International journal of nusantara islam vol 2 no 1

The Commercialisation of Modern Islamic Insurance Providers: A Study of Takaful Business Frameworks in Malaysia

The Commercialisation of Modern Islamic Insurance Providers: A Study of Takaful Business Frameworks in Malaysia Kamaruzaman Noordin1*, Mohd. Rizal Muwazir @Mukhazir1 Azian Madun1 1Department

of Shariah and Management Academy of Islamic Studies University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Tel: +603-79676013 *Corresponding Author, Email: zamann@um.edu.my Abstract

A commercial insurance contract is deemed invalid by many Muslim scholars due to the fact that it is a mu`awada (financial exchange) contract, which is overwhelmed by prohibited elements such as gharar (uncertainty), riba (interest), and maysir (gambling). As an alternative, a Shari`acompliant insurance scheme (also known as takaful) that supposedly run on the principles of mutual co-operation was proposed by the scholars and subsequently institutionalized in the late 1970s. Nevertheless, after more than 30 years, it appears that the majority of takaful operators currently exist worldwide were established as joint-stock or public limited companies (PLCs). As a result, it could be argued that the original concept of takaful was later overshadowed by the element of profit-making as observed in commercial insurance entities. This paper therefore sets out to examine those issues, which directly relate to this form of commercialisation. It argues that since the establishment of insurance companies based on commercial framework is impermissible, it could possibly affect the validity of present takaful arrangement. This study is mainly qualitative and relies greatly upon the documentation method. It is also based on a fieldwork method, since the business models adopted by several takaful operators in Malaysia are carefully examined. In general, it is found that the characteristics of a commercial takaful entity may not necessarily be similar to that of its conventional counterpart.

Keywords: Takaful, tabarru`, mudarabah, ji`alah, wakalah.

A. INTRODUCTION The issue of the legal status of insurance contracts has been discussed and debated by Muslim jurists since as early as the 18th century and has continued for more than a century, (`Ali Muhyi alDin al-Qarradaghi, 2005). To date, Muslim scholars from all over the world have issued hundreds of legal opinions regarding insurance contracts, either as individual opinions or group resolutions.

Some regard the insurance contract to be invalid on various grounds, while others maintain its permissibility based on different sets of arguments.

Regardless of the above polemics, the majority of Muslim scholars seem to have reached a more balanced resolution by not regarding all types of insurance contracts as forbidden. To be specific, they argue that ta’mintijari, commercial insurance, is forbidden, while ta’minta`awuni or tabaduli, mutual or co-operative insurance, is considered valid. This particular resolution has been reached at various forums, including the second conference of the Islamic Research Academy held in Cairo in 1965,(Al-Qarradaghi, 2008) the tenth meeting session of the Council of Senior Scholars of Saudi Arabia held in Riyadh in 1977, the first session of the Islamic Fiqh Academy under the

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auspices of the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) held in Mecca in 1398H/1978M, (Talal De Lorenzo, 2004) and the second meeting of the above Academy in 1406H/1985M.(AlQarradaghi, 2008) The above resolutions seem to have received a positive response from Muslim countries as indicated by the establishment of Islamic insurance institutions, also known as takaful, all over the world. From the existence of only one Islamic insurance provider in 1979, there are currently 161 Islamic insurance companies operating in 32 different countries, (http://www.ey.com). Interestingly, almost all of these companies were established as joint-stock or public limited companies rather than purely mutual or co-operative entities as suggested by the resolution. Only Sudan can claim that its Islamic insurance companies operate under pure co-operative principles (Ahmad, 2006).

This phenomenon seems to suggest that the original resolution may no longer be applicable to the modern takaful set-up. It is believed that the major disadvantage of mutual and co-operative organizations, i.e. that they can only obtain resources from their members and cannot raise equity capital, has strongly demotivated takaful providers from being established as mutual companies (Wilson, 2007). Hence, one big question arises as to whether this form of ‘commercialization’ is permissible from the Islamic point of view, particularly when the arrangement is subjected to the rules of prohibited gharar. This paper aims to examine this issue in the light of the Malaysian takaful industry practices.

B. METODHOLOGY This paper sets out to examine the issues, which directly relate to this form of commercialisation. It argues that since the establishment of insurance companies based on commercial framework is impermissible, it could possibly affect the validity of present takaful arrangement. This study is mainly qualitative and relies greatly upon the documentation method.

C. RESULT AND DISCUSSION 1. Islamic Insurance and it’s Synonyms Before critically analysing the above issue, it is worth mentioning here that Islamic insurance is also known by several other terms, which include Co-Operative Insurance, Takaful as well as Halal Insurance. The use of these different terms easily be inferred from the names of the companies which we are known to offer Shari`a compliant insurance products throughout the globe. The first term, i.e. Co-Operative Insurance.is mainly used by the companies in the Middle Eastern region, particularly Saudi Arabia and Sudan. For example, in Saudi Arabia, more than half of the companies incorporated therein we are named after the term ‘Co-operative Insurance’. This is not surprising, because the law of the country requires any insurance company (registered in Saudi) to operate in accordance with the co-operative insurance method (Ahmad, 2006),(Wilson,2007).Moreover, co-operative insurance is basically considered as valid by the majority of the Muslim jurists, including the Saudi’s Council of Senior Scholars. Nevertheless, as will be explained in the coming chapter, the operational dimensions of Islamic insurance may not necessarily be similar to co-operative insurance.

The term ‘”Halal Insurance”’, on the other hand, was popularized by the first ever-independent Islamic insurance provider in the United Kingdom called Salaam Halal Insurance, (http://www.newhorizon-islamicbanking.com). The term, however, appears to be have faded away recently, as the company ceased to accept new business due to unfavourable market conditions.

Takaful, is perhaps the most popular term in these days, since it is extensively used by the

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industry players as well as by the academia (Co-Operative Insurance). In Malaysia, a special act called the Takaful Act was introduced in 1984 to administer the operation of Islamic insurance companies in the country. Later in 2013, the Act was repealed and replaced by a more comprehensive Act called the Islamic Financial Services Act 2013 (IFSA), (http://www.bnm.gov.my). Consequently, takaful is statutorily synonymous with the notion of Islamic insurance in Malaysia. Many international events and published reports are also seen as proposing takaful as the proper term for the Islamic insurance industry in general. Some of the prestigious events regarding Islamic insurance are known as the International Takaful Summit (held annually in London) and The World Takaful Conference (held annually in Dubai). There are also many reports published by auditing firms and rating companies such as Standard & Poor’s, Ernst & Young and AON that directly address Islamic insurance as takaful. One of the significant reports that highlight the overall performance of the Islamic insurance industry worldwide is The World Takaful Report, which is published by Ernst & Young on an annual basis.

It should be noted, however, that not all parties seem to agree with the using of takaful to connote the whole idea of Islamic insurance. For example, in most Arab countries, particularly Saudi Arabia and Sudan, takaful appears to be specifically referred to the Islamic version of life insurance schemes, (Ahmad) (Ibrahim). The Islamic version of general insurance, on the other hand, is purposely distinguished by the using of the term Islamic insurance or co-operative insurance. In Swiss Re’s serial publication called Sigma, it is also stated that Islamic insurance is distinguished from takaful. While the former refers to all concepts of Islamic insurance, the latter refers specifically to insurance models that use segregated funds for policyholders and share holders (Swiss Re, 2008). Unlike the Saudis and Sudanese cases, the scope of usage of the term takaful term in the latter case may well include Shari`a -compliant life and non-life insurance schemes.

The main difference between takaful and Islamic insurance as suggested by Swiss Re seems to concentrate on the organizational structure of the insurance arrangement.

Despite the above differences, this paper will consider the notion of both Islamic insurance and takaful as interchangeable. This is perhaps consistent with the present international practices, as shown earlier. Moreover, since this research is restricted to the Malaysian market, in which the Takaful Act (and later IFSA 2013) has been enacted, the use of the term ‘takaful’ is perhaps more accurate. Hence, the term ‘takaful’ will be used interchangeably with Islamic insurance throughout the paper as if they were exactly identical.

2. The Definition of Takaful Takaful is an Arabic noun derived from the root verb kafala, which means to guarantee,; secure,; ensure or be liable for(Ba`albaki, 2008). From this base, comes the derived stem takafala, which means to guarantee each other,; to vouch for each other, or to be jointly liable or responsible (Wehr, 1980). Takaful, which is the verbal noun of the latter, literally means mutual or joint responsibility, solidarity or mutual agreement (Wehr, Ba`albaki). According to the Oxford Dictionary of English, takaful means a type of insurance system devised to comply with the Shari`a laws, in which money is pooled and invested (Allen, 1990). This rather technical definition tends to show that the term ‘takāful’ has already been acknowledged by the Western scholars to represent the idea of Islamic insurance.

Perhaps, one of the most established and authoritative technical definitions of takaful could be found in the Malaysian Takaful Act 1984. According to Section 2 of the Act, takaful is defined as follows:

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Takaful means a scheme based on brotherhood, solidarity and mutual assistance which provides for mutual financial aid and assistance to the participants in case of need whereby the participants mutually agree to contribute for that purpose.

As the first statutory definition of takaful, this definition seems to be very general and rather imprecise. Firstly, it appears as if the participants we are entitled to receive financial aid or compensation (from the Takaful Fund) in any situation of need, not necessarily subjected to the occurrence of certain risks or perils, as takaful is supposed to mean. Secondly, it tends to signify that takaful is a pure mutual undertaking in which no involvement from outside or a third party is expected. Nevertheless, the latter inconsistency is perhaps resolved by the subsequent definitions which clearly link takaful to a business arrangement (The Shari`a. Furthermore). In fact, the Act is mainly enacted to provide for a procedure for the registration of takafulbusinesses, and to establish the conditions under which they operate, (Wilson).

A more conclusive and precise definition of takafulcanould perhaps be found in standards or guidelines produced by the two most authoritative bodies in the Islamic finance industry, namely the Accounting and Auditing Organization for Islamic Financial Institutions (AAOIFI) and the Islamic Financial Services Board (IFSB). AAOIFI in its Shari`aStandards defines Islamic insurance, without mentioning the word takaful, as follows: Islamic insurance is a process of agreement among a group of persons to handle the injuries resulting from specific risks to which all of them are vulnerable involves payment of contributions as donations and leads to the establishment of an insurance fund that enjoys the status of a legal entity. The resources of this fund are used to indemnify any participant who encounters injury. The fund is managed by either a selected group of policyholders, or a joint stock companies that manages the insurance operations and invests the assets of the fund, against a specific fee (AAOIFI, Shari`a Standards).

