Al-Tawassuṭ wa-l I‘tidāl: The NU and Moderatism in Indonesian Islam

Abstract

Moderate Islam is a paradox. In the United States, Muslim intellectuals and activists use this term with super caution and reservation, avoid it when possible. In contrast to that, their counterparts in Indonesia enthusiastically and proudly claim to be the champions of moderate Islam. The question is why those intellectuals and activists from the same religion but coming from different continent and type of country responded the idea of moderate Islam differently, if not contradistinctively. Given that this term is commonly used as a translation of Qur’anic term umma wasaṭ, it is also important to ask the meaning of this term in Islamic history, how Muslim exegetes throughout Islam history conceptualise umma wasaṭ? And finally, how Indonesian Muslims define moderatism after the 9/11 and what are the criteria of moderate Islam in their views? By analysing the concept of moderate Islam as adopted by the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), the largest Islamic movement in Indonesia, this article shows that the meaning moderate in Indonesia is more theological, while in the US it is more political. Moderate Islam in Indonesia is more related to the doctrine of Aswaja, while in the US this notion has more connection with George W. Bush’s ‘war on terror.’

Perspektif Hermeneutika Ricoeur Menyusuri Agenda Toleransi Di Organisasi Islam Nahdlatul Ulama

“…Moderatisme NU dikenal melalui doktrin ajaran ahlussunnah wal jamaah (Aswaja) yang digagas oleh salah seorang tokoh NU yakni KH. Ahmad Siddiq, di mana karakteristik Islam Sunni diwujudkan oleh NU dengan sikap moderat (tawasuth), adil (i"itidal), seimbang (tawazzun), dan toleran (tasamuh), serta tolong menolong (ta"awun) (Burhani, 2012). Menurut Hannese, pandangan NU sebagai organisasi Islam toleran, moderat, dan egaliter serta nasionalis inilah yang mampu mengatasi dan meredam konflik antaragama di berbagai daerah di Indonesia (Hannase, 2017).…”

“…Penafsiran NU mengenai toleransi terhadap non-muslim sebagai ukhuwah wathaniyah (persaudaraan kebangsaan), di mana dalam pandangan NU non-muslim merupakan saudara sebangsa membuktikan NU adalah organisasi Islam moderat. Hal ini relevan dengan kajian-kajian sebelumnya tentang moderatisme NU (Burhani, 2012;Hannase, 2017;Hilmy, 2013;Murtaufiq, 2018).…”

Tasawwuf (Sufism) as The Basis for Internalizing Humanist Character of Indonesian Muslims (Case Study of Pesantren in Yogyakarta and Madura)

“…Meanwhile Paul L. Heck emphasized that Tasawwuf is an important aspect in Islamic teachings where he is able to create Muslim morals that are in accordance with the current international order (Heck, 2006). Ahmad Najib Burhani added that the concept of moderate Islam offered by Nahdlatul Ulama (Indonesia's largest Islamic organization) affiliated with Islamic boarding schools in Indonesia was oriented towards moderation in the theological field, and not political moderation (Burhani, 2012). Julia D. Howel reaffirms that tasawwuf is a tradition that becomes the identity of Indonesian Muslims in opposition to the spirit of salafi Muslims who are connoted as Muslim circles that are close to radicalism (Howel, 2010).…”

‘Leadership is a sacred matter’: women leaders contesting and contextualising neoliberal meritocracy in the Indonesian academia

“…Although Indonesia is not an Islamic state, Islam does play a significant role in its socio-cultural-political-economic spheres, such as the mobilisation of religious identity politics during elections, the growth of halal industries, orin the field of educationthe presence of Islamic public universities in most major cities. Despite a recent surge in conservative Islamism (Schäfer 2019), historically, Indonesian Islam has been considered tolerant or 'moderate' (Burhani 2012). The largest and oldest Muslim mass organisation in the country, Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), for example, promotes and embodies the moderation of Islam in at least three principles, i.e.…”