Nurcholish must share his thoughts with the world

Nurcholish must share his thoughts with the world

Harry Bhaskara, The Jakarta Post

A modest symposium was held recently on Nurcholish Madjid, one
of Indonesia's most revered Islamic scholars. Apart from
celebrating the 66th birthday of the intellectual, the symposium
was held in conjunction with the seventh anniversary of the
university he founded, Paramadina Mulia University. Nurcholish
himself was not present at the March 17 to March 19 event, held
on the campus of Paramadina Mulia, having been discharged from a
Jakarta hospital only last week after a long illness.

Nurcholish certainly deserved to be the topic of discussion.
His thoughts on Islam in Indonesia, while being extremely
influential, often amazed his compatriots with their boldness,
freshness, depth and progressiveness.

His farsightedness and reform mindedness have been widely
acknowledged since the 1970s. In the early 1990s, Nurcholish
jolted his peers by coining the catchphrase: "Islam Yes, Politics
No", in protest of the politicization of the religion. Around
that time, Nurcholish, a former leader of the Muslim Student
Association (HMI), was deeply saddened to find that many of the
association's officials were involved in corruption. He asked for
the association to be dissolved.

His wide interests included Islam and Indonesian culture,
politics, theology, democracy and modernization. Nurcholish's
progressive thoughts were often met with fierce opposition,
especially from traditionalist Muslims. But rather than
impoverishing Islam in Indonesia, the discussions and arguments
between the two sides tremendously enriched it.

During the symposium, his admirers agreed that Nurcholish had
laid down a modern Islamic theology. A strong believer in modern
concepts of democracy, a plurality of political ideas and civil
society, Nurcholish has argued that these issues are compatible
with Islam and with Indonesia. Hence, he is credited with helping
to change the way people understand Islam.

In sum, it is difficult to imagine Islam in Indonesia without
Nurcholish. If Islam in Indonesia today looks more inclusive,
tolerant and gentle than in many other countries, this is because
of the contributions of people like Nurcholish. If younger Muslim
scholars are comfortable talking about civil society, human
rights and democracy, it is partly because of the work done by
Nurcholish.

Catholic priest Franz Magnis-Suseno made a very important
suggestion during the symposium when he said that Nurcholish's
works should be translated into English and Arabic. This should
be possible considering that Nurcholish is an alumni of the
University of Chicago in the U.S. World scholars, especially in
the West, too often complain that although Indonesia has a lot of
Islamic scholars of high caliber, they have very seldom written
books. Indonesian scholars have made little impact on the global
community of scholars in comparison to scholars from other
countries such as India, Pakistan and Malaysia.

Magnis-Suseno said that Nurcholish's ideas on inclusive Islam
were nothing less than thinking on a world level. Nurcholish
believes that what counts in God's eyes is one's state of mind,
which is submission to God, as religion is a mere formal symbol.
This comes down to a belief that someone can be accepted by God
irrespective of their religion. This effectively nullifies the
widely held belief in the Muslim world that anyone who is not a
Muslim is a kafir (non-believer).

Political analyst Bachtiar Effendy said during the symposium
that Islam was not just a local issue, but had become an
international one, citing terrorism and advancing technology as
examples. Muslim leaders today, he said, must be prepared to
answer questions related to these issues.

The turn of the century saw the ascendancy of religious
issues, particularly relating to Islam. A pluralist country like
Indonesia, with a long intellectual tradition in its Muslim
boarding schools, is well placed to contribute a great deal to
global thinking on Islam.

It is a challenge for young thinkers like Ulil Abshar-Abdalla
to bridge the divide in intellectual discourse between Indonesia
and the rest of the world.

The author is a staff writer of The Jakarta Post.