Islam should preach peace, President Soeharto says

Islam should preach peace, President Soeharto says

JAKARTA (JP): Force and violence are not characteristics of Islam and those spreading the religion should clarify this, President Soeharto said yesterday.

Soeharto told 200 Moslem leaders from 22 nations that preachers of Islam should present the peaceful face of the religion to the world.

He was speaking while officially opening the ninth meeting of the proselytizing committee of the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) at the State Palace yesterday.

"Indeed, in carrying out dakwah (proselytizing) we have to show the true face of Islam, which is filled with peace," he said. He added that the religion mandates that it be spread "with kindness and a smile".

"The dakwah approach must indeed be polite, gentle, compassionate and wise," he said. "This is the kind of proselytizing that attracts the mind and heart of an individual.

"We must avoid showing a face of Islam which is without mercy, because Allah taught to us that preaching like that will cause people to deviate from the truth of Islam," he said.

Close to 90 percent of Indonesia's population of more than 194 million people are followers of Islam, with the other major religions -- Roman Catholicism, Protestantism, Hinduism and Buddhism -- all recognized and accorded equal positions by the state ideology, Pancasila.

On hand during the opening ceremony yesterday were Secretary- General of the OIC, Hamid Algabid, Indonesian Minister of Religious Affairs Tarmizi Taher, and the meeting's host, Dr. Anwar Harjono of the Indonesian Council of Islamic Propagation.

The two-day meeting is discussing strategies for the propagation of Islam over the next five years, ways to improve cooperation among proselytizing institutions, and ways to accelerate the campaign to correct the image of Islam, especially in the West, where it is often associated with extremism and terrorism.

Addressing the issue of poverty in many Moslem societies is also seen as a very pressing agenda item for the meeting. In his speech, President Soeharto briefly touched on how proselytizing should never be separated from efforts to improve the people's welfare.

"I believe that for this purpose, Islamic dakwah must be directed towards making the ummah (people) aware of the danger of poverty, cultivating social solidarity ... promoting the working ethics of the ummah," he said.

He said proselytizing should also strive to develop "the appreciation of the people towards science and technology ... as well as making the most efficient use of funds collected through alms."

The need for proselytizers to contribute towards welfare improvement efforts was also stressed by Tarmizi and Algabid.

"The success of our dakwah in the future not only exists in the sophistication of preaching, but also in the comprehensiveness of our efforts to deal with the economic problems and the welfare of the ummah," Tarmizi said.

"The faster the improvement of the people's economic situation, the greater the degree of the success of our proselytizing," he said. "Conversely, the failure to improve the welfare of the people means the failure of the proselytizing," he said.

He said the success of Islamic proselytizing is characterized by several factors, including the high degree of economic welfare and justice felt by the public.

Algabid used the occasion to express the organization's concern over the conditions faced by Moslems all over the globe. "The organization ... is maintaining efforts to establish peace in Afghanistan, Somalia and Kashmir and to promote a constructive dialog leading to a peaceful settlement of these problems," Algabid said.

He also expressed concern over the fate of Bosnian Moslems entrapped in the ravaging war with the Serb aggressors. "The Moslems ... have been suffering for more than three years from the atrocities of a devastating war," he said. "The inability of the international community to halt the atrocities committed against the Moslem people is a cause of deep grief."

The meeting yesterday proceeded with presentations by Indonesian scholar Amien Rais and Malaysian scholar Dr. Mohd. Kamal Hassan, who explained at length the characteristics of Moslem societies in South Asia and the need for a specialized approach in proselytizing.

Today, the meeting will discuss the need to foster joint activities and exchanges of expertise, as well as the religious aspects of the controversial world conference on population, held in Cairo, Egypt, last September. (swe)