http://www.thejakartapost.com/detaileditorial.asp?fileid=20070119.E02&irec=1
Islam isn't just about scarves and amputations Mirza Tirta Kusuma, Chicago If people learn about Islam through the application of sharia in Indonesia, particularly in Aceh, they will conclude that the religion is all head scarves, beatings and amputated hands. After tawhid (monotheism), justice is the main theme of the Koran. The essential message of Islam, like other prophetic traditions, is that we are being called upon to transform the world and create a just moral and social order. This is a message that can unite people of all faiths, regardless of their theological and other differences. The Koran declares that all human suffering should be alleviated. We know that people all over the world are crying out, struggling and suffering for social justice. In order to attain rahmatan li-al'alamin (grace for the universe), religion cannot cease to be celestial or leave the mainstream. It must be fused into a living, dynamic reality. The first and basic right emphasized by the Koran is the right to be regarded in a way that reflects the godliness and absolute value of each human life. Each person has the right not only to live but also to be respected, not by the authority of being a man or a woman, but as a virtue of being a human being. Furthermore, if we pay attention to the monotheism taught by the Prophet Muhammad, it is related to social and economic justice, humanism. The intensity of emphasis on monotheism is the same as its special consideration for humanism and socio-economic justice. God admonishes, "woe betides those who pray." Why? It is because, "although they pray, they are (yet) neglectful of their prayers; those who (pray for) show and (even) refuse (the use of) utensils (to needy people)." Although giving preference to the poor is a trademark of the church of Latin America, it must become a trademark of believers. Liberation theology arose in Latin America in a very distinctive socio-economic context that was characterized by exploitation and repression. Today, we find ourselves in a world of accelerating change, shrinking distances and mounting crises. We need theology that is relevant to our situation. Liberation theology takes as its basis the everyday life of people of faith. John Sobrino, for example, sees suffering and exploitation as the point of an encounter between God and the poor. Ethics, Sobrino says, does not arise from hearing the verbal demands of Jesus but from experiencing the "total reality of Jesus" as one encounters the exploited, depressed and ignored. In the same expression, Farid Esack said that "to engage in the Ko'anic hermeneutic in a situation of injustice is to do theology and to experience faith as solidarity with the oppressed and marginalized in a struggle for liberation." Of the more than six billion humans living on this planet, more than one quarter live below the international poverty line. Such poverty has consequences. According to the UN Food and Agricultural Organization, "worldwide, 34,000 children under age five die daily from hunger and preventable diseases." "Two in five children in the developing world are stunted, one in three is underweight, and one in ten is wasted." Looking at this reality, we gain a sense not only of moral responsibility, but the realization that if the Almighty gave so much to us, then in turn we must use that blessing to help the less privileged. Just believing in God and going through the rituals is not good enough -- one also has to be a good human being. When the believers are addressed in the Koran, it always says, "those who believe and do good deeds." To work for the underprivileged is to work for people. It is a commitment to acting and living from a point of view that respects people, especially those who are not treated with respect normally in our society. It is to proclaim by one's actions that people are more important than the systems that deprive them of their basic rights -- the right to eat, the right to work, the right to participate in decision-making, the right to worship according to their conscience and even the basic right to life itself. The Koran uses the word mustad'afun -- meaning someone who is oppressed or deemed weak and of not consequence and treated in an arrogant fashion -- to refer to the poor. The mustad'afun are people of "inferior" social status, who are vulnerable, marginalized or oppressed in the socio-economic sense. The Koran also uses other terms to describe the lower, poorer and deprived classes of society, such as aradhil (marginalized), the fuqoro (the poor) and the masakin (the indigent). Help for the mustad'afun is manifest in the life of Muhammad and his early followers in Mecca. He was commanded by the Koran to remain committed to the marginalized in spite of the short-term financial and economic advantages for Islam that would have followed the conversion of wealthy and the powerful. The suffering of the poor reveals the religious and social structures of nations. Its presence indicates that there is something wrong deep in a nation's religious and social fabric. Just as a red light flashes in warning when a car starts to run out of fuel, the downtrodden and dispossessed are signs that our political, economic and religious systems are functioning without justice. The world food crisis is proof of a profound crisis of faith, a demand for a fundamental rethinking of the meaning of faith, the essence of the message behind religion, including a new search for justice and human transformation in the scriptural message. In a situation of injustice we need theology to and to experience faith as solidarity with the oppressed and marginalized in the struggle for liberation. Religion should no longer be left in the realm of the preacher, but be borne through the direct practical observation of reality. The writer is a Ford Foundation and Cardinal Bernardin Scholar in Chicago. She can be reached at [EMAIL PROTECTED] +++ -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: [email protected] Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. 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