Feminism in Islam has become the subject of debate as well as the field of ignorance both within and outside Muslim societies. On the one hand, most of the Western media assume that feminism and Islam is an oxymoron as they blame Islam as the major raison d’être behind Muslim and Middle Eastern women’s plight. Indeed, Bush’s administration used the salvation rhetoric in order to justify the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan that is claimed to save and liberate Afghani women from the Taliban’s grip. On the other hand, many Muslims discredit Islamic feminism as they deem it as another form of Western assault upon their cultural and religious tradition, and therefore consider Islamic feminists as traitors.

The debate between the secular and religious women groups heightened the controversy around Islamic feminism in the Islamic Republic of Iran, which has undergone a radical shift from a secular monarchy toward a Shia Islamic theocracy. Since the Islamic revolution in 1979, Iran established the rule of a clerical caste (velayat-e faghih) whose authority over social-political-religious system is absolute, wherein they enforced a kind of fundamentalist Islamism in both ideational and behavioral level. This is the reason why an extreme polarization occurs among Iranian scholars and activists in terms of their methodology and strategy for achieving gender equality and justice in the context of Islamic Republic.

One of the Iranian prominent scholars of Islamic feminism is Ziba Mir-Hosseini. She viewed that in addition to the monolithic interpretation of Islam, the conflation between sharia (the sacred and immutable divine will) and fiqh (the jurisprudence extracted from the Islamic sources by human), also becomes the source of tension between the egalitarian vision of Islam and the patriarchal context of Islam’s revelation. Far from being realizing justice, the implementation of the so-called sharia in Iran only revolves around the application of gender-biased policies on the criminal and family laws as well as the dress codes.

In this regard, Mir-Hosseini argued that the new approach that is feminist in its aspiration and demand and yet Islamic in its language and sources of legitimacy, will develop a gender discourse that meets women’s aspiration for equality. Due to the current reality that the Islamists hold the power in defining and exercising the political and gender discourse in Iran, only those who are prepared to engage with Islam’s sacred texts and its legal tradition can bring change from within (Mir-Hosseini, 2006: 644). Beside the Islamic scholarship, nevertheless, it must be noted that the Islamic feminists also necessitate socio-cultural analytical tools in order to formulate their reformist gender discourse.

In the meantime, an Iranian expert of women and gender studies Shahrzad Mojab, viewed Islamic feminism is counterproductive because it justified the traditional patriarchal system and unequal gender relation reinforced by the Islamist authority. Even if the feminist interpretation of religious texts were allowed to reform the legislations, she argued, it would require either the radical revision or discarding its theological basis, which none of the two parties would consent (Mojab, 2001: 136).  She further criticized the Islamic feminists’ reluctance to move into democratization of gender relation based on total separation of state and religion.

Although her criticism is somewhat true, one must remember that the process of democratization opens the space for dissent, thus the Islamist voice must also be included in the democratic social-political consideration. Furthermore, while secularism is theoretically an ideal system that will ensure equality regardless of gender and religious affiliation, in practice, it might be hostile toward the rights of women in observing their faith and pursuing education such as in Turkey wherein the veiling -out of women’s personal choice- denied them education.

As a matter of fact, these two opposing factions argue for the possibility and impossibility of improving women’s status within the Islamic framework. The Islamic feminists attempted to challenge the misogynist Islamic doctrines that underlie discriminatory discourses and policies through feministic ijtihad (independent reasoning) and women-friendly religious interpretation, which has led to significant changes in women’s rights. Meanwhile, the secular feminists viewed the former as apologists of the Islamic authority whose ‘exaggerated’ legal gains have diverted public attention from the destructive effect of Islamization and impeded the effort of secularization. In other words, the former seek for a gradual gender transformation by working and strategizing within the system that marginalized them, while the latter seek for a radical transformation by totally replacing the discriminative religious authority and legislation with the secular ones.

Another Iranian feminist scholar Valentine Moghadam, viewed that the critics of Islamic feminism are essentially denied women’s agency since they underestimated the Islamic feminists’ effort and achievement under the restrictive regime. In this regard, they perceived feminism merely as the privilege of the West by rejecting the idea of an emerging global feminism (Moghadam, 2002: 1154). To support her argument, Moghadam highlighted the importance of Islamic feminists’ publications in expanding gender consciousness among public and the effectiveness of their pressure in pursuing pro women legislations in terms of occupation, education, marriage, divorce and custody. The reality that most of Islamic feminists combined their religious interpretation with recognition of universal standards such as CEDAW (the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women), in fact, indicated their focus expansion from a mere theological argument to the socioeconomic and political issues. However, major change will not be resulted from the Islamic reform project alone as it necessitates the contribution of nonreligious scholars and activists as well. 

Ideally speaking, secularism that requires the state to protect the rights of all citizens irrespective of gender, religion, ethnicity and class is the best system to guarantee equality and justice in any country. However, given the current socio-religious-political realities of the contemporary Muslim world, Islamic feminism can be considered as the most feasible and realistic approach for gender reform. Not only that it serves as a strategic method to acquire religious legitimacy vis-à-vis the Islamist decision makers, it also minimizes public resistance and broaden the support base for women’s rights among Muslim societies.

In addition, the contradiction in terms of the Islamic feminism will not appear if we perceive feminism as both perspective and practice that counters social and gender inequalities, since that is also what the Islamic feminism all about. As Miriam Cooke put it, feminism identifies moment of awareness that something is wrong in the expectations for women’s treatment, of rejection of such expectation, and of activism to affect some kind of change (Cooke, 2000: 92).

