of religious leader and
intellectual, whose ideas transcend the boundaries of
particularism and therefore capture the imagination of all layers
of society. And last but not least, the transformative approach
has its social and historical foundations in Indonesian society,
which rejects any radicalism and support accommodative attitudes
and gradualism.

The writer is a research staff at the Indonesian Institute of
Sciences.