dear rizqon,
sorry for my late response, nowadays i've been through hectic schedules which are not necessarily very much relating to my academic engagements; or to be precise it's something to do with the so called 'external' business. as we are both agreed the 'external' things of scheme could consume even much more energy than it deserves to be, every now and then. (u know what i mean, pal) :) well, NU represents a reality, to begin with. a reality of the majority of indonesian muslim population. it represents a traditional islam, a kind of muslim in this part of the world who, like many other muslim around the globe, has a peculiar type of cultural identity which is not necessarily 'islamic' in its strictest sense of the term. Islam, as we know, came to indonesia in the form of its main principle and the nitty-gritty stuff generally evolves in accordance with indigenous culture. it's the way islam penetrates in every nook and corner of the earth. therefore, even before the so called NU was born, the community it represents were already there. hence, the birth of NU just symbolises the existence of the community. it's different, comparatively speaking, for example with the way muhammadiyah was born. from the above perspective, the points you discuss in the article is a bit insignificant for me, but imprortant though for the media and the mass who dont know much about NU. first, the so called progressif islam, JIL, etc are actually coherent with NU and become integral part of NU tradition from the very beginning. so, i think it needs not be considered as something new. It's KH Subadar's view who wanna oppose anybody from JIL that's new to me. in other word, he's could be considerd as bringing a kind of 'soft' wahhabism to NU. :) the use of qaidah ushul fiqh in pesantren which is often exploited by ulil, for instance, is a manifestation of the extent the NU community wanna be flexible and not stick too much to rigidity. secondly, practically speaking NU community is even much more flexible. Not only the lay-men NU who's been so 'flexible', even the kyais themselves are very flexible. everybody within NU knows what it means. so, as far as flexibility and freedom of thought go, it should not be considered as a big deal at all. and if KH Subadar still insist to what he say, there's something we should catch it up between the line. everybody knows it's him who controversially declared a fatwa on the eve of the last election that a women is unfit to rule the country, bla bla bla. at the same time, JIL and ulil dont need too much obsessive to liberalise all indonesian muslim. as konservatism or even radicalism are part of the reality also (see john gray, 'alqaeda and modernity and what it means'; 2003) now, the most important things for NU on the eve of its muktamar is how to uplift its already marginalised community, socially as well as economically. wahyu susilo said in Kompas (26/11/04) that most foreign domestic helper (tki/tkw) are NUs. Not only that, the majority of the poorest population are NUs. this is the biggest task the generation-next intellectuals and activist within NU should elaborate and seriously discuss and then implement it. NU Youth intellectualls spend too much time for making its liberal way of thinking nationally accepted. it's ok though, unless you spend it in front of your community who're starving and begging for your help. is it ironic, no? i reckon, if NU succeeds in uplifting its community status (economically), half of national problem regarding poverty is done. unfortunately, for the time being, they are still part of the problem. until this problem is met by the convention, the muktamar is meaningless. it will only have the meaning (economically) for those who become the committee and gain a lion share of funds :p and special for my dear friend, rizqon, welcome to international competition. congratulations for the good debut.. :) regards, > http://www.thejakartapost.com/detaileditorial.asp?fileid=20041124.E02&irec=1 > > November 24, 2004 > > The NU convention and nonconventional Islam > Rizqon Khamami, New Delhi > > The convention (Muktamar) of Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) > which will be held from Nov. 28 to Dec. 2 in > Donohudan, Surakarta is a focal point for the future > of progressive Islam in Indonesia. The very fact > that Indonesia is the world's most populous Muslim > nation, and the NU is the biggest Islamic > organization in the country, leads to the assumption > that progressive Islam, which is the main > characteristic of Indonesian Islam, would be at > stake, if the views of progressive Islam are > rejected during the convention. > > Within the NU, the idea of progressive Islam is held > by several young intellectuals. > For instance, Liberal Islam is upheld by Ulil Abshar > Abdalla and Moqsith Ghozali through the Liberal > Islam Network (JIL). Other elements of progressive > Islam are included, but not limited to, Islam > Emansipatopry (P3M), Islam Leftist (LKiS), Islam > Indigenous (Khamami Zada), Islam International > (Nadirsyah Hosen), Post-Traditional Islam (ICIS) and > Islam Post Religion (Rumadi). > It can be safely stated that their views represent a > new wave of emerging young intellectual Muslims > during the last 10 years within NU. Despite their > different approaches, they share a similar view that > Islam should be reinterpreted in a moderate, > contextual and progressive way. > However, all the discourses are not without > hindrance. The idea of progressive Islam has been > criticized by several conservative ulema. These > ulema are of the opinion that discourse on > progressive Islam is not only based on Western > secular views but is also against the fundamental > concept of NU's teachings in terms of its theology > and legal interpretation. > By contrast, the conservative group interprets > Islamic teachings in a textual and traditional way. > They use the sources, opinions and methodology that > have been issued by the ulema for centuries. They do > not consider the fact that such views are unsuited > to the current situation. ===== Mario Gagho Political Science, Agra University, India __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? 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