Likewise, IFSB, in its published guidelines entitled ‘Guiding Principles on Governance for Takaful (Islamic Insurance) Undertakings’, describes takafulas follows: Takaful is the Islamic counterpart of conventional insurance, and exists in both Family (and “Life”) and General forms. Takaful is derived from an Arabic word that means joint guarantee. In a Takaful arrangement the participants contribute a sum of money as Tabarru` commitment into a common fund that will be used mutually to assist the members against a specified type of loss or damage. The underwriting in a Takaful is thus undertaken on a mutual basis, similar in some respects to conventional mutual insurance. A typical Takaful undertaking consists of two-tier structure that is a hybrid of a mutual and a commercial form of company – which is the Takaful operator (TO) – although in principle it could be a pure mutual structure (http://www.ifsb.org).

Based on the above definitions, it is clear that takaful is supposed to be built upon the principle of mutual help amongst the policyholders, or termed as participants. Each of them would voluntarily make a contribution to a common fund (known as the Participant’s Risk Fund [PRF]) on the basis of tabarru`, a donation, which will be later used to pay compensation to any of the participants who suffer losses or injuries from the insured events. This particular feature renders takaful comparable with the conventional mutual or co-operative insurance, whereby the participants are seen sharing and distributing the risks amongst themselves instead of transferring it them to the a third party.

Through this co-operation, the participants are considered as to be both the insured and insurer at once.

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However, both mutual insurance and takafulare likely to differ in terms of the management of the fund. While the insurance fund in a mutual or co-operative entity is completely owned and managed by its own members, a takaful fund, on the other hand,canould possibly be managed by a joint-stock commercial entity (whilst its ownership maintains with the participants). Hence, based on this feature, takafulmay not necessarily be restricted to a purely mutual structure but could also involve a commercial setup, as the company who manages the fund (i.e. the takaful operator) is actively seeking profits by charging certain fees from the takaful fund. In reality, almost all takaful operators in these days are joint-stock or public limited companies instead of pure co-operative or mutual organizations (Ahmad).As a result, takafulcould be well described as a hybrid of a mutual and a commercial form of company. The mutual form of takafulcould be inferred from the relationship amongst the participants, while the relationship between the participants (or takaful fund) and the takafuloperator would constitute the commercial form of the arrangement. The latter relationship, especially which applies to the Malaysian takaful environment, will be further explored and critically examined in the forthcoming sections of this paper.

3. The Commercialization of Takaful As previously stated, the majority of the takaful schemes available today are initiated and managed by joint-stock or public limited companies (which are obviously commercial in nature), rather than purely mutual organizations. Thus, it is perhaps right to suggest that takaful cannot be separated from the notion of ‘commercialization’.

The word ‘commercialization’ comes from from the root word ‘commerce’, which refers to the activity of buying and selling, especially on a large scale. It originates from the middle of the 16thcentury French or Latin word ‘commercium’, which means trade or trading (Allen, 1990).As an adjective, the word ‘commercial’ can mean relating to commerce (i.e. involving or relating to the buying and selling of goods) as well as done for profit (i.e. done with the primary aim of making money), (Rooney,Jellis, 2005). When a particular organization or activity is labelled as commercial (e.g. commercial bank or insurance) it is concerned with making money or profits rather than, for example, with scientific research or providing a public service (Collins, 2004).

Related to the above, the word ‘commercialize’, a verb, means to manage or exploit (an organization, activity, etc.) in a way designed to make a profit (The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Current English). If something is commercialized, it is used or changed in such a way that it makes money or profit, often in a way that people disapprove of (Collins Cobuild Advanced Learner’s English Dictionary). It also means to apply business principles to something or run it as a business and to exploit something for financial gain (Bloomsbury Concise English Dictionary). Therefore, the word ‘commercialization’, which is a derivative (noun) of ‘commercialize’, can be defined as a process or state of managing, exploiting or altering something in a way that would make it very much synonymous with the notion of business, whereby the element of profit is undoubtedly sought after. This profit-seeking motive can sometimes have a negative connotion, as it tends to denote the enrichment of one party at the expense of another.

In this paper, takaful is considered to be greatly affected by the notion of commercialization, since most of the current takaful organizers, if not all, are business entities or corporations that see the opportunity of making money and profit out of providing/instigating management services to a rather socially-inspired undertaking. In the context of the Malaysian takaful industry, in particular, it appears that the mutual or co-operative-based organizational structure is almost irrelevant to the operators. In fact, it was identified earlier by the author that all the takaful schemes in Malaysia are initiated, marketed and organized by commercial organizations backed by the leading financial

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giants (which are obviously profit-seeking entities). Of all the 12 takaful companies currently operating, only one appears to be jointly owned by a co-operative body (Great Eastern Takaful Sdn. Bhd). Nevertheless, as will be explained next, this may not necessarily render the takaful arrangement similar to commercial insurance, which is considered forbidden by the majority of Muslim scholars. Yet its commercialization can still invoke certain issues which need to be carefully analyzed in order for the former to be completely dissociated from the latter. For instance, some possible ghararincidences can be detected in the operation of certain operators that might render the commercial side of takaful invalid (Noordin, 2012).

4. Commercial Takaful vis-à-vis Commercial Insurance At first sight, takaful providers may seem to be similar to commercial insurers due to the fact that they are mostly, if not all, joint-stock companies or corporations which aim to make money or profit from the services rendered. Nevertheless, upon deeper investigation the notion of ‘commercial’ may prove to be different in both entities, and thus would lead to different legal rulings. It appears that the notion of ‘commercial’, which is synonymous with a profit-seeking motive, has led to the banning of conventional insurance but not takaful in general. Perhaps this distinction can be best explained by the fact that Shari`alaw views a profit-seeking motive as legitimate so long as it conforms to the rules, ethics and norms of a business. This includes the avoidance of dealing with riba, gharar, maysir and other forms of unfair practice.

As maintain by many scholars, the operation of a commercial insurer is very much affected by the above elements, particularly gharar, and thus has led to its prohibition. On the other hand, the revenue and profit for a commercial takaful operator should only be sought through legitimate or Shari`a-compliant means, which are supposed to be free from those prohibited elements. In Malaysia, and perhaps worldwide, this is mainly done through the application of several nominate contracts such as wakala bi ajr, remunerated agency, mudaraba, profit sharing, and ji`ala, reward.

As will be explained in detail later on, these contracts appear to allow the operators to legally secure their revenue and profit consistent with their role as a hired agent, entrepreneur or worker respectively.

Yet these contracts, which are obviously not in the tabarru` category, are still subjected to the rules of gharar and thus can possibly be judged as invalid (due to gharar) if their conditions are not fully met. Moreover, in most cases, the takaful operators are also seen as taking advantage of combining two or more of these contracts in order to obtain higher revenue and profit. In addition, the drive to secure higher profits can sometimes inspire the takaful operator to engage in rather controversial practices. These may include the modification of the contract’s original specifications (such as the altered definition of profit in the mudaraba contract) and the application of the contract in a disputed area (such as applying the ji`ala contract to justify the sharing of an underwriting surplus).

Regardless of these controversies, the correct application of these contracts is considered to be the main reason for the validity of commercial takaful as opposed to commercial insurance.

Perhaps the application of these contracts has made certain specifications of the commercial notion in takaful substantially different from that found in commercial insurance. The explanations of why the notion of ‘commercial’ in takaful is different from commercial insurance due to the application of the above-mentioned contracts follow in the next sections.

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5. Responsibility to Indemnify In commercial insurance, the concept of risk transfer is applied whereby the insurance company is seen as taking full responsibility to indemnify the insured (during the occurrence of an insured peril) in exchange for premiums received from the latter. This transaction is obviously mu`awada, financial exchange, in which the insurer aims to make a profit out of the insurance operation (AAOIFI, Shari`aStandards, 2007). In other words, the whole insurance arrangement is initiated and endorsed by the company’s own name under the notion of a pure sale contract. Conversely, the concept of risk sharing amongst the participants (instead of risk transfer) is applied in takaful whereby the operator only assumes the role as an agent, worker or entrepreneur to the takaful arrangement, but not as an insurer (Al-Qarradaghi).It is the group of participants that is actually considered to be the insurer (as well as the insured) in this arrangement, similar to mutual or cooperative types of insurance, based on the principles of tabarru` and ta`awun (AAIOFI, Shari`a Standards). In short, the commercial aspect of the takaful operator in this regard is limited to the aspect of providing management services to the insurance undertaking, which in principal is initiated by the participants. Even though this can also be considered as mu`awada, it is obviously underlain by several contracts other than sale, i.e. wakala bi ajr, mudaraba or ji`ala.

6. Accounts Management Following the above feature, the takaful operator is required to maintain two separate accounts, one for the shareholders’ rights and liabilities and the other for the rights and liabilities of the participants or policyholders (Ibid). To be specific, all contributions paid by the participants are credited into the latter account, which is commonly known as the Participant’s Risk Fund (PRF), to cover all the expenses related to the provision of the insurance services. Any residual amount recorded by the account (after deduction of expenses and indemnity amounts) is considered as surplus and remains the property of the participants collectively (AAOIFI, Shari`a Standards). The company, or to be specific, the shareholders, has no rights to whatever amount that is credited to or remains in this account apart from their stipulated proportion of wakala charges, and in some cases may also include performance fees. On the other hand, there is no need for the commercial insurer to hold two different accounts, since all premiums collected are immediately owned by the company in exchange for its insurance protection (Al-Qarradaghi)(AAOIFI, Shari`a Standards).

Obviously, this is parallel to the characterization of insurance as a contract of sale, whereby the premium (paid by the policyholder) is considered to be the price, while the financial protection (offered by the insurer) is regarded as the object of sale. Consequently, any remaining premiums (after deducting claims and other operating expenses) also belong to the latter.