The Islamic feminists do not only criticized discriminative discourses and practices imposed on women in the name of Islam, but they also formulated various measures to reform them by using the same idiom and framework. The voice of the Islamic feminism may threaten the dominant discourse of the Islamic regime, as they use their Islamic representations strategically against those who have ascribed them. In such way, they can challenge and deconstruct misogynist interpretation of the authoritative text while defending their religious and national communities, and thus undermining accusations of cultural betrayal. In Iran case, the Islamic feminism serves as a moderate alternative to the current Islamist regime’s gender politics as well as to the previous secular regime’s gender initiatives that has been met with fierce ideological and physical resistance.

As the largest Muslim populated country, albeit secular, Indonesia also faces a great challenge from the growing religious conservatism. Political reform that brings democracy and freedom to this country has been accompanied with the demand of Islamic formalization, in which sharia-inspired regulation that tend to discriminate women are proposed both in the national and local parliament. This reality brings the secular and Islamic feminists together in criticizing and monitoring these problematic legislations. Sometimes they win, as they successfully pushed the birth of the law against domestic violence that criminalizes the perpetrator of physical and psychological abuse in the household. Sometimes they lose, as they could not abort the anti pornography bill that tend to criminalizes women’s sexuality and behavior. Nevertheless, such collaboration proves that there can be different ways to achieve equality and justice, which must be considered as complementary instead of contradictory strategies for gender reform.

REFERENCES
Cooke, Miriam (2000) “Multiple Critiques: Islamic Feminist Rhetorical Strategies” in: “Nepantla: Views from South” Volume 1, number 1, pp.91-110, 2000,
Moghadam, Valentine. (2002) “Islamic Feminism and Its Discontents: Toward a Resolution of the Debate” in Signs, Vol. 27, No. 4, pp. 1135-1171
Mojab, Shahrzad. (2001) “Theorizing the Politics of Islamic Feminism”, in: Feminist Review, n.69. pp.124 146
Mir-Hosseini, Ziba. (2006) “Muslim Women’s Quest for Equality: Between Islamic Law and Feminism”. Critical Inquiry, Vol. 32, pp. 629-646

“Do you believe in God?”

It happened only once that this question came from my mouth, yet still the mere thought of uttering it makes me feel quite uncomfortable. “Do you believe in God?”. The person who had to hear it from me is one of the dearest beings that live on this planet, so back then I was just very gently made aware that the question was wrong. It is the last week that I sensed on my skin not only how wrong but also how intellectually boorish it was.

During somemore academic session on religion, one lady asked me “So do you really believe in God?”.I was baffled. Feeling uncomfortable to hear such question from a person whom I never met before, I changed the subject. But she came back with it requesting an answer with flat yes or no. I replied with question: “Do you have orgasm?”.

It was impolite, yet the two questions had something in common – answering them was disturbing, and both related to experience which only the person asked would know if it is there or not. And even supposing it is there one cannot be really certain it is.

Mark Johnston in Saving God (2009) makes a distinction between God 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. Professor Johnston points three conditions we can determine by looking into our hearts: that we believe there is God; that we believe our god is God; and that we believe in our god. Yet do we actually believe in God then? We believe that we believe…This is already most personal and intimate.

We can see a difference between asking whether God exists or not, and whether a person believes in God or not. The latter one is like forcing somebody into our own patterns of believing: if we believe – into how we believe, if we do not believe – into how we think other people believe. And this is quite low, for somehow our concepts may be too shallow and conventional to fit other person’s subtle thought. Saying “yes” the person would accept the frame structured in our possibly very much limited brains. But maybe he or she would not really want to be reduced to it?

This is where answering “yes” becomes so odd and disturbing, it could be that the person would say “yes” to what is inside his heart, but he does not feel like saying “yes” to what is inside our hearts or brains. Saying “no” is equally uncomfortable. It could mean that the person clearly refuses to accept our idea of god which is already included in “Do you believe in God?” question. And this means the end ofdiscussion as well.

*The author is a PhD candidate at the Faculty of Oriental Studies, University of Warsaw, Poland

Islam is a religion that brings developments. The developments occur through human’s reason that is definitely blessed with the ability to keep moving and growing dynamically. Islam is not a static religion which constantly gives a place for stagnation. For Neng Dara Affiah, this is the spirit transmitted by the book titled ‘Pembaharuan Pemikiran Islam Indonesia’ (Renewal of Indonesian Islamic Thought). Neng Dara conveyed this in the book launching of ‘Pembaharuan Pemikiran Islam Indonesia’ in November 28, 2011, in the Hall of Islamic State University (UIN) Graduate School, Maulana Malik Ibrahim, Malang. This book contents of 19 writings of several Indonesian Muslim intellectuals, among them Neng Dara Affiah and Ulil Abshar Abdalla who became the speakers as well as Syamsul Arifin who became the moderator in this book launching.

The book launching is a part of “road show” organized by Komunitas Epistemik Muslim Indonesia (Community of Indonesian Muslim Epistemic KEMI) - a group of Muslim intellectuals who make efforts to produce thinkers as well as their Islamic thoughts. “Road show” conducted in four cities in Indonesia (Padang, Malang, Makassar and Jakarta) is expected to introduce Islamic thoughts as described in the launched book. This ‘roadshow’ was able to open a more lively and productive discussion.

