NU delays mass prayer due to haj pilgrimage

JAKARTA (JP): The planned istighotsah (mass prayer) of the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) Muslim organization next Sunday has been delayed until after the completion of this year's haj pilgrimage, NU chairman Hasyim Muzadi said here on Wednesday.

He said the delay was because most of NU ulemas will join the pilgrimage to Mecca, which will reach its peak on March 5, 2001 when all pilgrims gather to mark the completion of the annual Muslim ritual.

"Since the mass prayer will involve a huge number of people, we should first confirm the date of the gathering with the NU executive board," Hasyim told reporters on the sidelines of a gathering of the alumni of Gontor Modern Islamic Boarding School.

"The Rais Aam (executive board) considers the timing (for the mass prayer on Sunday) inappropriate," Hasyim said.

The Gontor Boarding School, which is located in Ponorogo, East Java, is famous for its influential graduates.

Besides Hasyim, other graduates include chairman of the Justice Party (PK) Hidayat Nurwahid, cultural observer Emha Ainun Nadjib, Muslim scholar Nurcholish Madjid and secretary-general of the Indonesian Ulemas Council (MUI) Din Syamsuddin.

In an expression of support for the beleaguered President Abdurrahman Wahid, who chaired NU from 1984 until 1999, the NU executive board had earlier decided to hold the mass prayer in the capital next Sunday.

NU members and supporters from Greater Jakarta and several other areas will reportedly participate in the mass prayer.

However, Hasyim said, the mass prayer was not meant as a forum to garner and publicize support for Gus Dur, as the President is known, but to organize a ritual for the security of the nation.

"We have not set a certain political target for the gathering.

"We just want to create a nationwide 'cooling down' through the prayer," he said.

Despite increasing criticism over his leadership, Gus Dur plans to go on the haj pilgrimage on Feb. 22. He will be accompanied by several senior NU Ulemas, such as Kyai Abdullah Faqih and Abdullah Abas, and other NU executive board members. (02)