Remembering Nurcholish as Indonesia's great teacher

Remembering Nurcholish as Indonesia's great teacher

Muhamad Ali, Manoa, Hawaii

Indonesians have felt the deep loss of one of their great
thinkers. Nurcholish Madjid, widely known as Cak Nur, was one of
the country's most influential thinkers who had been lauded
internationally since the 1970s. A wide range of labels have been
attached to him: Reformist, neo-modernist, nationalist, moderate,
liberal, and most often the nation's "great teacher" (guru
bangsa). It is important to remember and appreciate some of what
Madjid taught at a time when we continue to be in need of
inspirational and enlightening ideas to solve this country's
multitude of problems.

At the base of his often elaborate ideas, Madjid kept
emphasizing that it was our mindset (ideas, ways of looking at
things, thought paradigms) as a people that needed to be reformed
before anything else. The key concepts that he tried to develop
were modernization and secularization, pluralism, nationalism,
good governance and universal values.

In other words, Madjid saw that the nation's problem lay in
the wrongheadedness of the leaders and the people -- dangerous
ideas like traditionalism, fundamentalism, absolutism,
sectarianism, corruption and vested interest.

For Madjid, one had to free oneself from outdated and
traditional values and seek those that were oriented toward the
future. Focus on the past and excessive nostalgia had to be
replaced by a forward-looking attitude. The process of freeing
the teachings and views of religion from the traditional, closed
ideas of the past involved such processes as secularization, the
encouragement of intellectual freedom and openness.

Secularization for Madjid was to make what was temporal stay
temporal. He saw that Muslims tended to make all things religious
and sacred. He thought that Muslims should distinguish -- among
the values that they considered Islamic -- between those that
were transcendental and those that were temporal. Muslims should
always test and retest the truth of a value in the face of
material, moral, or historical facts, Majid said.

His famous catchphrase "Islam Yes, Islamic Party No" was
intended to be critical of the fact that the formally stated
Islamic political parties had failed to attract the majority of
the Muslim community and had failed to build positive and
sympathetic images. He was also against the concept of an Islamic
State, which he considered unrealistic as well as legalistic.
What the nation really needed, said Madjid, was the
implementation of universal basic values such as social justice,
prosperity, and peace, rather than focusing on past and outdated
ideas.

According to Madjid, Islamic ideas could best solve economic,
political, or social problems if they were adjusted, refreshed,
renewed, and organized in ways that they were in step with the
realities of the present age. The principal teachings of Islam
about social justice and the care and protection of the weak, the
poor, and the oppressed, had yet to have a practical application
that was both dynamic and progressive. It was only through the
afreedom to think and to express opinions that the best ideas and
truths could be found.

Madjid believed that the idea of progress came from the notion
that humankind was intrinsically good, pure, and yearned for
truth and progress. A reactionary attitude stemmed from a
pessimistic view of history. Consistent with this idea of
progress being openness, was a readiness to accept and take
values from whatever sources as long as they contained truth.

Madjid saw modernization not as "Westernization" but as a form
of rationalization. He attempted to base his ideas in various and
rich primary sources in Arabic, English, and other languages, not
to mention the Koranic verses and the Prophet's sayings and deeds
as well as historical experiences.

Madjid endorsed nationalism, not for its chauvinist forms, but
for its positive and constructive forces in preventing
sectarianism and sustaining true unity. Nationalism shaped his
Islamic thinking and his Islamic views colored his nationalist
views. His last speech in absentia on the eve of the 2005
Independence Day celebrations was about how to revitalize
nationalism and pluralism.

Pluralism for Madjid was the acceptance of diversity as the
work of God and the historical necessity within Muslims and among
different religious and nonreligious communities. Madjid believed
that there was a universal truth, a common platform that
transcended all religions and beliefs. He shared the view of the
Koranic commentator Abdullah Yusuf Ali who wrote: "As God's
Message is one, Islam recognized the true faith of other forms,
provided that it be sincere, supported by reason, and backed up
by righteous conduct."

Madjid always elaborated on his ideas, rather than simply
sloganize. Madjid saw it as important to explain issues and
problems historically and philosophically, but was also careful
to ensure what he believed could be justified by a strong
theological basis.

Madjid was not only a great thinker; he was also a man of
action. He spoke humbly, moderately, elaborately, systematically,
and clearly and never raised his voice emotionally in speeches
when he disagreed with others. His active involvement in
different Islamic, inter-religious, national, and international
movements only showed how seriously and wisely he acted on what
he thought was right.

As the nation's great teacher, his enlightening ideas have
inspired many politicians, intellectuals, academics, and the
general public. When leaders and their followers needed
intellectual inspiration to help solve national problems, they
listened and read what Madjid had to say and write.

Madjid has left us some invaluable legacies. He showed us that
the big challenge for this increasingly educated generation is
for it to be seriously critical of itself, to start reform from
within, to develop a renewed sense of morality by making use of a
wide range of sources wherever the truth be found, in order for
all to live better in prosperity, justice and peace.

The writer is a lecturer at the State Islamic University,
Jakarta and is a PhD Candidate in History at the University of
Hawaii in Manoa under the East-West Center Fellowship. He can be
reached at muhali74@hotmail.com.