Neng Dara convinced with an optimistic view that Islam is very possible to bring developments along with human dynamics. On this occasion, Neng Dara tried to trace some prerequisites of developments of Islam in facing current challenges. Firstly, Islam strongly gives a priority to human’s potency of development. If it is analogized, human being is like a tree with strong roots, sturdy trunk and lush leaves. Humans will always experience the development of thinking during their life time. Secondly, Islam believes in maintaining women’s rights since women’s issue is not a marginal issue, but a central issue which is as important as other humanity issues. Thirdly, Islam is compatible with democracy as a good state system. The impression of democracy in our country is so bad, but it should not be a reason to be despair because the values of democracy are needed to create a just society system. Fourthly, Islam is very friendly to rights of minorities. Minority here could be anyone and anything, religious people, beliefs, etc which are potential for discriminated. Fifthly, Islam believes in the freedom of thought. When intellectual imagination is not interfered, it will produce unlimited thoughts.

In the discussion which was greatly welcome by most elements of the campus, Neng Dara, who is much involved in women’s issues in her activities for long time, believes that Islam is a religion which believes in maintaining the rights of women. It is mistaken if religion is used as a legitimacy of marginalizing women’s rights. On the occasion, Neng Dara also stated her anxiety about regional law regulations that has been increasingly developed, even 207 Shariah law have been found – based on the record of National Commission of Women’s monitoring—and all of them have a tendency to discriminate against women’s rights.

“The tendency can be called as a syndrome which considers woman’s aurat (a part of body which must be closed) as a scary thing. Therefore, women must be arranged in order not to threaten the stability of society. In fact, in the record of history, there is no precedent or example in the past about the state regulated the way women dressed. Certainly, we must agree that it is their own body, and should not be a part of the state affairs,” Neng Dara gave an emphasis.

Neng Dara Affiah, who has been the Commissioner of the National Commission for Women for two periods and also actively involved in the NU Fatayat, invited the participants to recall the history when women’s movements grew in the early 1920s, pioneered by Mardika Poetri movement in 1912. At that time, she said, women’s movements as well as other movements strongly controlled over colonialism. Even Sukarno earlier showed his appreciation on women’s rights through his book Sarinah: Kewadjiban Wanita dalam Pedjoangan Repoeblik Indonesia (Sarinah: Women’s obligations in the Struggle of the Republic of Indonesia). This book is based on the result of discussion materials on “Women Course” conducted every two weeks in Yogyakarta. “Thus,” Neng Dara stressed – wants to give an irony- “if at that time Sukarno was already aware that the issue of women’s rights is a common issue (social issue), it would be so funny if at the present time there are people who consider woman issues as a marginal issue, which is not sexy, even for discussing.”

Meanwhile, Ulil Abshar Abdalla who is also the speaker in the discussion opened his talk by appreciating UIN Maulana Malik Ibrahim Malang as a reflection of renewal campus which from the beginning has been dreamed by Muslim reformers, such as Kiai Haji Ahmad Dahlan. According to Ulil, who is one of the founders of the Liberal Islam Network (JIL), the core of renewal that want to be conducted by Islamic leaders such as Muhammad Abduh is how the Muslim community maintains its authenticity as a Muslim, without closing himself/herself toward modernity. “We are Muslim, and at the same time, we are modern,” Ulil explained. In NU’s own tradition, we can find the term al-muhâfadhah ‘ala al-qadîmi al-Salih al-akhdzu bi wa al-Jadid al-ashlah (to maintain good traditions and adopt new better one).
Based on that reason, Ulil also intended to transmit his optimism to the participants of the discussion that Indonesia has the 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 governance 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 the various developments that we have today. Yet, 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.

Furthermore, Ulil – one of the researchers at the Freedom Institute - stated his optimism on the potency of development of Islamic world in the hand of Indonesia because so far Indonesia has been successful to conquer serious challenges that might not be faced by other countries when they experienced a political transition. Based on his observations, when a country experienced a political transition, it would deal with dangerous phases that can threaten the governmental stability. As the result, a country in transition is easy to balkanization, a phenomenon of disintegration caused by the spread of separatism. The most representative example is the experience of the Soviet Union and the countries in the Middle East. Ulil continued, “While Indonesia has been successful in passing the transition without losing much. Maybe we immediately think of Timor Leste, but it is just an exception. In fact, Indonesia remains the state of unity until now.” Ulil believes that the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) movement has an important role in this issue. NU community has at first agreed to political ijtihad of the predecessor, KH Ahmad Siddiq who declared that Indonesia is a final state. Thus, Indonesian Muslims do not need to imitate the form of government in other Islamic countries. “Declaration initiated Siddiq Ahmad, Rais Am NU at that time (1984) was an effective strategy in growing the awareness of society nationalism through the legitimacy of religion,” Ulil expressed his pride of noble traditions that have been built by NU since its 27th Muktamar (Congress) in 1984.

Besides the fact above, Indonesia successfully passed the transition without a military coup. We can see the appalling conditions suffered by Egypt when the country experienced a period of transition from authoritarian government to democracy system. When Husni Mubarak’s government was successfully overthrown, Egypt still continued to experience a great upheaval caused by the community resistance to a new leadership carried by military. Indonesia is a little bit lucky because in the transition of reformation era was led by civil society, i.e. BJ Habibie. We cannot forget Habibie’s good deeds in his leadership as a civic leader. It is Habibie’s contribution on successfully creating important legislations such as Law on Regional Autonomy, the separation between TNI and police, etc.

