Muhammadiyah's move wins scholars' support

Muhammadiyah's move wins scholars' support

Yogita Tahilramani and Tertiani Simanjuntak, The Jakarta Post,
Jakarta

Noted scholars hailed on Monday a historic move by Muhammadiyah,
one of the country's largest Muslim organizations, to introduce
what it terms "cultural propagation", saying it would help
Indonesia show the true teachings of Islam in the wake of last
year's terrorist attacks on the United States.

Azyumardi Azra of the Institute for Islamic Studies (IAIN)
said that whether it was the attacks on the U.S. or deadly
conflicts in Poso, Ambon or Aceh, Indonesians needed to
understand that "violence, like terrorism, is condemned by the
Koran," as stated in a Koranic verse, the Al-Maidah 32.

This verse states that whoever kills a person without another
person having been killed, or creates disturbances on earth, is
guilty of killing the whole human race, while anyone who saves a
life rescues the whole human race.

The dissemination of true Islamic teachings in a form that
reaches all Indonesian people was one of several key decisions to
emerge from Muhammadiyah's four-day annual meeting which ended on
Sunday in Denpasar, Bali.

Cultural propagation has been defined as the dissemination of
Islamic teachings wisely and modestly in a sophisticated, nuanced
form.

Speaking on how to stop bloody ethnic and religious conflicts
around the country, Azyumardi said that one way Muslims could
learn about strengthening ties between themselves and non-Muslims
was to emulate the Prophet Muhammad.

"The Prophet Muhammad himself, before he became a prophet, was
exemplary in the way he dealt with Jews and Christians. There is
no place for rioting or lawlessness in Islam," Azyumardi said.

"The Prophet Muhammad had good trade relations with Jews and
Christians. See what we have done to the country now ... with
conflicts in Poso, Ambon and Aceh."

Thousands have been killed in fighting between Muslims and
Christians around Poso in Central Sulawesi and in Maluku over the
past few years.

To understand the advantages of cooperation between Muslims
and non-Muslims, Azyumardi added, one only had to compare the
peace pacts of the Prophet Muhammad with Jews and Christians,
which were strictly observed, and what has been happening in our
time.

Both Muhammadiyah and the country's largest Muslim
organization, Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), which claim memberships of 30
million and 40 million respectively, will meet, together or
separately, with influential community and religious leaders to
map out a vision for the future.

The second step will be to open communications with radical
groups in Indonesia, which many consider to be showing the
"brutal and heartless" face of Islam to the world at large.

Muhammadiyah executive Abdul Malik Fajar argued that the need
to revive the "culture-based propagation" approach was aimed at
maintaining the social ties at the grassroots level which have
been the organization's strength since its establishment in 1912.

Malik, who is also the minister of national education, said
that during the latest reevaluation and revitalization of
Muhammadiyah following this year's annual meeting, the
organization -- which is widely known as a perserikatan (union)
-- had concluded that social ties among grassroots communities
had been badly strained.

"This situation has been caused by political disputes between
certain groups of people. We fear that should these conditions
persist, with tension increasing and religious fights breaking
out between communities, then matters will be more difficult to
deal with," he told The Jakarta Post at his office on Monday.

Azyumardi added that to incorporate Islam in everyday life,
Muslims also needed to reclaim the jihad concept and realize its
true meaning, which was totally different from that promoted by
some radical groups.

Jihad, he said, should be seen as a struggle for a nonviolent
Indonesian society and strong economic growth.

"Jihad should include the potential to compete economically,
and to bridge the gulf of scientific knowledge between Muslims
and non-Muslims ... jihad is of no value if it does not bring us
closer to non-Muslims," he said.

"If we accept jihad as it is being defined by oppressors and
killers today, it will isolate Muslims, and will exclude them
from being included in world development."