7. The Sources of Profit As a result of the previous two characteristics, the definition and recognition of profit for both takaful and insurance companies should also be different from one another. Perhaps this could be the ultimate test for a commercial takaful operator, since the over-emphasis on maximization of profit could possibly lead it beyond the limit of a legitimate commercial entity due to its tendency to engaging in prohibited elements such as gharar, jahalaand so on. The revenue and profit for commercial insurers are mostly sourced from the premiums paid by the policyholders, since they constitute part of the former’s assets (AAOIFI, Shari`a Standards). The more premiums it collects and the less compensation it pays, the bigger profit it will make (Al-Qarradaghi). Technically, an underwriting surplus, which is generally defined as the difference between the premiums collected and the subsequent outflow (i.e. claims, reserves, operational expenses, etc.), is recognized as profit attributable to the shareholders in commercial insurance (Ibid). Apart from this primary

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source, an insurer will also gain revenue and profit from investing its own capital as well as the above premiums in various fields including those associated with riba, gharar, maysir and other prohibited elements.

This is not the case for a commercial takaful operator, since it does not automatically own all the contributions paid by the participants as well as the surplus recorded in the latter’s account. Due to its role as a mere trustee, any remaining amount in the PRF is not regarded as the shareholders’ profit. Instead, it remains the property of the policyholders as a group, and could partly or wholly be distributed between them under the notion of surplus-sharing(AAOIFI, Shari`a Standards)(AlQarradaghi). Notwithstanding that, a commercial takafuloperator can still acquire revenue and profit from the participants’ contributions consistent with its role as an agent or manager of the pooled fund. This can be in the form of fees and charges imposed on contributions and the PRF or through a share in the profit or surplus of the Fund, which corresponds to the application of several specific contracts that underlie the relationship between the participants (or PRF) and the operator.

In the latest guidelines issued by BNM, which takes effect on 1st October 2011, the following requirements need to be observed by takaful operators in determining the appropriate amount of the above incomes (http://www.bnm.gov.my): a. There must be a specific and clear intended outcome from the work undertaken to justify the remuneration. There shall not be double charging within a takaful product; b. The remuneration to be taken shall be appropriate and reasonable, and determined with due regard to provide fair treatment to stakeholders; c. Implications on takaful funds, in particular on the fund’s long-term viability, shall be considered; and d. The level of of remuneration to be taken must be commensurate with the complexity of the services rendered and the associated risks.

Below is a summary of possible income for takaful companies, particularly in Malaysia, that may constitute profits for the shareholders.

8. Fixed Wakala Fees and Charges As an agent who manages the whole takaful operation, the company is entitled to charge fees from the participants’ contributions based on the contract of wakalabiajr, remunerated agency. In most cases, a fixed general wakala fee is charged upfront in the form of an agreed percentage, up to 40 per cent of the participants’ contribution. According to Wan Deraman and Ismail, this upper limit is regulated by the Central Bank of Malaysia (BNM), though the specific guidelines pertaining to this rule could not be found by the author. In contrast to this general fee, some companies, such as Prudential BSN Takaful Berhad (PBTB), may charge a more specific wakala fee from the participants’ contributions such as a service wakala charge and a risk management wakala charge to differentiate between two main types of agency tasks (PBTB, Certificate Document). Another company, MAA Takaful Berhad (MATB), seems to charge a wakalatharawat fee for investing the takaful fund. Basically, the rates of these upfront charges is determined by two main factors: (1) the level of management expenses expected to be incurred by the shareholders’s fund in servicing the takaful certificates throughout the contract term; and (2) an appropriate provision of margin to compensate shareholders for the effort taken in managing takaful operations (BNM).

From these charges, the shareholders’s account may be supplied with profit (at the end of a particular financial year) if the operational expenses are lower than the overall wakala fees received. In practice, however, the wakala fees are argued to be only sufficient to cater for

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distribution (agent’s commission) and management expenses (Kassim, 2007). Yet by referring to the operators’ income statement, it is obvious that the fees are normally insufficient to cover both expenses, even for companies that have recorded huge profits such as Etiqa Takaful Berhad (ETB), (Noordin). In most cases, however, this deficiency leads to a net loss for the companies for that particular financial year. This is especially true for newly established companies such as Sun Life Malaysia Takaful Berhad ([SLTB] formerly known as Commerce Aviva Takaful Berhad - during 2008–2009), PBTB (during 2007–2008) and Hong Leong MSIG Takaful (HLMT-almost every year).

9. Share of Direct Investment Profits (as an Entrepreneur) In general, it is assumed that every takaful operator will venture into a mudaraba contract with the participants, especially when the latter’s fund is to be invested by the former (AAOIFI, Shari`a Standards) (Al-Qarradaghi). In practice, however, the application of this contract is perhaps inevitable in almost every Family Takaful product, since savings are obviously considered an integral part, but may not necessarily be applicable to General Takaful schemes. This is due to the short-term nature of the latter schemes and the absence of a particular savings account (i.e. PIF) for the participants. Yet the application of mudarabato general products is deemed relevant by some operators in Malaysia such as Syarikat Takaful Malaysia Berhad (STMB) and PBTB, whereby the PRF is invested according to the contract mentioned above. Although this practice appears to be consistent with the AAOIFI’s general guidelines (Shari`a Standard), it is suggested that the standard is meant specifically for Family Takaful lines where the PIF is present. The new guidelines issued by the Central Bank appear to concur with this suggestion (BNM). Moreover, the fact that most operators do not engage in this kind of practice (i.e. investing the PRF via a mudaraba contract) tends to support the above statement.

According to this contract, the amount accumulated in the takaful fund (either the PRF or PIF) is invested by the operator as mudarib, entrepreneur, in various Shari`a-compliant investments. Any profit generated therefrom over and above the original amount of capital is shared according to a pre-agreed ratio. In practice, the profit sharing ratio varies across operators as well as products and can range from 40:60 to 80:20 to the participants and operators respectively, (STMB) (PBTB).

Accordingly, the higher the profit generated from the investment, the larger the amount attributable to the shareholders. However, if the investment is unsuccessful, the operators will not receive anything. In addition, the operators can be held liable for the loss if they are found to be guilty of misconduct or mismanagement. It should be mentioned however, that the definition of mudaraba profit as given above has been altered to a certain extent by one particular takaful operator, i.e.

STMB, who claim to apply a modified mudarabamodel. Instead of sharing direct investment profit, the company shares the underwriting surplus under the name of mudaraba profit. This practice is controversial andwill be dealt in other research paper. In a nutshell, it could be suggested that the application of mudaraba has marked the commercial feature of takaful, since an element of profitseeking is without a doubt present.

10. Performance-Related Charges Apart from the above two sources of revenue, takaful operators may also charge various types of fee contingent upon the achievement of certain desired qualities or output in regard to the management of the takaful undertaking. This performance-related income is obviously variable in nature, as opposed to the fixed wakala charges mentioned earlier. The takafuloperators who employ this practice, particularly Takaful IkhlasSendirianBerhad (TISB), HSBC Amanah Takaful SendirianBerhad (HATSB), ETB, SLTB and MATB suggest that it is consistent with the contract of

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ji`ala, reward for achieving certain desired objectives. Notwithstanding that, there seems to be no specific reference made to the above contract as far as the written policy documents and guidelines for these operators are concerned. Basically, the contract of ji`ala ties the reward payment (for the operator) to the actual output and performance of the takaful operations. If the output or performance is short of what is prescribed, the reward will not be due and payable. This sort of income is argued to be crucial in securing profits for the companies’ shareholders, since the previous two sources are hardly sufficient to cover all the incurred expenses. For example, in the case of ETB, one the most profitable operators in Malaysia, this type of revenue contributed between 42 to 89 per cent of the total gross profit (before zakat and taxation) recorded by the company between 2007 and 2010 (http://www.etiqa.com.my).

There are at least two areas or tasks where the contract is said to be relevant/applicable by the respective takaful operators in Malaysia, namely: (1) in investing the participants’ fund (either PRF or PIF) so that a desired level of profit is achieved; and (2) in managing the PRF prudently so that an underwriting surplus is attained.

The first task is probably similar to the application of mudaraba, as explained earlier. The only difference is that the operator is acting as an investment agent instead of an entrepreneur and will charge a certain percentage (e.g. 10 per cent) of the profit realized as a reward, or to be specific, as an investment performance fee. Obviously, the end result of both contracts, particularly the share of investment profit attributable to the shareholders, would be relatively the same. Few operators declare the above charge in investing the PRF, including TISB and CATB. However, by referring to their financial reports, it seems that the above performance-related fees have yet to be implemented by both companies. Conversely, HLMT, despite being silent regarding the above fee, actually charges between 9 to 12 per cent of the PRF investment profit (http://www.hlmsigtakaful.com.my).

The application of ji`ala on the second task appears to be more significant, as it tends to justify the sharing of an underwriting surplus from the PRF (by the operator), which is deemed by many to be inappropriate. This is due to the nature of an underwriting surplus, which is commonly viewed as the exclusive property of the policyholders. Since an underwriting surplus is actually derived from the remains of the participants’ contributions (after deducting claims and other related expenses), it is argued to technically and legally belongs to the participants as a group (Ayub, 2008), (Arbouna, 2008). Nevertheless, the sharing of PRF surplus by the operator is legally recognized by BNM under the notion of ‘performance fees’, provided that certain requirements are observed (BNM). Some companies, such as TISB, prefer to call this sort of charge a ‘surplus administration charge’. In practice, the operators are seen as applying different surplus sharing ratios which range between 80:20 and 20:80 to the operator and participants respectively. Amongst the operators which have been identified to implement this practice are ETB, TISB, CATB, MATB and HATSB. Due to the controversial nature of this practice, it will be extensively studied in other research paper.

In conclusion, it can be suggested that the categorization of takaful as a commercial entity is only limited to the extent of initiating a business organization (which is profit-oriented) to manage and organize insurance schemes which in fact are mutually undertaken by the policyholders under the principle of tabarru` and ta`awun. This is different from commercial insurance in which all insurance activities are undertaken and treated by the insurance company as a pure business endeavour, thus do not necessitate the initial mutual arrangement amongst the insured.