Another development shown by Indonesia is society’s great support and participation to democracy. Several initiatives have been continuously done by society to support the discourse of democracy through various elements, such as figures of society, political parties, NGOs, Islamic Universities such as IAIN which have provided a substantial contribution in dealing with the discourse of democracy. Syarif Hidayatullah Islamic State University, for instance, published a kind of guide books on human rights. Another example, NU made a halaqah (group) which specifically focused on Jurisprudence of corruption.

As closing, Ulil added that there should be any efforts to continuously improve Indonesian’s achievements. One of efforts is to continuously develop the tradition of knowledge among scholars, so the above Fazlur Rahman’s statement is not just a compliment or meaningless hope. On that occasion, Ulil expressed his yearning on the intellectualism condition which grew in the 1970’s, a period in which the glory of Islamic thoughts occurred and Cak Nur and Gus Dur became the leaders. Today, Ulil sees that the tradition of that time (70s decade) has begun to fade. Therefore, Ulil, who is also one of the KEMI directors, wants to optimize the role of epistemic communities as a mediator that is expected to revive the glory of Islamic thoughts which ever grew a few decades ago.

Ulil also added that another effort should be made by scholars is to multiply works in English because English is the only mediator of the most effective way to expand our thinking in the international world. In addition, Ulil continued, we must also struggle to develop and increase scientific journals that can be used as a reference of other people who want to learn about Indonesian Islam. The last effort which needs to be done is to open ourselves to any scientific approaches, whether it is a traditional or liberal approach. By opening ourselves to a variety of approaches, it hopefully stimulates a fruitful dialogue for the sake of the development of our knowledge in the future. By doing these efforts, Ulil asserted his belief that Indonesia can fulfill Prof. Fazlur Rahman’s statement i.e. a model of international Islamic state, like a lighthouse that has the ability to light up other Islamic worlds.

Meanwhile, Dr. Lutfi Mustafa, a professor of Philosophy at UIN Malang Maulana Malik Ibrahim who was also the speaker at the discussion, explained the history of renewal and its phases. According to him, the first phase of renewal in Islam was in the 17th-18th century started by an awareness of the internal condition of Islam which declined even further behind Western societies. In the next phase, renewal was motivated by colonialism. The spread of colonialism in many Muslim worlds revived the passion of society in the Islamic world community to do renewal.

At this point, Mustofa Lutfi wanted to bring the participants to the same hope: renewal of Islamic thoughts in Indonesia is nothing but the common wish of this nation in building a more mature people to introduce to the pattern of a more harmonious relationship between state and religion, i.e. performing the face of religion that promotes universal values to support secularism in Indonesia.

* Student at UIN Sharif Hidayatullah; actively involved in the Institute for the Study of Religion and Philosophy (LSAF)

Sumiati has become the headline in Indonesia’s mass media not because of her particular achievement, but it is unfortunately due to the deepening and increasing concern over her fate. She is a victim of her employer’s torture in Saudi Arabia, one of the Middle Eastern countries wherein many Indonesian migrant workers prefer it as their prime destination to earn a living.

Mixed reactions emerge from the public. President Susilo Bambang Yudoyono denounced such cruelty and commanded the department in charge of labor to resolve this case soon.

Beside Sumiati, another Indonesian female worker (TKW) named Kikim Komalasari, was even murdered by her own employer. Kikim’s dead body was dumped in a rubbish bin in the Abha region, near Jeddah.

Many people in Indonesia were shocked and wondering how such brutality could take place in an Islamic country? Does not Islam respect women and the poor?
At least two factors may explain the background of the barbaric incident in Saudi Arabia in particular, and in the Middle East countries in general. The two factors are “women” and “the status of labor” (domestic workers).

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.

Their lives are very dependent upon the men. They do not attain the rights to make any decisions independently in most of their life. Hani Naqshbandi narrates women’s suffering in Saudi Arabia in his novel entitled al-Ikhtilas (snatch). This novel is translated into Bahasa Indonesia under title Perempuan Terpasung (the shackled women). In this novel, Hani narrates the story of women’s miseries in Saudi Arabia.

For unmarried women, fathers and brothers determine their fate. They must obtain permission from these men before doing anything. Even in the matter of marriage, women cannot choose their future husbands. Their fathers select the future husbands for them. Once married, their fate is entirely in the hands of their husbands. Ironically, the husbands often treat their wives as a pile of flesh in which they pay attention as far as their interests are concerned.

By living in Islamic countries, the Middle Eastern society should be able to learn how women were respected in early Islam. There are prominent female figures that play determinant roles throughout Muhammad’s Prophethood. One of this figures, Prophet Muhammad’s wife Khadijah, play an important role in ensuring that he did receive the true revelations instead of the satanic whispers. Khadijah encouraged him to believe this after she consulted her Christian priest cousin Waraqah bin Nawfal. Thus, how come the Muslim society now forget the important role of a woman named Khadijah?!

“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. ”  As the result, when someone believes in an interpretation, s/he not only can be conservative at the level of thought, but also can base his/her terror acts from the Qur’an, as terrorists did lately.

This is Abdul Moqsith Ghazali’s emphasis on renewal conveyed through a book titled “Renewal of Indonesian Islamic Thought” which for the first time was launched at IAIN Imam Bonjol Padang, November 22, 2011 ago. The book is an anthology of some Muslim intellectuals’ writings such as M. Dawam Rahardjo, Djohan Effendy, Abdul Moqsith Ghazali, Ulil Abshar-Abdalla, Neng Dara Affiah, Budhy Munawar-Rachman, Ihsan Ali Fauzi, etc. According to Moqsith, these writings bring a renewal agenda based on three basic or main thoughts: secularism, pluralism, and liberalism.

