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For Madjid, one had to free oneself from outdated and traditional values and seek those that were oriented toward the future.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.