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Perhaps the commercialization of takaful is unavoidable these days, since it is required by the law of most countries, including Malaysia that the takaful operator must be registered and hold a valid licence prior to the commencement of its operation. In general, the licence will only be granted to any organization which fulfils certain requirements, which amongst others include the acquisition of vital skills or experience and a considerable amount of capital to set off the schemes. As a result, one can expect to see most of the licences given to business corporations or public limited companies instead of groups of participants or co-operative bodies. Nevertheless, it is anticipated that the notion of commercialization will gradually lessen in the future, as more co-operative movements will be ready to organize such an undertaking. Until then, it is perhaps right to say that current takaful operators are in fact commercial entities, but (theoretically) within the permitted boundaries and do not have the same characteristics as the forbidden type of commercial insurance.

D. CONCLUSION The categorization of modern takafulcompanies as commercial entities is mainly due to the fact that they are mostly structured as joint-stock or public limited companies, which basically are profit-seeking entities. Nevertheless, this will not necessarily render the takaful arrangement similar to conventional insurance, which is forbidden due to its commercial characteristics. One of the key reasons for the above divergence is that the former only acts as a remunerated agent who undertakes to manage and organize all the insurance-related matters on behalf of the policyholders. It is the participants who are actually willing to provide insurance protection amongst themselves under the notion of tabarru` and ta`awun. This is not the case in conventional commercial insurance whereby the insurer takes full responsibility to indemnify the insured in exchange for the premium received in parallel to the contract of sale.

The validity of this commercial type of takaful arrangement is perhaps very much dependent upon the specific and correct roles that the operator plays consistent with the application of several specific nominate contracts. In the Malaysian takafulenvironment there appears to be three main contracts widely applied by the takafuloperators, either in its solitary form or as a combination of two or more contracts, in order to underlie the above relationship as well as to gain profit. These contracts include wakala bi ajr (remunerated agency), mudaraba (profit-sharing), and ji`ala (reward). It is suggested, however, that only if these contracts are correctly and appropriately applied will the subsequent acquired revenue and profits be valid for the commercial takaful operator. Otherwise they could possibly be deemed invalid due to their association with gharar, jahala and other unfair practices.

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References AAOIFI. (2007). Shari`a Standards for Islamic Financial Institutions 1429H-2008.Bahrain: AAOIFI. _____(2008). Shari`a Standards for Islamic Financial Institutions 1429H-2008.Bahrain: AAOIFI. Ali Muhyi al-Din al-Qarradaghi. (2005).Al-Ta’min al-IslamiyyDirasaFiqhiyyaTa’siliyyaMuqarana bi al-Ta’min al-TijariyyMa`a al-Tatbiqat al-`Amaliyya. Beirut : Dar al-Basha’ir al-Islamiyya.

Ahmad, Asem Samih. (2006). A Critical Study of Takaful (Islamic Insurance) and Its Modern Implementation’ (PhD Thesis, University of Birmingha).

Ayub, Muhammad. (2008).Understanding Islamic Finance.England :John Wiley and Sons Ltd., Bloomsbury Concise English Dictionary.

BNM, ‘Guidelines on Takaful Operational Framework’, p. (15 May 2011).http://www.bnm.gov.my/guidelines/06_others/Concept%20Paper%20%20Guidelines% 20on%20Takaful%20Operational%20Framework.pdf.

Collins Cobuild Advanced Learner’s English Dictionary.

Collins Cobuild Advanced Learner’s English Dictionary, HarperCollins Publishers, 2004.

Engku Rabiah Adawiah Engku Ali and Hassan Scott P. Odierno. (2008).Essential Guide to Takaful (Islamic Insurance). Kuala Lumpur : CERT Publications Sdn. Bhd. Ernst and Young. (12 July 2011). The World Takaful Report 2011: Transforming Operating Performance URL http://www.ey.com/Publication/vwLUAssets/World_Takaful_report_April_2011/$FILE/WTR20 11EYFINAL.pdf.

Etiqa. (18 June 2011).‘Director’s Report and Audited Financial Statements’, , 30 June 2008. http://www.etiqa.com.my/English/AboutUs/Financials/Documents/fs_2008/fin_stat_etb08_eng .pdf. _____(18 June 2011). ‘Director’s Report and Audited Financial Statements’, 30 June 2010.http://www.etiqa.com.my/English/AboutUs/Financials/Documents/fs_2010/Etiqa%20Tak aful%20Berhad%20-%20June%202010%20(Eng).pdf.

Financial Statements. (23 June 2011). http://www.hlmsigtakaful.com.my/images/HLTMTFinancialStatementsFY0708.pdf, p.55.

Horizon. (12 July 2011).Salaam Halal Insurance Fails to Attract Interest, January 2010. http://www.newhorizon-islamicbanking.com/index.cfm?action=view&id=10922&section=news Ibid., Hans Wehr, in J. Milton Cowan, ed. (1980). A Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic. [3rded].

Beirut: Librairie Du Liban.

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IFSB. (7 July 2011).Guiding Principles on Governance for Takaful (Islamic Insurance) Undertakings, December 2009. http://www.ifsb.org/standard/ED8Takaful%20Governance%20Standard.pdf.

Islamic Financial Services Act 2013. (1 October 2013). http://www.bnm.gov.my/documents/act/en_ifsa.pdf.

Kathy Rooney and Susan Jellis, Eds. (2005).Bloomsbury Concise English Dictionary [2nded.].

London: A & C Black Publishers Limited.

Mohammed, Burhan Arbouna. (2008).Regulation of Takaful Business : A Shari`ah Overview of Contractual Aspects of Takaful Models, in Essential Readings in Islamic Finance, ed. by MohdDaudBakar and EngkuRabiahAdawiahEngkuAlwi.Kuala Lumpur : CERT Publications Sdn. Bhd. R.E. Allen, ed. (1990). The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Current English. [8thed]. Oxford :OxfordUniversity Press.

Rodney Wilson. (2007). Concerns and Misconseptions in the Provision of Takaful, in SohailJaffer (ed.) Islamic Insurance: Trends, Opportunities, and the Future of Takaful. United Kingdom: Euromoney Institutional Investor Plc. RuhiBa`albaki and Munir Ba`albaki. (2008). Al-MawridMuzdawaj.Beirut : Dar al-`Ilm li al-Malayin.

The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Current English Yusuf, Talal De Lorenzo, ed. (2004). Compendium of Legal Opinions on the Operations of Islamic Banks, vol. iii Wakala, Kafala, Rahn and Takaful. London: Institute of Islamic Banking and Insurance.

Zainal Abidin Mohd. Kassim. (2007). ‘Takaful: A Question of Surplus’, in Islamic Insurance Trends, Opportunities and the Future of Takaful, ed. by Sohail Jaffer. London: Euromoney Institutional Investor Plc.

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Opening the Door: How the Regional Autonomy Has Made the Implementation of Perda Sharia Possible?

Opening the Door: How the Regional Autonomy Has Made the Implementation of Perda Sharia Possible?

Erwin Nur Rif’ah1 1Jember

Islamic University, East Java Indonesia Email: erwinnur2@yahoo.com Phone: +6287876050153 Abstract

Sharia-influenced regional regulations (perda sharia) are regulations or laws that are created by district governments and use Islamic moral teachings as a reference point. This article based on a qualitative research in two districts: Cianjur, West Java and Bulukumba South Sulawesi. In general, perda sharia seeks to manage three aspects of public life: firstly, to eradicate moral and social problems such as prostitution, drinking alcohol and gambling; secondly, to enforce ritual observances among Muslims such as reading the Qur’an, attendance at Friday prayers and fasting during Ramadan, and thirdly, to govern the way people dress in the public sphere, especially in relation to head-veiling for the women.

Keyword: Regional Autonomy, perda sharia, regional regulations A. INTRODUCTION Although Indonesia is a country with the largest Muslim population (Porter 2002), it has never been led by someone who has supported the establishment of a state with an Islamic constitution.

Since Indonesian Independence, all efforts to establish an Islamic state in Indonesia have failed.

However, since the fall of Soeharto in 1998, particularly after the Habibie government passed two laws on regional autonomy, many districts implemented sharia-influenced regional regulations (perda sharia). By definition, Sharia-influenced regional regulations (perda sharia) are regulations or laws that are created by district governments and use Islamic moral teachings as a reference point. In general, perda sharia seeks to manage three aspects of public life: firstly, to eradicate moral and social problems such as prostitution, drinking alcohol and gambling; secondly, to enforce ritual observances among Muslims such as reading the Qur’an, attendance at Friday prayers and fasting during Ramadan, and thirdly, to govern the way people dress in the public sphere, especially in relation to head-veiling for the women (Azra & Salim 2003; Bush 2008b; Candraningrum 2006).

This article tries to answer the questions of: what has made Perda Sharia possible? What is the relationship between Perda Sharia and regional autonomy? To what extent have the regional autonomy laws made Perda Sharia possible? On the history of the issue of sharia, and how the issue of sharia has been debated in Indonesian politics. This explanation then followed by the discussion on the Soekarno and Soeharto policies toward Islam, which continued with the discussion on the duality policies of Soeharto toward Islam. The third section will be discussion on the reformation era which started after the resignation of Soeharto in 1998. This part also explains the political changes as an impact of the resignation of Soeharto, who was succeeded by B.J. Habibie as President. The next part will be the discussion on the relation between regional autonomy and Perda sharia, and how the regional autonomy law make the implementation of

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Perda Sharia possible. The debate on the implementation of perda sharia will be discussed in the fifth section. The last part discusses the politics of nomenclature of perda sharia.

B. METHODOLOGY This article based on a qualitative research in two districts: Cianjur, West Java and Bulukumba South Sulawesi. To answer these questions; what has made Perda Sharia possible? What is the relationship between Perda Sharia and regional autonomy? To what extent have the regional autonomy laws made Perda Sharia possible? The article begins with the exploration.

C. RESULT AND DISCUSSION 1. The History of Sacred Word of Sharia in Indonesian Politics The issue of Sharia has become a sensitive issue in Indonesia. And the struggle to implement Sharia Islam has involved long and bitter debates, particularly because its aim is to establish a formal basis for state power. In the months before the proclamation of Indonesian independence, Muslim leaders who became members of the Preparatory Committee for Indonesian Independence (BPUPKI-Badan Penyelidik untuk Persiapan Kemerdekaan Indonesia) had to struggle to introduce, in the preamble of the 1945 constitution, a phrase that would obligate all Indonesian Muslims to perform their religious duties (Boland 1982). The preamble, later known as the Jakarta charter, which includes the seven words “dengan kewajiban melaksankan Sharia Islam bagi pemeluknya� (with the obligation to carry out Sharia for its adherents), would provide a constitutional basis for the enforcement of sharia in Indonesia. However, the inclusion of these seven words into the constitution was unsuccessful, mainly because it was strongly opposed by the minority non-Muslim politicians and the secular nationalists, most of whom were also Muslims (Azra & Salim 2003; Boland 1982; Halim 2005).