Abdul Moqsith Ghazali, who is known with his comprehensive understanding of fiqh and usul fiqh in explaining his liberal thoughts, affirmed in straightforward that secularism is the best solution to overcome the complexities of life in Indonesia. Secularism is an inevitable model when we position the relationship between religion and state. As a pluralistic country, Indonesia needs to develop a system of government which is able to accommodate all needs of a pluralistic state. On the contrary, it is not impossible that a lot of territories want to be separated from Indonesia when Indonesia was forced into a religious state. Because of the plurality of our nation with all its own local wisdoms, Islamization of the state becomes impossible. However, Moqsith added, “the proper secularism design for Indonesia is a secularism that is friendly to religion, like Canada, not like French model of secularism which is anti-religion and bans all religious symbols in public spaces.”

Concerning pluralism, Moqsith believes that pluralism needs to be maintained in Islam. According to him, who got a doctorate degree from UIN Sharif Hidayatullah Jakarta and published his dissertation as a book titled “Arguments on Religious Pluralism, Building Tolerance Based on Al-Quran”, the idea and the practice of pluralism in Islam still bring various problems. Many things must be renewed related to the way we see other religions and other groups. In fact, Islam itself grew in a pluralistic context. Even during his lifetime, the Prophet had a family from different religions and classes. Therefore, if pluralism is rejected, it is mean to oppose the basic concepts of Islam and the context of the Prophet’s life.

Although in the Scripture we found walan tardlo ‘ankal yahuudu walan nashaara hatta tattabi’a millatahum, should we also close our eye to another certainty explicitly states that the Qur’an really appreciates and justifies their (scripture) teachings? Do we deny the verse: waanzalnaa ilaikal kitaaba bilhaqqi mushaddiqan limaa bayna yadayhi minal kitaabi wamuhaiminan ‘alaihi fahkum bainahum bima anzala Allah? Moqsith challenged the participants to open their eyes to the view of the truth on other religions in God’s sight.

Meanwhile, when describing his ideas on liberalism, Moqsith, who is a lecturer at several universities in Indonesia as well as a Kyai for some students of Pesantren, also properly applied a historical approach of a local culture (West Sumatra). By tracing the historical events, there is a kind of proof how the roots of freedom of thought was firstly performed by a great scholar of West Sumatra, i.e. Kyai Haji Agus Salim. Moqsith told that a century ago, Kyai Haji Agus Salim became the pioneer of placing the foundation of liberal Islamic thought in Indonesia. He broke decisively the stability of the concept of hijab for woman and man. Agus Salim, Moqsith said, confirmed that man and woman do not need to be separated by a material veil, because the hijab of man and woman is his/her spirituality, his/her heart.

Moqsith expressed with a little praise his admiration for the uniqueness of West Sumatra, which can be regarded as a representation, a kind of ‘mini park’ of Islamic thought in Indonesia. In West Sumatra, we can trace the emergence of the great thinkers, from Islamists, such as Haji Agus Salim, until the communists, like Tan Malaka. Because of such diverse historical roots, it is no wonder if we can find different dualisms in the way people practice Islam in Padang.  The Issues of the implementation of Islamic Sharia, for instance, both rejecting and approving voices are all here, in Padang, West Sumatra. However, it is inevitable that Padang can be regarded as the birthplace of Islamic reformers in its history. Therefore, the renewal of Islamic thought is not only possible, but also it naturally occurs in the city of West Sumatra.

Besides Abdul Moqsith Ghazali, in the discussion and the book launching filled by a hundred participants, there was also a speaker from young intellectual group, Zelfeni Wimra. In her presentation, she, who is a lecturer at IAIN Imam Bonjol Padang as well as a writer of short stories, emphasized that if renewal is associated with Islam, we need to determine firstly the way of approaching Islam. Three approaches can be conducted: Islam as a faith, Islam as a movement, and Islam as a science. For Wimra, when people want to approach Islam as a faith, the consequence is that obedience must be there, sami’na wa atha’na. It will be different if they want to approach Islam as a movement, the emphasis is how the movement is re-evaluated and interpreted in order to find a suitable system for the Muslim community. Meanwhile, if renewal is done by approaching Islam as a ray of science, the consequence is a conflict because science itself was born from a conflict. Therefore, Wimra believes that Islam itself is a conflict religion. This is the reason why throughout the history of its beginning, Islam has always been accompanied by a conflict.

After questioning a starting point to conduct renewal, Wimra emphasized her belief that, “Renewal is necessary, especially with Islam as a starting point for the ray of science.” She believes that the Qur’an itself contains a sign for Muslim to be aware about the importance of continuously producing the interpretation. She mentioned one verse that tells about how the Qur’an challenged Quraish people when they doubted about the truth of the Qur’an. The Qur’an clearly urged them to bring only one greater verse, or at least a verse that has an equal quality with the Qur’an.

For Wimra, if people who opposed Islam were given an opportunity to respond to the Qur’anic verses, why can Muslims themselves not do that? Therefore, Wimra believes that the verse is a sign, a kind of entrance for Muslims to be more active to interpret the Qur’an as well as to explore its verses in order to be able to open a more contextual interpretation.

