Nation mourns death of progressive Muslim intellectual

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Indonesia was mourning the death on Monday of its most prominent and respected Muslim scholar, Nurcholish Madjid, 66, who brought enlightenment to Islamic thinking in the world's largest Muslim nation.

Many national figures, including President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Vice President Jusuf Kalla, Cabinet ministers, and former president Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid and other leading Muslim and Christian leaders, paid their last tributes to Nurcholish and expressed condolences to his family.

They all expressed the hope that other great Islamic thinkers would emerge in the future like Nurcholish, who tirelessly advocated religious pluralism, inclusivism and moderation.

"Today we are mourning. One of our best of the nation's sons and a great Muslim intellectual, who has enlightened the nation, has passed away," Susilo said.

"He gave me the strength to push for reform, to create good governance and eradicate corruption ...," said the President, who visited Nurcholish at the Pondok Indah Hospital last week.

Hailing Nurcholish -- better known as Cak Nur, as one of the nation's greatest Islamic thinkers, Vice President Kalla said it would be difficult to find anyone of the same capacity.

"We all deeply mourn the death of Cak Nur. He was a national and community leader, an intellectual, nationalist and pluralist," the Vice President told journalists after meeting representatives of Muslim organizations at Muhammadiyah headquarters in Jakarta.

Gus Dur praised Cak Nur as a great statesman who never attempted to enrich himself or his family. "He struggled for pluralism and democracy to his death. He played a role in educating the nation with his intellectuality and honesty."

People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) Speaker Hidayat Nur Wahid described Cak Nur as a statesman and a man who loved reading.

"We hope his death... will be followed by the birth of other statesmen concerned with the nation and people," he said.

Similar comments were also made by Nahdlatul Ulama leader Hasyim Muzadi and his Muhammadiyah counterpart Din Syamsuddin, who both called on Muslims to continue promoting Cak Nur's progressive way of thinking.

Cak Nur brought humanity into Islam, so that what he said to the public was accepted by them, Hasyim said.

Din said Cak Nur managed to enlighten the nation's life with his pluralistic and inclusive thinking, although it often sparked controversy.

But, essentially, he added, the reform of Islamic thinking advocated by Cak Nur had dynamized the life of Indonesian Muslims.

Din, who is also the deputy chairman of the Indonesian Ulema Council, went on to say that Cak Nur's ideas needed to be promoted, especially his view that Islam was compatible with democracy, and that political Islam should not become formalized but needed to be more substantive in nature.

Cak Nur caused nationwide controversy under the rule of Soeharto in the 1970s, when he initiated the slogan, "Islam yes, Islamic political parties no". The slogan reflected his view that religion should be separated from politics.

"I think that today's Islamic dynamism is largely influenced by Cak Nur's progressive thinking," said Din, who like Cak Nur, Hasyim Muzadi and Hidayat Nur Wahid, graduated from the Gontor modern Islamic boarding school in Ponorogo, East Java.

Ulil Absar Abdalla, who chairs the Islamic Liberal Network (JIL), which promotes religious moderation, said Cak Nur created a "solid base" for religious harmony in Indonesia.

Sorrow was also voiced by former Indonesian Communion of Churches (PGI) leader Natan Setiabudi, who said he was shocked to hear the news about Cak Nur's death.

"We have lost a man of high principles. He was fully devoted to improving interreligious relations in this country. What he did is irreplaceable," said Natan.