Apart from the formal effort through political institutions such as MPR, another campaign to implement Sharia Islam was also conducted through rebellions. In 1948 the leader of Darul Islam rebellion movement, S.M Kartosuwiryo, declared an independent Islamic state in West Java, in which Islamic law would be strictly implemented. By the early 1950s, militant Muslims in other provinces, including Aceh, South Sulawesi and South Kalimantan, had joined the Darul Islam.

However, these struggles never succeeded in achieving their goal (Asi 2007).

In 1959, the debates on the implementation of Sharia were renewed in the Constituent Assembly during the debates about a new Constitution. Again, during the debates, the Muslim Political Elites demanded that the Sharia principles be clearly stipulated in the new constitution. The idea was again strongly rejected by the secular nationalists, most of whom were Muslim and non-Muslim nationalists. When the debate became irreconcilable, President Soekarno issued a decree on 5 July 1959, which declared that the Constituent Assembly (Majelis Konstituante) was dissolved and he restored the 1945 constitution. He argued that the Jakarta Charter was not necessary because of the way it had inspired the 1945 Constitution. However, the debate was unresolved. From 1959 onward, the Jakarta Charter remained a divisive issue between the secular nationalists and the Islamic groups, within Indonesian societies (Boland 1982; Hooker 2003; Mujani 2007; Ricklefs 2008, pp. 301-3).

The debate on the Jakarta Charter persisted in the early years of the New Order government, particularly when the Islamic parties again demanded the government insert the Jakarta Charter as an integral part of the preamble to the 1945 Constitution. Nevertheless, this endeavour failed

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because the army, which during the New Order government also functioned as a strong political base for President Soeharto, could not tolerate such an issue being discussed in the MPR session of 1966-1967 (Boland 1982).

The New Order regime of President Soeharto remained in power until 1998 and during his administration, the Sharia issue had no chance to be raised in any session of the parliament, which was dominated by the military, the ruling party, Golkar and government officials. However, although the Jakarta charter was not accepted by the Soeharto government as part of the 1945 constitution, a number of laws containing Sharia influence were enacted such as the marriage law, waqaf (charitable foundation) regulation, the religious court law, the law that allows the operation of Islamic banks and the codification of Islamic law that includes the rules of inheritances.

Furthermore, President Habibie added two laws that covered the administration of hajj and zakat.

However, all elements of Islamic law that have been integrated into national law are mainly the result of political interaction between the Indonesian Government and the Islamic communities, particularly the Muslim elite (Azra & Salim 2003). And all these laws that accommodate some elements of Islamic Sharia have been enacted without any reference to the Jakarta Charter.

2. Contrasting Soekarno and Soeharto’s Policies toward Islam Political Islam, has experienced many disadvantages both during Soeharto government and when Soekarno was President. Soekarno promoted Nationalism as a dominant political philosophy and political Islam was subjected to various countervailing forces. Pringle (2010, pp. 68-9) noted that there were six key episodes of the Soekarno era that shaped political Islam. The first was the dispute over the Jakarta Charter in 1945; the second was the communist-led Madiun affair in 1948; the third were the Darul Islam uprisings, 1948-1962; the fourth was the outer Island Rebellion in 1957-1958; the fifth was the attempted coup and communal killings of PKI in 19651966 and the last one was the election of 1955 which was the first democratic polling in Indonesia’s history and remains an important indicator of political Islam’s strength in the early days of the Republic. Apart from that, in 1960 Soekarno banned PSI and the Reformist Islam Party: Masyumi, as a consequence of their resistance to guided democracy and for complicity in the Outer Island Rebellion (Pringle 2010, p. 89). NU and Masyumi were much more successful in the 1955 elections than Islamic parties have been in the post Soeharto elections.

Sukarno’s abolition of parliamentary democracy and its replacement by his authoritarian Guided democracy abolished as political system that was supportive of Islamic political aspirations.

Sukarno’s policies towards political Islam had much in common with Soeharto’s in that the objective of both was to contain the influence of political Islam. In addition, Sukarno promoted national unity through NASAKOM, an acronym for the three major ideological streams in Indonesian politics: Nasionalisme (nationalism), Agama (religious) and Komunis (communism), an effort to blend nationalism, communism and religion (including Islam) into national ideology (Pringle 2010, pp. 68-9). What Soekarno’s ideology of NASAKOM apparently meant was that PNI for nationalism, NU for religion and PKI for communism, should share a role in government at all levels, thus producing a system which would rest upon a coalition of predominantly Java-based political forces. The important aspect of NASAKOM from the perspective of political Islam was that Islam, through Agama, was accommodated in this ideological formulation, but not given a special place.

Soeharto realised that the Sukarno’s failure due to his focus on ideology and political affairs, which resulted in a never-ending tension between religious groups and the state, so, Soeharto decided to focus on strategy of development and modernization (Hasan 2008, p. 25). In the early days of

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Soeharto presidential, he considered the communist party to be the number one threat followed by political Islam, especially the reformists (Pringle 2010, p. 85). However, Soeharto adopted ‘Snouck Hurgronje’s ideas regarding Islam and the state influenced that approach of the New Order government, which displayed respect for Islam as private religious practice but was determined that Islam should not become a powerful political force (Ricklefs 2008, p. 322). Soeharto implemented ‘duality policies’ toward Islam: political Islam was marginalised and repressed, while what the government thought were religious, educational and cultural and not political activities were supported. Consequently, religious expressions were marginalized in the political process, in spite of the considerable role that was played by Muslims in bringing the New Order into existence.

Toward the end of his rule, in order to maintain power, Soeharto began to court hard-liner Reformist proponents of Islamic fundamentalism in order to divide and defeat a growing prodemocracy movement, which included new politically liberal Muslim elements (Pringle 2010, p.

85).

For more than 30 years under the New Order regime (1966-1998), the Soeharto government ruled Indonesia through centralism and authoritarianism. As a result, there were many restrictions including those placed on participation by local government or citizens in public agendas, decision making or in the evaluation and implementation of government’s policies (Erawan 2007, p. 65).

The government tightly controlled the society, ensuring that all decisions were made by and served the interest of the central government. During the Soeharto government, the regional aspirations were largely unexpressed and discouraged. Democratic institutions and practices were absent, while civil society was virtually non-existent (Turner et al. 2003b, p. 11).

3. The Duality in Soeharto’s Policies toward Islam At the early period of Soeharto’s rule, under the influence of two main advisers, Ali Murtopo and Sujono Humardani, Soeharto resisted any revitalization of political Islam and controlled political Islam. For instance, Masyumi, which was placed second in the 1955 general election, then banned

by Soekarno in 1960, was not permitted to re-establish itself. Instead, a new party, Parmusi, without the leadership of former Masyumi leaders, was established to accommodate Muslim modernists. As a result of the intervention of the Soeharto government in the internal affairs of the party, the new party failed to attract votes in the general election of 1971. Other Islamic Parties also failed to counter the emergence of Soeharto’s Golkar party, which obtained 62.8 percent of the total votes (Bruinessen 1996b; Hasan 2008, p. 25).

After Golkar’s victory in the general election of 1971, Soeharto intensified marginalization toward political Islam by applying a policy of 'fusion of the party'. This policy requires all Islamic parties to coalesce into one, the Partai Persatuan Pembangunan (PPP - United Development Party), whereas nationalist and Christian parties were incorporated into the Partai Demokrasi Indonesia (PDI Indonesian Democratic Party). To support his policy, Soeharto popularized development jargon and imposed the Pancasila as the state’s governing doctrine (Ricklefs 2008, p. 355). Any aspirations to challenging the Pancasila can easily be labeled either 'extreme left' or 'extreme right', and anti-Subversive laws, inherited from Sukarno were used by the state to justify the method (Hasan 2008, p. 25). Through an indoctrination program called ‘Pedoman, Penghayatan dan Pengamalan Pancasiala (P4-Guide Understanding and Practice of Pancasila) and other instruments, Pancasila was systematically embedded in the minds of citizens of Indonesia (Hasan 2008, p. 26).

Moreover, New Order also tried to domesticate the social forces of Ulama (Islamic scholars), by proposing the establishment of a semi-governmental body: Majelis Ulama Indonesia (MUI -

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Indonesian Ulama Council), in order to strengthen its hegemony over society and to extend its power and control. This council was assigned the issuing of religious legal opinion (fatwa) and advice on religion (tausiyah). This idea was made public during a national conference of Muslim preachers in 1970 held by Pusat Dakwah Islam Indonesia (Indonesian Islamic Propagation Centre), an institution established by the Ministry of Religious Affairs. However, MUI was not established immediately, partly because of criticism from some participants, particularly Hamka, a leading modernist scholar. Hamka saw that the endeavour of the council of Ulama was intended to mobilize support of one Islamic party that leading the Department of Religious Affairs from other groups to maintain its power (Hosen 2004, pp. 149-50). Thus the council would only issue fatwas from that party which would only satisfy people from that party but not all Muslim (Hosen 2004).

Then in 1974, the Pusat Dakwah Islam once again held a conference for Islamic preachers, which concluded that it was necessary to establish a council of ulama, which was strong supported by President Soeharto. Soeharto insisted on the need for a national body of ulama that could serve as, among other functions, as a mediator between the government and the ulama and the broader community. The government hoped that the MUI would explain and endorse its development policies (Ichwan 2005).

However, in 1973, Professor Mukti Ali, who had a close relationship with modernist Muslims and the Muhammadiyah to which Hamka belonged, was appointed as a minister of religious affairs (Hosen 2004; Kementrian Agama Republik Indonesia 2011). Therefore, in 1975 Hamka supported the establishment of the MUI (Hosen 2004). Finally, the Majelis Ulama Indonesia was officially established during a national conference of Ulama that was held on 21–27 July 1975. The first General Chairman of the MUI (1975–1981) was Professor Hamka, who had earlier rejected the idea of such a council (Hosen 2004, p. 150).