* Student of UIN Jakarta

Indonesian people have a custom or a tradition of congratulating religious celebration performed by every religious community. Mutual appreciation of such religious community has long been practiced in Indonesia. Muslims say “Merry Christmas” to their fellows who are Christians and the Christians congratulate ‘Eid’ to their colleagues who are Muslims. Frequently, a number of religious leaders send their greetings in a day of religious celebration via Short Message Service (SMS). This phenomenon is rarely happen in other Muslim countries. In fact, other Muslim countries should learn from Indonesian people how to perform religious tolerance towards people of other faiths.

Indeed, there has been a fatwa (religious decree) issued by some of Indonesian Muslim scholars that Muslims are forbidden to say “Merry Christmas” toward their Christian fellows. The fatwa is supported by several arguments. First, the tradition of greeting had never been exemplified by the Prophet Muhammad PBUH. Thus, it can be classified to a heretic practice (Bid’ah). It is said in a Hadith, “Kullu bid’atin dhalalatun, Wa Kullu dhalalatin fin-nar” [all heretical practices is wrong and all wrongs are going to hell]. In addition, Muslims are prohibited from innovating new things, such as performing religious greeting of Christmas.
Second, the tradition is seen as a justification for the truth of Christian faith. In fact, such justification is forbidden, and Muslims should not justify other’s truth. The tradition is seen as shaking the faith of Muslims because it seems to open up the possibility of “other” truth existed outside Islam. The scholars have frequently warned Muslims not to perform any activity that seems to give justification for any teaching which is incompatible with Islam. As quoted, there is a Quranic verse saying “inna al-din `inda Allah al-Islam, which is translated that the only religion which is true is Islam; the religion that is brought by the Prophet Muhammad PBUH. The scholars seem ignoring the existing universal value that is agreed by all religions. As I often write, that “al-islam” as texted in that verse does not refer to the “name” of religion brought the Prophet Muhammad PBUH.

However, as the fatwa is not binding, not all Muslims follow the fatwa of scholars and regard it as the only guidance. In fact, some Muslims still perform the tradition and maintain the custom. To me, Christmas Greeting for Muslims should be reviewed because of some following reasons: First, Christmas greeting is not automatically parallel or identical with the justification of Christian truth. The Christmas greeting can be identified as merely a social norm, not a theological belief. As a social norm, it can not be categorized as heretical. In the world of social interaction (mu’amalah duniawiyah), it is allowed to innovate. As far as related to social affairs, none of such practices can be categorized as heretical. The Prophet Muhammad said, “antum a’lamu minni bi dunyakum” [you know more about your worldly (duniawiyah) affairs].

In certain contexts, to say “Merry Christmas” is beneficial. It functions as knitting efforts to strengthen social harmony and solidarity among religions society in Indonesia. All religious communities should be in mutual respect and appreciate others. To congratulate religious celebration is one of ways to maintain such social harmony among different religious communities. It seems as merely symbolic, indeed, but such symbols are significant to maintain in order to reduce conflict and tension between different faiths.

Second, in the Qur’an (Surah Maryam [19]: 33) it is mentioned that the Prophet Isa al-Masih once said, “wa al-salam ‘alayya yauma wulidtu yauma amutu wa wa yauma ub’atsu Hayya” [best wishes for me on the day of my birth, my funeral, and my resurrection]. In this verse, al-Qurtubi said that this verse means, God also congratulated the birth of Jesus (Al-Qurtubi, al-Jami ‘li Ahkam al-Qur’an, Volume VI, p.. 96)

The congratulations are not only given to the Prophet Jesus. Al-Qur’an congratulated other prophets as well. For the Prophet Noah, Al-Qur’an (Surat al-Shaffat [37]: 79) says, “Salamun ‘ala Nuh fi al’- Alamin” (greetings for the Noah amongst the universe); to Prophet Ibrahim (QS, al-Shaffat [37]: 109), “Salamun ‘ala Ibrahim” (greetings for the welfare of Abraham); to the Prophet Moses and Prophet Aaron (Surah al-Shaffat [37]: 120), “Salamun’ ala Musa wa Harun”  (greetings for the welfare of Moses and Aaron); for Prophet Ilyasin (Sura al-Shaffat [37]: 130), “Salamun ‘ala Ilyasin” (greetings for the welfare of the Prophet Ilyasin “. Not just the few that prophet, al-Qur’ an (Surat al-Shaffat [37]: 181) also congratulated to all messengers, “Salamun ‘ala al-Mursalin” may the welfare will be sent for all the messengers.
. 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.

Celebrating Christmas for Muslims is allowed, so that saying “Merry Christmas” to Christian friends is also allowed. Christmas greeting is not specifically said for Christians, but also to anyone who believe in the prophecy of Jesus, including Muslims. (:)

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.

Solo bomb was also considered as an effort of provocation. It was long time before the bombing of Solo, In December 25th 2000 several church bombings occurred. Solahuddin (2011) states that a series of Christmas bombing was intended to provoke Christians to avenge for the destruction of their church. If Christians were provoked, Muslims would also react, and all will be chaotic.
Such provocations were not quite successful. Instead of seeking revenge, Christian and Muslim leaders are joining their hands to condemn the terrorists and violent bombings. They campaigned for a single word, namely “kerukunan.”

“Kerukunan” is a single word that is often used in Indonesia to campaign for peace amid the threat of social unrest and violence. At glance, many people exchange or assume that the word “kerukunan” and “perdamaian” [peace] are similar. In fact, the word harmony has a deeper meaning, as it is urgently needed to resolve issues of conflict and violence.
The word “rukun” basically means the foundation or pillars. It is not just about living in peace. The word comes from the Arabic language as it is often used when recalling the phrase of “rukun iman” [pillars of faith] or “rukun Islam” [pillars of Islam]. The word “Rukun” in that phrase refers to the meaning of “foundation, pillars, or poles”.

