Peaceful Islam and Nurcholish's lasting legacy

Greg Barton, Melbourne

Indonesia, home to some of the most significant progressive Islamic ideas in the modern period has lost one of its greatest thinkers just when he was needed most.

The untimely death last week of Nurcholish Madjid (66), a leading advocate for a tolerant and peaceful understanding of Islam, after a long struggle with Hepatitis, has been noted not only across Indonesia, where he was given a state funeral, but also around the world.

He is remembered by many as the man who helped bring down Soeharto, as the respected scholar who calmly walked into an audience with the steely, authoritarian, great survivor and boldly, but politely, told the old man that his time was up. That moment, however, will not be Nurcholish's lasting legacy. History will remember him best for his profound rethinking of Islam eloquently set forth in hundreds of thousands of words of lucid prose.

Nurcholish showed Muslims and non-Muslims alike that religion does not need to be represented by political parties and defended by political campaigns for it to shape the character of a nation. His great contribution lies in his deeply original and significant contribution to our understanding of how best religious faith can contribute to our very plural modern world.

Although trained in a madrasah as an Islamic scholar, Nurcholish transcended the boundaries of that intellectual tradition and successfully combined traditional Islamic scholarship, with its deep knowledge of the Koran, of Islamic jurisprudence and of Sufi mysticism, with critical modern thought.

The creative synthesis of intellectual traditions that resulted gave him the tools to systematically rethink how Islam should be lived in the modern world. Specifically, by employing modern approaches to hermeneutics in the pressing task of ijtihad, or reinterpretation of the Koran, Nurcholish was able to demonstrate how best the core teachings of Islam can be applied in this modern age, congruent with, but not limited by, traditional understandings of Sharia, or Islamic law. He argued cogently that true godliness, in an individual and in a nation, come from inner transformation not from external force or imposition of law.

Nurcholish rejected as profoundly mistaken the conviction of modern Islamists that Islamist parties, and the imposition of Sharia via state legislation, hold the key to achieving societies and states that are more truly Islamic.

Instead he argued for, and put into practice, the power of education to transform the individual, and through them the world around them. His Paramadina foundation (which taught tens of thousands of evening and weekend seminar attendees the basics of Islam according to progressive and liberal perspectives) and the related Paramadina school and Paramadina university (which strive for high quality modern secular education) reflect this vision.

Central to his understanding of education and the pursuit of knowledge is the role of dialogue and open exchange both within the Islamic ummah and between ummah, or religious communities, including between the 'Muslim world' and 'the west' and between Muslims and followers of other faiths.

Although we should, by now, be well aware of the power of religious ideas and religious thinkers to influence society and inspire social movements we continue to underestimate their influence, especially within the Muslim world. Sadly, if we do give them consideration then we tend to think only of the negative examples that interrupt our studied indifference.

Since that fateful September day four years ago we have been obliged to pay attention to thinkers such as Sayyid Qutb and his modern followers in al-Qaeda, Jamaah Islamiyah and elsewhere, and to their embracing of what Samuel Huntington famously dubbed a clash of civilizations mentality.

What we don't yet properly understand, but now need to begin to recognize, is that it is progressive Islamic intellectuals such as Nurcholish Madjid who have are persuading many, directly and indirectly, towards a very different, less materialistic, less political and wholly more peaceful understanding of how faith can change the world.

Many people, Muslim leaders included, feel uncomfortable with linking terrorism with a 'struggle of ideas'. Terrorists such as those behind the London bombings, they argue, are simply criminals and have nothing to do with Islam because anyone who uses the violent means of terrorism cannot be a true Muslim. The problem with this line of reasoning is that it ignores the sociology of religious movements.

Ideas matter and writers have great power. If the powerful, modern, ideas of jihadi Islamism are not met in the marketplace of ideas with an equally vigorous, contemporary, articulation of peaceful Islam then 'the center of gravity' of public discourse will inevitably slide towards those ideas that appear most powerful and relevant to the modern world.

The progressive interpretation of Islam developed by Nurcholish Madjid and his friends, such as former president Abdurrahman Wahid, represents a powerful alternative to jihadi Islamism.

The writer is associate professor in Politics at Deakin University in Melbourne, Australia, and is author of Abdurrahman Wahid: Muslim Democrat, Indonesian President, Sydney: UNSW Press, 2002; and Indonesia's Struggle: Jemaah Islamiyah and the soul of Islam, UNSW Press, 2004. He can be contacted at gregjbarton@gmail.com