The MUI was also expected to be representative of Muslims in inter-religious dialogue, a project launched by the Mukti Ali, to build what was often referred to as the 'harmony of religious life', namely, peaceful coexistence of religious groups (Mujiburrahman 2006). The nature of the Majelis Ulama Indonesia as a creation of the government was immediately visible. It was involved in polemics and issued a number of (controversial) fatwa legitimizing government policies (Mudzhar 1993).

Furthermore, Soeharto's efforts to obstruct access to power by the Islamic political forces triggered armed resistance in the name of Islam. The rebellion, including by groups called Komando Jihad (Jihad Commando), led by Ismail Pranoto carried out bomb attacks in Java and Sumatra; another, led by Abdul Qadir Djaelani and calling itself ‘Pola Perjuangan Revolusioner Islam’ (Islamic Revolutionary Struggle Model), stormed the building of Majelis Permusyawaratan Rakyat (MPR People's Consultative Assembly) during the general assembly in March 1978. No less important is a series of murders and robberies committed by a group of radicals led by M Warman, known as 'Terror Warman'. Another group, led by Imran M Zein, attacked a number of government facilities, which culminated in the hijacking of a Garuda Indonesia plane on March 28, 1981. The veterans of the West Java-based Darul Islam, which initially had been hired by Murtopo’s intelligence service to combat communism, led other attacks to revolt against Soeharto and establish an Islamic state (Santosa 1996; van Bruinessen 1996, 2002). However, Soeharto remained unaffected and was able to suppress and marginalise them.

After the Tanjung Priok incident on September 12, 1984, in which at least 20 people were killed and more than fifty demonstrators were injured, Soeharto announced a Bill on the Mass Organizations and Political parties, which required all political parties and mass organizations to accept Pancasila as ‘asas tunggal’ (the sole ideological basis of the state), so that, Islam was

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prohibited from being used as the ideology for any organizations. In reaction to this policy, NU (Nahdlatul Ulama), Indonesia's largest organization of traditionalist Muslims, quickly declared its acceptance of Pancasila, but Muhammadiyah, a modernist-Muslim organisation, took some time to accept the inevitable. (Ismail 1995).

4. Soeharto’s Accommodating Policies toward Islam In the late 1980s, Soeharto began to introduce policies to accommodate Islam, focusing mainly on promoting Islamic symbols in public discourse. For example, the Directorate General of Primary and Secondary Education, issued a new regulation on student uniforms, and lifted the ban on female students wearing the hijab (headscarf) in schools. Soeharto himself and his family went to Mecca to perform the hajj in 1991. Upon his return from Mecca, Mbak Tutut, Soeharto's eldest daughter and a popular figure, began to show her piety in public by wearing a colorful, elegant veil.

The model she presented and the way she wore her headscarf gave a prime example to the entire nation. Since then, members of the cabinet and senior officials no longer hesitated to use the Islamic greeting, Assalamu'alaikum, to open a speech, and the greeting has been becoming increasingly popular. They also tried to show their concern with the Islamic affairs as an example, participating in religious festivals and celebrations. In this context, Islam was systematically accommodated in the discourse of the state to offset the increasing number of challenges to the legitimacy of Soeharto's political leadership (Hasan: 2008).

Therefore, a number of organizations, institutions and activities that identified with Islam and utilised Islamic symbols began to appear, including the Ikatan Cendekiawan Muslim Indonesia (ICMI - Indonesian Muslim Intellectual Association), led by B.J.Habibie and established under the patronage of Soeharto (Bruinessen 1996a; Hefner 1993). The ruling party, Golkar, started to be more accommodating of Islam and involved Muslim intellectuals more. In addition, thousands of mosques were built under the sponsorship of the state. Furthermore, the Religious Court Bill was introduced, followed by a Presidential Decree on the Compilation of Islamic Law. In the economic aspect, The Bank Muamalat Indonesia, which has as a slogan: ‘pertama sesuai sharia’ (the first [bank in Indonesia] in accordance with the sharia), was established and its establishment initiated the mushrooming of Islamic sharia banks and insurance companies (Möller 2005). However, Soeharto’s accommodation of political Islam with ICMI (Ikatan Cendekiawan Muslim Indonesia Indonesian Muslim Intellectual Association) was merely support for Islamic religion, culture and education, but did not support a greater political role. In this respect, Soeharto had not departed from Dutch colonial policies. No doubt, these policies were part of Soeharto’s political strategy to hold onto power (Liddle 1996). Apart from the changes in Soeharto’s attitudes and policies towards political Islam from the late 1980s, there was also a change in Islamic beliefs and practices. Islamic revivalism reflects the influence of the Iranian revolution, Saudi money and the emergence of better-educated Muslim elite. Broader changes in society were occurring despite and because of government policies.

5. Reformasi, and changes in Indonesian Politics The resignation of Soeharto on 21 May 1998 opened a great opportunity to change the political system and government. Many of those who demonstrated for Soeharto’s resignation demanded that the Constitutional be amended. The amendments sought included the recognition of the Jakarta Charter. In addition, demands for democracy, characterised by a free election, freedom of press, and nation-wide call for ‘reformasi’ were unavoidable. This also gave the opportunity for the regional government, especially regions rich in natural resources, to demand that the central government decentralise its authority and function.

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Habibie, the successor of Soeharto, according to Aspinal and Fealy (2003), wanted to dissociate himself from the Soeharto regime, Although Habibie was Soeharto’s longest serving minister and last vice President. His government made some significant changes such as: revoking laws on restricting the numbers and activities of political parties; holding a relatively free parliamentary election in 1999; and enacting regional autonomy laws.

The decentralisation of governmental authority was one of the most important reform programs in Indonesia (Erawan 2007, p. 55). The decentralisation policy in Indonesia was based on the Regional Autonomy Law No. 22, concerning regional Government, and Law No. 25, 1999 concerning The Financial Balance between the Central and Regional Government (Turner et al.

2003b, pp. 15-6). Both these laws were based on five principles: 1. democracy, 2. community participation and empowerment, 3. equity and justice, 4. recognition of the potential and diversity within regions, and 5. the need to strengthen local legislatures. These five principles were in line with the spirit of reformasi (Turner et al. 2003b, p. 23; Usman 2002) to ensure that regional autonomy in Indonesia is in line with the principle of democratisation, such that people in subnational territories (province, district and municipality) are given significant decision-making powers. These require devolution of authority from central government to sub-national political institutions that are accountable, responsive, and representative of their local communities.

The significant feature of these laws is that there was no clear hierarchy between district (kabupaten) and municipality (kota) governments and the provincial government. The regional government was made responsible to the DPRD (Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat Daerah-Regional Peoples’ Representative Assembly) rather than to the authority of central government in Jakarta.

However, although the authority of regional government significantly became stronger after the implementation of Regional Autonomy Laws, the central government still has considerable authority by controlling the regional authority such as on health and education. Nevertheless, the function and the authority of the DPRD have become considerably more important. (Turner et al.

2003a, pp. 24-64).

6. The Regional Autonomy and Perda Sharia The resignation of Soeharto was followed by the euphoria for democracy and political liberation, especially among many Muslim groups. As William Liddle (Liddle 1996) predicted, there would be more demands for a more formalistic Islam (the scripturalists) due to the open political climate, since ‘they would have many more political resources, in mass acceptance of their ideas, organization, allies, media and access to politicians’(Liddle 1996 p. 13). Firstly, this was reflected in the establishment of many Islamic political parties that mostly replaced Pancasila with Islam as the ideology the organisation. Secondly, there was a growing demand from many regions to formally implement sharia. The third was the emergence of Muslim groups considered by many as Radical groups, such as the Laskar Jihad (Holy War Fighters), The Front Pembela Islam (FPIIslamic Defenders Front), Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia (HTI- Indonesian Liberation Party), Laskar Jundullah and Majelis Mujahidin Indonesia (MMI- Indonesian Mujahidin [the Jihad Fighter] Council). Finally, Sabili, an Islamic (hardliners) magazine, became very popular. According to a survey conducted by AC Nielsen, had the second largest circulation for a magazine (Salim, Arskal & Azra 2003b). This weekly magazine which was published underground during Soeharto era, used to be a dakwah (call for Islam) newsletter, but it is now appearing to promote political Islam, typically from the hardliners’ point of view. Some of their opinions were advocating support for the formal application of Sharia in Indonesia (Salim, Arskal & Azra 2003a, pp. 1-2).

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Many scholars, such as Fealy (2005), Riddell (2005), Salim and Azra (2003b), argue that the fall of Soeharto in May 1998, created a greater opportunity and freedom for Muslims groups to incorporate more Sharia Islam elements into Indonesian legislation. There were greater demands for the implementation of Sharia in several regions in Indonesia, especially when Habibie’s government passed two laws to introduce regional autonomy. However, the formal application of Sharia-influenced regulation in Indonesia was possible only because some factors. The first factor is when the People Consultative Assembly (Majelis Permusyawaratan Rakyat - MPR) amended several Articles of the Constitution in August 2000, including Article 18 which provided a constitutional basis for the regional autonomy laws, through which districts and municipalities were given the authority to manage their own affairs (Ellis 2007, pp. 22-33). However, the Constitution outlines that the regional autonomy has to be implemented within the framework of Indonesia as a unitary state, which recognizes ethnic, cultural and religious diversity.

Based on the regional autonomy laws No 22/1999 and Law No 25/1999, the central government must concede authority to the regional government in all fields excluding foreign policy, defence and security, monetary and fiscal policy, the legal system or judicature, and religious affairs. In addition, the central government also maintains control of its specific functions such as national planning, setting and the supervision of technical standards. Therefore, the regional governments, whose power previously had been strictly limited, now has to take full responsibility for many important areas such as education, health, the environment, labour, public work and natural resource management (Aspinall & Fealy 2003; Turner et al. 2003a, pp. 24-5).