The phrase “rukun iman” for example, is not intended as an attempt to reconcile many principles of faith in Islam. Because such as believing in God, the Prophet, the Scripture, the final day, and the provisions of God, all are the main principles which are not in contrast and contradiction. Similarly, the phrase “rukun Islam,” contain many rituals such as stating the two sentences of creed, praying, fasting, almsgiving, and performing pilgrimage for whom are capable. Those are things which are not in conflict and do not need to be reconciled.
In fact, the depth meaning of the word “rukun” or “kerukunan” seems to be the reason that harmony is not only meant as living in peace and mutual respect. Moreover, “kerukunan” means as a foundation for togetherness.
The awareness about the importance of “kerukunan” as the foundation for living together also underlies the spirit of the founding of Indonesian Republic. Building a country that is based on diversities is never easy. The potentiality of conflict and social violence are continuously haunt this nation. Here, the word “kerukunan” becomes very important. It represents the spirit to live together in peace, as the word has always been recognized as the most solid foundation in the life of this country.

School is where children grow up intellectually and become mature socially. In public schools, the school is not only home to a certain group; religious groups, ethnic groups, and socio-economic groups. The students come from different social and religious background. Aside from Muslim students, there are Protestants, Catholics, Hindus, Buddhists, Confucians and various traditional belief systems. For that reason, schools play an important role in processing plurality into pluralism. If plurality is a reality, then pluralism is a consciousness to appreciate those differences. One should not be excommunicated or isolated because s/he adhere to any particular belief. Everyone has the right and freedom to choose a religion. Indonesia’s 1945 Constitution guarantees and protects this freedom of religion.

However, anomalies and deviations emerge lately. Several studies indicate a tendency of religious radicalization in the schools. As frequently covered by the media, a number of students disappeared without the knowledge of their teachers and parents. Based on further investigation, they appear to be members of the Indonesian Islamic State movement (NII). NII is a movement that continues to develop and promote the establishment of an Islamic state as wished by its founder, S.M.

Kartosoewirjo. NII’s ideology mentions that Indonesia is an infidel country (kafir), since it is not established on the foundation of the Qur’an and the Hadith. Many of its followers allow theft because the possessions of Indonesian citizens are spoils of war (fa’i or ghanimah) that can be taken by force (robbery) or by fraud. In fact, they consider other Muslims who do not pledge their allegiances (bai’at) to NII as infidels. For them, people of other religions are threats.

It happens in public school that is founded and funded by the state. Not to mention about other education process that take place in many private institutions. 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.

Aside from the Wahhabi groups, we also observe how the radical Islamic groups, inspired by Osama bin Laden, Abdullah Azzam, Ayman al-Zawahiri and so on, launched the wave of radicalism in Indonesia. Like the Wahhabis, these radical Islamic groups also established several pesantrens, whereas its leaders acted as preachers among Muslim community. Beside the elderly, it is mostly young people in search of identity who often attend the sermons of these radical Islamic figures. Here, they are brainwashed to destroy their own country. These young people are indoctrinated that Indonesia is an evil country (thaghut) which must be eradicated. The systematic brainwashing is also inserted within their educational curriculum. In fact, their pesantren is not a mere teaching space for radicalism but also a training place for assembling and detonating bombs. A bomb explosion on Monday 11 July 2011, in Ma’had Umar ibn Khattab Bima Nusa Tenggara Barat, is still fresh in our memory.

The function of school has changed; from the seedbed of intellectualism to the hotbed of radicalism. In this context, I suggest two measures. First, the government should not hesitate to make any intervention in the schools that campaign against Indonesia’s principles of Pancasila, 1945 Constitution, and the nation-state. The government must introduce civic education to all levels of education in Indonesia, from kindergarten to university level. Since the beginning, students must get the knowledge about, for example, (a) why we take the road of democracy instead of theocracy; (b) why Indonesia become a state that is based on the principle of Pancasila instead of a religious state; (c) why all citizens have equal position: one is not superior than others due to his/her religion.

Second, parents’ control over the school is necessary. Parents must not be submissive to the schools agendas. They need to know about the teachers and the subjects they taught in the schools, as well as about the school’s view upon the state of Indonesia, people of different beliefs, and women. More specifically, parents need to know about the religion teachers in religious education [their education and family background]. By being a proactive and critical parent, our children will not be in wrong upbringing. It is considering that some children who excel in the field of physics and chemistry can turn out to be fundamentalists and even terrorists in the hands of fundamentalist religious teachers. I propose these two measures in an attempt to eradicate religious radicalism that has been thriving in Indonesia’s schools lately. []

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?

One of major issues that hinder Indonesia’s development is coming from to the problems faced by the marginalized and minority groups in this country. These groups are the minority adherents of local belief and religions. In addition, the LGBT groups (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) are also victims of a discriminatory system. Other minorities who experience discrimination are the disabled people. These minority groups are discriminated in three levels. First, they do not obtain social recognition. They live among society as if they do not exist. Many consider them as deviation that must be ignored.

Second, they are discriminated in terms of representation. Because these people do not obtain social recognition, ultimately their aspirations are not accommodated at the public life. See, for example, the urban planning and buildings in Indonesia, which is not representative at all for the people with disabilities. The architecture of buildings in the city is so intimidating for them. Furthermore, the voices of minority adherents of local religious beliefs are not heard. Aside from not having any representation in the social system, the LGBT groups are even marginalized and criminalized.

