'Militants should fight jihad in war zones'

'Militants should fight jihad in war zones'

Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) deputy chairman Ma'ruf Amin is
in charge of issuing fatwa, or Islamic edicts. He is also the
chairman of a group of Muslim leaders recently set up to campaign
against terrorism. In a conversation with The Jakarta Post's
Tiarma Siboro he shared his views about the campaign. Below are
the key points of their conversation.

Question: What will be your first priority in the antiterror
campaign?

First, I will pick members that will form a working group, who
will assist me in the campaign against radicalism and terrorism.
Actually, the MUI issued a decree in 2003 on terrorism and
principles of suicide. In the decree, our view is clear that acts
of terror and suicide are forbidden for Muslims. Islam cannot
accept terrorism because there is not a jihad here, and those who
commit suicide attacks will not be seen as martyrs.

And this is our main duty: to clarify the false perceptions
about jihad and martyrdom and suicide, as some people have spread
deviant teachings about these principles. The radical groups have
even used the false principles as their doctrines to carry out
acts of terror towards others. In the latest attacks, we have
even seen a tendency toward suicide bombings, which is forbidden
by Islam.

Can you elaborate?

I call it the false principles because they (the militant
Islamists) see Indonesia as "a battle field". This country
actually is a peace zone. Further, we have begun to take a close
look at books, which we deem contribute to the spread of false
Islamic teachings, one of which has been written by convicted
terrorist Imam Samudra. The reviews are aimed at countering the
false perception about being a good Muslim, and we will let the
public have more options to discuss.

Do you have any plan to go directly to some of the pesantren
(Islamic boarding schools), because many of them have been
accused of promoting radicalism?

Visits to the pesantren will also be part of the program that
we are planning now, especially as we try to prevent the
pesantren from being infiltrated by "other parties", who may come
up with a certain mission. In general, the mainstream Islamic
boarding schools in Indonesia are not extreme nor radical. Many
of them were established decades ago and have never had problems
with the propagation of peaceful teachings. And my team will try
to find out whether some pesantren have been infiltrated by
"strangers", or, perhaps, there are just few insiders who believe
in radicalism.

What do you mean by 'being infiltrated'?

We need to know why such radicalism can be so readily accepted
by some pesantren here in Indonesia. If the reason is the global
injustices, then they cannot partake in radicalism here in
Indonesia, because this country is a peace zone. If the reason is
anger over the U.S. and its allies' foreign policies in the
Middle East issues, then the extremists are also not allowed to
attack the Western interests here in Indonesia because this
country is not a war zone.

If the hard-liners feel angry when they hear of their Muslim
brothers and sisters being suppressed in -- for example,
Afghanistan or Iraq -- then they can go to those countries and
engage in the jihad there in a show of solidarity among Muslims.
But not here in Indonesia.

And once again, Islam does not recognize these acts of terror
(in this country over the last several years) because each one
has victimized women, children and other innocent people. But I
must stress that we, the clerics at MUI, are not going to deal
with security, political or intelligence approaches. We will just
focus on improving the way of thinking as it pertains to being a
good Muslim. Our main goal is merely to counter the false
teachings about jihad, martyrdom and suicide.

Why has it taken so long for the ulemas to realize that some
people were taking advantage of people here by spreading the
"false teachings" about Islam?

We thought the 2003 decree on terrorism and radicalism had
given guidance for the Muslim people. And we also let security
authorities to deal with the issues. But after some VCDs and
books on terrorism were made public, we just realized that we
must be proactive in taking a role to counter it because
terrorism and radicalism are forbidden in Islam.

Do you see that the U.S. and its allies have suppressed the
development of Islam in Indonesia?

As of today, I have not seen that the U.S. and its allies'
policies have suppressed the development of Islam in Indonesia.
Muslims here have never been suppressed by certain interests of
Western countries. Therefore, we do not need martyrs here to
fight against the Westerners. We must know that jihad can be
carried out in two ways: launching war or pursuing a peaceful way
through propagation.

Of course, foreign countries are competing for influence in
Indonesia, but I do not think that Muslims here are being
suppressed by that competition, certainly not to an extent that
would make them fail to pursue a peaceful way in spreading the
Islamic tenets and fighting for their rights, either in economic
or in social fields. And, of course, eradicating poverty should
be the government's top priority, because the situation with so
many people living in poverty is also a breeding ground for
radicalism.

As deputy chairman of the MUI, you recently contributed to the
fatwa than ban pluralism, secularism and liberal Islam. Many
commentators believe such edicts encourage radicalism and
fanaticism among Muslims. What is your comment?

Ever since Indonesia declared its independence in 1945 and
adopted the five principles of Pancasila, we, the Indonesian
Muslims, have realized that this country is enriched by its
differences in this big country. It is not extraordinary if one
or two groups cannot accept differences in others, but the MUI
does not oppose pluralism.

We issued the fatwa after having learned that some people have
developed a different perception about pluralism. These people
have even created pluralistic theologies, which view all
religions as one. Such theology is aimed at preventing sectarian
conflicts, but, instead, it has created new problems in the
relationship between followers of all religions here in
Indonesia.

MUI also opposes liberal Islam because it teaches Muslims to
reinterpret, or even to read the Koran in the context of our
modern world, on grounds that the holy book is just (an ancient
Middle East) cultural product. MUI also opposes secularism,
because it sees Islam merely as "an obligation during worship
times", and thus takes it out of people's day-to-day
relationships.