The second is after the central government granted Aceh with special autonomy. Although it is clearly stipulated in the Regional Autonomy Law that regional governments do not have authority on religious affairs, numerous regions insisted on implementing Sharia-influenced regional regulations. The situation became more complicated with the Special Autonomy Law for Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam (Law 18/2001), which gave jurisdiction to the province to implement Sharia law (Halim 2005). Many other provinces and districts including South Sulawesi, two districts in West Java (Cianjur and Tasikmalaya), Banten, West Sumatra and South Kalimantan sought powers similar to those granted to Aceh in order that Sharia Islam can be implemented. However, without the broader powers granted to Aceh, many districts issued regional regulations (perda), decrees (keputusan), instructions (instruksi) and circulars (surat edaran) that reflected Islamic values, teachings and injunctions. These regulations are concerned with three aspects. The first is public order and social problems such as prostitution, consumption of alcohol and gambling. The second is religious skills and obligations such as reading the Qur’an, attending Friday prayers and paying zakat. The third is related to religious symbolism including Muslim dress (Salim, A. 2007).

South Sulawesi was probably the most determined province in its desire to implement Sharia Islam. Abdul Azis Kahar Muzakkar, chief of the Preparatory Committee for the Islamic Sharia Enforcement (Komite Persiapan Penegakan Sharia Islam-KPPSI), who is also the son of the leader of the Darul Islam rebellion in South Sulawesi, argues that the special autonomy granted to Aceh, including the implementation of Sharia, has paved the way for other Indonesian provinces to demand the same status (Mudzakkar 2010).

The third factor was the failure at the national level to implement sharia Islam. For instance the two Islamic parties: United Development Party (Partai Persatuan Pembangunan-PPP) and Crescent Star Party (Partai Bulan Bintang-PBB) campaigned for inclusion of the Jakarta Charter in Article 29 clause 1 of the 1945 Constitution, which is the clause that stipulates the theological foundation of the nation. By the inclusion of the Jakarta Charter, they hoped that it would officially provide sharia with the constitutional status within the Indonesian national legal system. This proposal was not

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adopted in three consecutive annual sessions of MPR in 2000, 2001 and 2002, despite the very strong demand by formalist Islamic Parties such as PPP, PBB and PKS, formalist Islamic groups such as HTI (Hizbu Tahrir Indonesia-Indonesian Liberation Party), Majelis Mujahidin Indonesia and KAMMI (Kesatuan Aksi Mahasiswa Muslim Indonesia). However, the amendment was opposed by substantive Islamic Parties such as PKB, PAN as well as secular parties such as GOLKAR, PDIP, the Christian parties and many NGOs. Subsequently, the formalist Islamic parties and some other Islamic groups continued to campaign for sharia in provinces, districts and municipalities through regulations inspired by Islamic Sharia (Halim 2005; Salim, Arskal & Azra 2003b) .

Thus, regional autonomy has opened opportunities for the implementation of Sharia-influenced regulations after the many failures to implement sharia law since1945 at the national level. A number of factors help explain this change such as the foundations of the law of Perda Sharia are different from the idea to implement sharia at national level. The supporters could use different reasons to implement Perda Sharia such appealing to local cultural values, the need to maintain social order and security, whereas the objective of the implementation of Sharia at national level was to obtain formal status for sharia as part of the national constitution which many considered as a threat to Indonesian unity. Apart from that, the regions that implement Perda Sharia are regions with majority Muslim populations, so they have the ‘legitimacy’ to implement Islamic-influenced regulations for ‘reasons’, relating to local aspirations and democratic support. At national level, Sharia could be considered as simply discrimination against the non-Muslim population. Although Muslims are the majority population in Indonesia as a whole, however the non-Muslim communities are often located in particular regions and islands where they form substantial minorities or majorities. Implementing sharia in these regions might be a trigger for disintegration. in addition, at the national level, any legislation needs the support of majorities in both houses of parliament where many members are not Muslim, However at the regional level, , the DPRDs, reflecting the local demography, can be dominated by Muslim members.

7. The pros and cons of Perda Sharia During the process of the implementation of perda sharia, there were intense debate among the proponent and the contra groups. From this research found out that there are at least three arguments from the proponents of implementing perda sharia. The first is that the majority population of Indonesia is Muslim and the pre-colonial Muslim Kingdoms in Indonesia implemented sharia law, thus they argued that it was legitimate to implement perda sharia, as it is claimed, they represented the opinion of the majority population (Nunding Ram, Interview 3 June 2008). The second is that Perda Sharia will not create problems, due to the fact that its regulations are drafted openly and enacted by a democratically elected provincial or district legislature. The third was under regional autonomy Law, it is legitimate for a provincial and local government to implement regulations that try to resolve social problems and maintain public order. Thus, Indonesia’s legal-political system, indirectly, allows the implementation of Perda Sharia, because the implementation of Perda Sharia in many districts in Indonesia was intentionally designed to avoid conflict with national laws. The provision in article 7 of Law No. 22/1999 stipulated that religious affairs do not come under the authority of the district governments, but rather under the central government. To resolve this, the regulations emphasised methods and measures to establish public order within the society, rather than appealing to Islamic sharia itself. Besides, district governments avoid using the term Sharia as a name of a regulation, but instead, they framed the regulations in terms of upholding ‘morality and order’ (Satriyo 2003). This means that those regulations cannot be annulled by the central government. Nevertheless, none of the Perda Sharia has been annulled.

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In contrast to the supporters, the opponents opposed the implementation of Perda Sharia because three reasons. The first is the Perda Sharia clash with the constitutional guarantee of religious freedom for all citizens to practice their religion according to their own beliefs. Second is that the Perda Sharia clashed with the national law. Although the supporters argued that Perda Sharia is not regulating religious affairs but rather morality and public order, however the motivation and the justification of the regulations were religious. Third was the content of the regulations, many of which are already in the penal code, such as regulations on gambling, prostitution, and alcohol consumption, so additional regulation would be unnecessary. Fourth, although the regulations were introduced by democratically elected legislatures, they were not acceptable because the regulations violate minority rights by discriminating against non-Muslim citizens (Kamil & Bamualim 2007).

Furthermore, this research also found that the Perda Sharia legislation was not enacted democratically. Although it followed the formal procedures such as meeting and hearing, however, all of the meetings and hearings did not involve the broader groups by only inviting the supportive groups and excluding groups that opposed the proposed regulations (interview with Susan, women activist in Cianjur, and Yudi, LBH activist in Cianjur, 1998). In addition, the objections of the opposing groups and political parties were not considered at all. For instance in Cianjur, PDI-P decided to walk out and leave the meeting as their objections were not considered. And later the party sent a letter of objection to the minister of home affairs, however this did not result in anything. Iwan, the PDI-P (Partai Demokrasi Indonesia-Perjuangan-Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle) member, who was also actively involved in the process of legalization of Perda Sharia in Cianjur, related that his party tried to lobby the provincial DPRD and DPR in Jakarta as well as the ministry of home affairs, arguing that the proposed Perda Sharia was in conflict with constitution. However, according to Iwan, the minister did not respond to their objection. This is because the minister, according to Iwan, did not have a vision and was not loyal to the Indonesian state (NKRI-Negara Kesatuan Republik Indonesia) and UUD 45; besides there was very strong pressure for not annulling such regulations (Iwan, interview 28 February 2008) The debate about the implementation of Perda Sharia however, is not only among the Islamic groups, NGOs and Islamic organisation but also among the members of parliament (DPR). On 13 June 2006, 56 members of DPR signed a petition. The petition was initiated by Partai Damai Sejahtera (PDS-Prosperous Peace Party) Partai Demokrasi Indonesia Perjuangan (PDI-PIndonesian Democratic Party) According to Constan Ponggawa (Suara Pembaruan 2006) the members of DPR from PDS. the objective of the petition was to assure that the regulations were in accordance with: first, the principle of good governance in terms of the decision making process; second, did not contravene Law No 10/2004 on Formulation of Legislation (UU No 10 Tahun 2004 tentang pembentukan peraturan perundang-undangan) and Law No. 32/2004 on Regional Autonomy; and third, demanded that the Minister of Home Affairs evaluate whether the regulations were in accordance with the constitution or not. If they were not, the minister has to revoke the regulations. A day after the petition by 56 DPR members, several members of DPR opposed the petition by proposing a ‘Contra Memorandum”. The memorandum was initiated by Patrialis Akbar, from PAN (Partai Amanat National-National Mandatory Party), Lukman Hakim Saefuddin from PPP (Partai Persatuan Pembangunan-Development Unity Party) and Mutammimul Ula from PKS (Partai Keadilan Sejahtera-Prosperous Justice Party) (Suara Pembaruan 2006). The aim of this memorandum was to support the implementation of Perda Sharia and the regulation on Anti Maksiat (anti immoral acts). It was claimed that the memorandum was signed by 134 members of DPR (Alim 2010). Some parliament members who previously signed the petition withdrew their support including some members from GOLKAR because of some ‘pressure’

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among other Muslim parliamentary members by labelling the supporters of the petition as not devout Muslims and supporters of pornography (Suara Pembaruan 2006).

It seems that there is a paradox in political Islam in Indonesia where, despite the very strong demand to implement Sharia, any endeavours to implement it at national level have always failed due to strong objections from opposing groups, which included many Muslims. Yet, the opponents have never succeeded with a judicial review to revoke any Islamic influenced regulations (Perda Sharia). There are some explanations for this paradox: the first is that the implementation of Perda Sharia is still debatable whether it is categorized as an Islamic regulation or not, as there are many regulations such as on gambling and prostitution which were not considered merely Islamic due to many other [non Islamic] countries also regulating these matters. Thus, the opponents did not have very strong arguments to revoke those regulations. The second is that the process of the implementation of Perda Sharia in many districts was strongly contested and was a long, drawn out and energy sapping process; hence any efforts to annul or revoke the regulations would again consume time and energy. Some of the opponents were prepared to see the regulations formally and symbolically implemented, but is not fully enforced.

The third, many groups and political parties did not have a clearly articulated policy on the implementation of Perda Sharia stand. And in many occasions, political leaders often makes public statements, either support or against the regulations to attract public attention (Bush 2008a, p.

175). Furthermore, some of the largest the political parties such as GOLKAR, PKB as well as the most influential Muslim organisatons, NU and Muhammadiyah, were opposed to the formalisation of Sharia at national level, however at the regional level, the branches of the NU and Muhammadiyah supported the implementation of Perda sharia, and in some extent initiated it, as will be further discussed in article 4. The fourth explanation is that, the introduction of Perda Sharia at the national level was different from the regional level. At the regional level, in most cases, the implementation of (perda) sharia was usually one of a number of issues debated during the Pilkada campaign for Bupati and was used by the candidates to mobilise support. The supporters of Perda Sharia utilised the pilkada as a political platform to advance the issue at the national level. Thus, Sharia at national level was mainly motivated by religious piety while at regional level there was a more short term political agenda (McLeod & MacIntyre 2007, p. 127; Salim, A. 2007).