Third, they are discriminated in terms of redistribution. In the end, public services that should reach out all citizens are not accessible for the minority and marginal groups. In many cases, the adherents of local religions and beliefs always face problems whenever they want to register themselves for the identity cards, to arrange marriages, to obtain education, and to find a job. In registering their identity card (KTP), LGBT groups are trapped in confusion to include their gender identity. When they eventually have to choose their sexual identity either male or female, they actually lie to themselves. In some cases, recognition of their sexual identity becomes a huge problem for the LGBT groups, which must be solved in the court. Physical development that is not in favor of the disabled people has prevented them from obtaining equal access with other communities. They also lacked of equal access to education. Otherwise, they are enrolled in schools for child with special needs (SLB) which clearly has a very different quality. We have to reconsider about these issues seriously because we have decided to live together without any single discrimination.

The Islamic jurisprudence, fiqh, is extracted from the human interpretation of the Islamic text as well as of the context. For that reason, fiqh must be placed within particular social context and specific epistemological basis. Variables such as where the fiqh is formulated, by whom, at what period, in what condition and etcetera, will shape the product of fiqh. This kind of awareness will help us in understanding the limitations of Islamic fiqh. Especially that all the Muslim jurists were known as humble figures who acknowledge that there is always a possibility of errors and omissions in their interpretation or ijtihad. Human error is likely to happen in the formulation of Islamic fiqh now and then.

I often hold on this rationale in studying fiqh of marriage. First, it is true to say that that the concept of marriage as prescribed in fiqh is a marriage between man, man and man. According to the Shafi’i’s school of fiqh in particular, women have no space to stand as the guardians of the bride and witnesses in the marriage contract. If a father is unable to stand as his daughter’s guardian, the marriage guardianship falls on the bride’s grandfather instead of her mother. Similarly, if her grandfather is unable to do that, then the guardianship falls on her brother, and then on her uncle, otherwise the guardianship is delegated to the magistrate guardian (wali nikah). The matter of witness, which is also one of the conditions in Islamic marriage, is also arranged in the same way. Woman is not allowed to become witness in the marriage contract. Let alone to allow woman to wed herself by her own consent, fiqh does not allow her even to be the guardian for her daughter/granddaughter’s marriage.

Is that kind of fiqh incorrect? If we observe it based on the current parameters of gender equality and justice, it is incorrect; it abuses women’s dignity (the mother, grandmother, sister and aunt of the bride). However, if we consider the general condition of women living in the early period, we will be able to comprehend their circumstances. In the time of formulating fiqh of marriage, the person who know and understand most about the “best” future husband for a woman is not her mother, grandmother, aunt, or her female relatives; but it is his father, grandfather, brother and uncle. At that time, all women (mother, grandmother, aunt, female relatives) were mostly engaged in the domestic sphere. Their knowledge of “the men’s world” was very limited. That is the reason why guardianship is granted upon the men and not the women.

In fact, time has changed. Indonesia is not a Middle Eastern Arab country. Therefore, adopting the old fiqh into today’s family law is not a wise thing to do. Unlike Arab women who are until now confined in the domestic sphere, Indonesian women are being active in the public sphere as labors in the factory, farm workers, teachers, judges, advocates and so on. Unlike Arab women who are uninformed about men, the Indonesian women quite understand about the best future husband for their daughters, granddaughters and nieces. Again, unlike the Arab women who face difficulties in meeting and being acquainted with male non-relatives, Indonesian women can easily meet other men in the office, marketplace and elsewhere.

The big question we must answer is this: should we preserve the old Arabian fiqh, which disallow women from being guardians and witnesses, and from marrying herself at a very different time and space now? There are pros and cons among the Muslim jurists in responding this question. The cons opinion tends to subjugate the context to the authority of text. This view often uses the analogy of the head (text) and the fez (context). Instead of replacing the head if the fez does not fit in, they argue that the fez must be adjusted to the size of the head. On the other hand, the pros opinion for women’s guardianship comprehend that the changing context eventually affects changes in the text. For them, both Quran and fiqh is not the static “skull of human head”, but the texts that contain a high level of elasticity and adaptation (murûnah) toward diverse cultural contexts. There is a great chance of interplay between fiqh and reality.

Secondly, Islam prescribes dowry (mahr) in the marriage contract. All fiqh literatures set out the importance of giving dowry to the bride. Because he gives dowry, a husband has the right to use (haqq al-intifâ) and even the right to possess (haqq al-tamlik) woman’s body. According to fiqh, in the case of divorce where sexual intercourse has not occurred in the marriage (qabl al-dukhûl), then the husband is entitled for half of the dowry. However, the wife is entitled to the full dowry if the divorce occurs after sexual intercourse (ba’da al-dukhûl). In this mechanism, the “sale–purchase” or barter between men and women become a salient feature in the Islamic marriage. Such transaction in the marriage is not different from sale-purchase of goods or properties. The groom stands as buyer and the bride’s guardian stands as seller.

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”.

It does not mean that I reject the prerequisite of dowry in the marriage. Let the groom grant some money, goods or property to the bride and vice versa. In my humble opinion, dowry is the initial capital for building a family. However, it must be noted that: [1], the dowry must not be intended to buy one’s body. [2], discussion concerning dowry must not be the priority and must not bury the essence of marriage that is founded on the principle of love, equality, and common benefit. The foundation of love and equality must be declared in the marriage ceremony. Meanwhile, let the two families discuss the matter of dowry among them and then register it in the civil registry office. []