Ulemas council clarifies its statement on jihad

Ulemas council clarifies its statement on jihad

JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian Ulemas Council (MUI) clarified on
Wednesday its call for a jihad, stressing that it did not mean
that the organization was urging Muslims to take part in a war
against the United States.

"Jihad fii sabiilillah means fighting in the path of Allah in
a very broad sense ... not in the form of a war or physical
contact," MUI Secretary-General Din Syamsuddin told the media
here.

"We used the term 'jihad' in the statement because we also
wanted to correct the misperception in various circles of our
society that jihad always connotates physical war," he said.

Separately, Muslim scholar Azyumardi Azra criticized the
council on Wednesday for making the jihad call.

Azyumardi, rector of the Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic
Teaching Institute, said the council must clarify its jihad call
because people might interpret it the wrong way.

"I think the MUI need to clarify it. It won't be enough if
they say they are urging a jihad in the general sense, because
what the public perceives is the waging of a war literally,"
Azyumardi told The Jakarta Post during a workshop on ethno-
religious conflict in Indonesia.

He said that before issuing such a statement, MUI should have
first studied the matter more thoroughly.

"They should first consider very carefully whether they need
to issue it or not. Because it will only foment further emotional
agitation among certain Muslim groups in the country," Azyumardi
said, referring to several hard-line groups which have already
launched hunts for Americans residing or traveling in the
country, saying that they would be expelled.

The top Islamic authority, after a meeting with the executives
of 32 Islamic organizations on Tuesday, condemned the terrorist
attacks on the U.S. and called on Muslims to prepare for a jihad
should the U.S. and its allies attack Afghanistan to pursue Saudi
dissident Osama bin Laden, a prime suspect in the Sept. 11
tragedy that claimed over 6,000 lives.

Din further said jihad fii sabillilah in the context of the
MUI statement meant all efforts by Muslims in various aspects of
life for the glory of Islam.

Din, who is also an executive of the second largest Islamic
organization Muhammadiyah, said that if the U.S. attacked
Afghanistan, the Islamic world should unite.

"They should undertake various efforts to improve
infrastructure -- social, economic, education, and also
information. Such efforts are also part of fighting in the path
of Allah," he said.

According to him, the statement was issued because the MUI and
the other Islamic organizations who supported the statement
believed that if the U.S. attacked Afghanistan, it would elicit a
strong reaction from Muslim countries.

"It would cause a widened conflict both regionally and
globally. We would be worried if this came to pass," he added.

The MUI, Azyumardi said, should have explained the stages
involved in a jihad. According to him, jihad with the meaning of
waging a war to defend the faith should be considered the last
stage.

"As an example, in Islam studying is an obligation that is
categorized as a kind of worship. If someone dies on his way to
school, it can be categorized as dying while performing a jihad.
He will go to heaven," Azra analogized.

Meanwhile, legislator Aisyah Amini was quoted by Antara as
saying that Indonesian Muslims were obliged to wage a jihad if
the U.S. went ahead with its planned aggression against
Afghanistan, "but its realization should not involve the waging
of war in that country."

"Jihad here", she said, "means that we oppose the wrong
steps."

"Why should we go there?" she said, while explaining that
Indonesian Muslims' wishes for a jihad to defend truth, justice
and humanity was enough and had been heard by the international
community. (02/09)