RI lacks Islamic intellectual culture: Scholar

JAKARTA (JP): Despite having the largest Moslem population in the world, Indonesian Moslem intellectuals and their works are still largely obscure, a noted scholar says.

Nurcholish Madjid lamented that Indonesia -- despite having a population of 200 million and an 87 percent Moslem domination -- had yet to build an "Islamic intellectual culture" which compels others in the world to pay attention.

Except for the Siraj at-Thalibin (Path for the Students) written by K.H. Ihsan from the Jampes Pesantren (boarding school) in Kediri, East Java, virtually no other work of an Indonesian Moslem scholar has became an international source of reference, he said.

Nurcholish, a professor at the Syarif Hidayatullah State Institute of Islamic Studies (IAIN) and founder of the Paramadina discussion group, was speaking at a discussion about the initial draft of the Ensiklopedi Al-Quran: Kajian Kosa Kata dan Tafsirnya (The Encyclopedia of the Koran: The Study on Vocabulary and Interpretation) here Saturday.

The discussion -- which invited leading scholars' input on the first volume of the first Indonesian encyclopedia on the language of the Koran -- was held at the Bayt Al-Quran (House of the Koran) museum at the Beautiful Indonesia in Miniature Park.

Nurcholish cited as an example Ihya Ulumuddin by the great Moslem scholar Imam Ghazali of Iran as a reference for anybody wishing to learn Islam.

"As a country with the largest Moslem population, Indonesia should have a meaningful contribution for the world's intellectual arena," Nurcholish said. "It has not (left any mark yet).

"Indonesian Moslems are still consumers, and not yet producers, (of Islamic intellectual works)."

One of the reasons for Indonesia's slow start was because Islam entered the nation when its role in world science and knowledge was declining, he said.

Reviews

Also yesterday, the scholars gave scathing reviews of the initial draft of the encyclopedia agreeing that the work lacked thoroughness and was not user-friendly.

The scholars claim the encyclopedia is thoroughly unsatisfactory because it is not comprehensive and lacks an index and "how to use" information.

Dawam Rahardjo of the Association of Indonesian Moslem Intellectuals (ICMI) said an index is vital in an encyclopedia.

"This encyclopedia needs an index and should provide more information to readers on how to use the encyclopedia," he said.

A team from the Syarif Hidayatullah State Institute of Islamic Studies (IAIN), led by Quraish Shihab, has completed a draft of the first of five volumes of the encyclopedia.

The first volume is 428-pages long with 526 entries arranged alphabetically. The project began two years ago and is being funded by the Bimantara Foundation.

The complete series of five volumes is expected to have 1,895 entries consisting of 5,000 pages.

Jalaluddin Rakhmat from Bandung, West Java, shared Dawam's opinion, saying he could not find a foreword giving an explanation on utilization.

Nurcholish said the flaws in the initial draft could be fixed.

"There are many flaws in the initial draft, but this is pioneering work," he said, adding the "the pioneering part is the most important thing".

He said the initiative to compose the encyclopedia was also the beginning of a new era for Indonesian Moslems to intellectually contribute something to the world's Moslems. (10/swe)