JIL English Edition

“...a distinction betweenGod and what one sees deep inside his heart and knows there is a god. Indeed, it would be difficult to know that our god is really God.”

“Ulil emphasized his optimism that Indonesia has an opportunity to be the center of Islamic thoughts in the international field. He stated his objection on the result of research conducted by two scholars from Washington about how far Islam has colored Muslim countries. They viewed this from a variety of criteria such as recognition of minority rights, tolerance, pluralism, transparency of government systems, etc. In this research, Indonesia ranked under Malaysia. According Ulil, the rank of Indonesia should be much more above Malaysia, at least if we look at various developments that we have today. In addition, Ulil stressed his belief by quoting Fazlur Rahman’s statement that the future of the Islamic world actually exists in Indonesia, not in Saudi Arabia. ”

Many women in the Middle Eastern countries endure heavy discrimination in their lives. Women do not live with the same rights like men. A Jordanian columnist Jihad Alawanah affirmed that women in the Middle Eastern countries are like refugees. They always expect political asylum from the men. First is from their fathers, and then from their husbands.

“When the word ‘renewal’ is associated with Islam, the renewal should not be Islam as a religion nor the Qur’an as a sacred book, but rather the renewal of the interpretation on both because a human interpretation of the Qur’an is not the Qur’an itself. It is just an interpretation upon it. Thus, changes of the interpretation of the Qur’an and of the religion are still possible. If the Qur’an is absolutely true, its interpretation still contains a lot of possibilities, including the possibility of mistakes. For that reason, as a product of Qur’anic interpretation, the truth of an interpretation is relative. “

Thus, for Muslims themselves, celebrating Christmas is really to celebrate the birthday of a messenger of God to be believed, Isa al-Masih, who was symbolically born in December 25th. As the implication of this faith to the Jesus, Muslims should also be allowed to celebrate the birth of Jesus and other prophets before Muhammad PBUH. Jesus is not only owned by Christian communally but also by all who believe in him. The Great figures such as Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad do not belong to certain groups. Those figures can be examples and inspiration for anyone.

The bomb exploded at the ‘Bethel Injil Sepenuh’ Church (GBIS), Solo. Few days earlier, riots exploded in Ambon. Some experts analyzed that the events were triggered simply by an SMS that gave false information about the cause of death of a motorcycle driver. Allegedly there were certain parties who exploited the situation to make riots by pitting local society.

The puritan and radical Wahhabi group continues to establish Islamic boarding schools (pesantren); they founded no less than a dozen Wahhabi pesantren in Indonesia. Like the Wahhabi schools in Saudi Arabia, the Wahhabi pesantrens in Indonesia promote similar doctrines. They call people who adopt non-Wahhabi teaching as infidels (kafir) and polytheist (musyrik). Furthermore, if the socio-political environment is favorable, they do not hesitate to use violence in order to change other Muslims’ conviction. The Wahhabis of Saudi Arabia has committed violence against other Muslims whom they considered as deviant. Beside of being cruel to non-Muslims, the Wahhabis are also harsh upon the non-Wahhabi Muslims.

Indonesia is reputedly a country that stands above all parties. This country is established on the foundation of a gentlemen’s agreement between all elements of society in which they will develop and live a life together in harmony. Is it really happening or is it just a wishful thinking?

Marriage in the Islamic fiqh tends to be materialistic and far from philosophical and romantic arrangement. Sometimes, Muslims need to look at the marriage ceremony of adherents of other religions. In the Catholic marriage, for example, the central topic in the wedding arrangement is about love. Love is the foundation that will strongly sustain the future household. Due to the strong bonds of marriage that tie the couple, the pastor used to say in the wedding ceremony “What God has united, man must not divide”.

“Lebaran” is always performed by most Indonesian Muslims by going back to their homelands and family, namely “mudik”. Thousands of people return from cities to villages in order to meet their beloved ones. They do not even care about the expensive ticket and the risk being on the road. Many accidents happen during this season of joy. “Lebaran” can hypnotize people. The question is why people are so excited for this “mudik”?