The fifth explanation is that, the political dynamics at national level was different compared with the regional level. The political constellation in a region might tend to support the implementation of Perda sharia, hence if their parties or groups did not support it, their organisation would be left behind. Therefore, the political parties and Islamic groups that oppose sharia at national level would not automatically oppose perda sharia at the regional level to secure their political interest.

Apart from that, change at the national level involved constitutional change of the ideology of the state–whereas, on the surface, perda sharia sought to regulate specific aspects of local societies– preventing prostitution and gambling and the consumption of alcohol.

Therefore, many saw that regional autonomy is the only chance to implement Perda Sharia since several attempts to implement Sharia law at national level had failed. This is because since the implementation of the regional autonomy law, the central government has less control of the regional government, especially with a growing number of provinces and districts that make it more difficult for the central government to supervise and to review the development of new regulations which might clash with higher law. Since then, the regional governments have greater power and authority to manage and govern their regions. To some extent, the regional governments manipulate the regional autonomy law for its own political advantage. In addition, political pressure from Islamic groups and political parties means the central government has

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never revoked the Perda Sharia through successful judicial review, although there has been lobbying from opponent groups for this process to be used.

Nevertheless, regional autonomy and the political reforms of the post Soeharto period have encouraged the emergence of local Islamic groups, who have been able to use this political space to advance the perda sharia agenda. These groups have campaigned for local governments and legislatures (DPRDs) to implement Perda Sharia. For example, in Cianjur, an organization which most activities raids cafe and restaurant and reduce immorality, GARIS (Gerakan Reformis IslamMovement of Islamic Reform) has sought to pressure the parliament and the candidates to support Perda Sharia. Likewise in Bulukumba, the KPPSI promoted and fully supported the implementation of perda sharia.

In the elections for both local legislatures and for heads of local governments (PIKADA) the implementation of Perda Sharia has been one of the campaign issues that candidates have used to mobilize support among the predominantly Muslim populations. According to Ahmad Suaedy (2006), some Perda Sharia were implemented merely to further the short term political agendas of the incumbent governors or heads of district (Bupati) to improve their chances for re-election. This research also found that the issue of sharia was often utilized to enhance the good image of the government and increase public trust in the government and the legislature, and that the introduction of Perda Sharia was often an investment by the Bupati and political parties in achieving success in the next local elections. There will further discussion on how the issue of sharia was used in the campaign in article 6 about Pilkada (pemilihan Kepala Daerah-the election for the head of district).

8. The Politics of Nomenclature According to the former chairman of NU, Hasyim Muzadi (2006), the implementation of some regulations on Anti maksiat (anti immoral) such as banning gambling and banning prostitution were simply to complement the KUHP (Kitab Undang-Undang Hukum Pidana-Book of Penal Law), however by giving the name as a Perda Sharia there was the risk that such regulations might encourage anti Islamic sentiment (Hasyim Muzadi 2006). Similiarly, Jusuf Kalla (Antara News 2007), the former vice President and the former chair of GOLKAR, argued that regulations banning prostitution, gambling and alcohol consumption could not be categorised as Perda sharia.

Hidayat Nurwahid, former vice chairman of the People’s Representative Assembly (MPR) from PKS stated that demand to implement sharia, should not refer to Islamic Law, but instead of focus on moral enhancement (Bush 2008b) Hasyim Muzadi and Jusuf Kalla’s opinions illustrate just how sensitive an issue perda sharia is. It is considered as a ‘sacred’ word that evokes memories of the controversies surrounding the failed attempts to change the constitution, Given the division of powers between central government and district government, the district governments that have implemented Sharia-influenced regional regulations often prefer to not use the word ‘sharia’, so as not to attract the attention of the central government.

Slamet Effendi Yusuf, a former Golkar Party politician who is currently a vice chairman of NU, argues that regional regulations should not be regarded as sharia regulations if the regulations do not use Alquran or hadith as a source of reference. However, there are at least four indications that some regulations could be categorised as sharia Influenced-regional regulation: the first, the regulations are made based on moral or religious motivation such as the regulation on prostitution, alcohol consumption and gambling. Although these types of regulations are common in non-

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Muslim countries, such as Australia, however, these regulations in Australia were not made based on religious or moral motivation but rather to address health and social problems. The second, regulations are adapted from the part of Islamic ritual, such as regulation ‘jumat khusuk‘ (Friday solemn). ‘Sholat jum’at berjamaah’ (conduct Friday prayer together) are compulsory for all male adult Muslim, however regulations banning people to do any activities other than jum’at prayer on Friday has never regulated in Islamic jurisprudence. In addition, fasting during Ramadan is compulsory for all Muslim adults, however closing cafés and restaurants during the month of Ramadhan have never been regulated in Islamic teaching. The third, enhancing Islamic skills such as obligations to read Qur’an for couples wanting to marry. In Islam, all Muslims are obligated to study, but not only the Quran. The fourth is regulation on expressing the Islamic symbol such as regulation on jilbab, Muslim clothes for staff government uniform. However, from these regulations the most significant relates to the jilbab, because the jilbab is a most visible symbol of Islam and has become a core issue in political Islam. This will be discussed further in article 9.

Some researchers have identified three variants of Perda sharia: firstly, those that seek to eradicate moral and social problems such as prostitution, drinking alcohol and gambling; secondly those that enforce ritual observances among Muslims such as reading the Qur’an, attendance at Friday prayers and fasting during Ramadan, and, thirdly, those that seek to govern the way people dress in the public sphere, especially in relation to head-veiling for the women (Azra & Salim 2003; Bush 2008b; Candraningrum 2006). However, there are still problems of the appropriate terminology because of its politics of nomenclature. In districts governments use a variety of nomenclature for three types of Perda Sharia. In general, residents of these districts will be reluctant to use the term perda sharia, especially the government officials, because they are aware that term ‘sharia’ is too sensitive and they understand that religious matters is not under the authority of district governments. Outsiders tend to be more flexible. Here I tried to categories the way how people called Perda Sharia into two groups, residents and outsiders: 1. The outsiders who support the perda are usually prepared to use the nomenclature l Perda Sharia and are often in favour of implementation in other districts. These outsiders include hardliners such as Majelis Mujahidin Indonesia, Hizbu Tahrir Indonesia.

However, other outsiders who supported Perda Sharia also reluctantly calls it as a Perda Sharia because they do not want to be seen supporting unconstitutional regulations.

These outsiders include members of Islamic political parties such as PKS, PBB and PPP. Whereas, opponents of these regulations will use Perda Sharia in order to emphasize their view that the regulations are in contravention of the constitution. These outsiders are usually members of secular organisations and NGOs. Some refer to the regulations as ‘unconstitutional perda’, so as to avoid politicisation of Sharia andIslam. This group is Islamic NGOs. 2. Residents opposed to the regulations tend to use the term Perda Sharia. Whereas, residents who support the regulations prefer to avoid ‘Sharia’, instead they use other names, such as perda keagamaan, perda bernuansa Islam. They call it as other than Perda Sharia because they are aware of the constitution question; The distinction between residents and outsider is very important because during the research, the term of ‘orang luar’, outsider and ‘orang sini/orang dalam’ or resident was often mentioned by the informants when they discussed Perda Sharia. Apart from that, the research also found that the residents who have made contact with outsiders including organisations, NGOs, mostly have more open opinion and more critical of Sharia and its implementation in Perda Sharia. The outsiders from formalist Islamic groups are more open to use Perda sharia.

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The way in which the supporters name Perda Sharia is also different. Those who support Perda Sharia for idealistic reasons, many of whom are members of Islamic organisations, prefer Perda Sharia because they believe if there are more people using (the name) ‘sharia’ it means Sharia would be more popular and accepted more easily. There are also political pragmatists, who often hold positions in the government or legislature, who are aware of the political and constitutional complexities and sensitivities and will avoid using the term Perda Sharia so as not to jeopardize their position in the government.

D. CONCLUSION The Law No. 22, 1999 of the Regional autonomy is aimed to devolve central government authorities to local governments in all government administrative sectors, except for security and defense, foreign policy, monetary and fiscal matters, justice, and religious affairs (Usman 2002).

This Law is not only giving more authority for the local government to manage their resources but also open the opportunity for the Islamic groups and the proponents of sharia to propose and implement sharia which they have struggled since early day of Indonesian independence but have always failed. Although it is obviously stipulated in the Law that religious affairs is not the authority of the local government, nevertheless, since the central government passed this Law, many districts in Indonesia implement and propose for the implementation of syariah-influenced regional regulation (perda sharia). Therefore, the implementation of the Perda Sharia is one of the unintended consequences of the Regional Autonomy Law and it is worth noting that the implementation of Perda sharia is only possible after the government pass the Regional Autonomy Law. Although many districts have been implementing the Perda Sharia, none of the regulations have been annulled by the central government. This article argues that the issue of sharia has shifted from demanding to incorporate sharia into national constitution to proposing to implement Sharia in the regions. Bottom line of that, the issue of sharia has changed from the national phenomena to be more local.

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Muzadi, Hasyim. (2006). Hasyim Muzadi: Perda Syariah Tidak Diperlukan, Gatra, 16 June 2006.

Möller, A. (2005). Ramadan in Java: the Joy and Jihad of Ritual Fasting, Almqvist & Wiksell International, Stockholm.

Mudzakkar, AAQ. (2010). Amir Majelis Komite Perjuangan Penegakan Syariat Islam, Abdul Aziz Qahhar Mudzakkar: Gandeng Bupati Wujudkan Gerakan Kultural', Fajar Makassar, Friday, 05 March 2010.

Mudzhar, MA. (1993). Fatwa-Fatwa Majelis Ulama Indonesia: Sebuah Studi tentang Pemikiran Hukum Islam di Indonesia 1975-1988, INIS, Jakarta.

Mujani, S. (2007). Muslim demokrat: Islam, budaya demokrasi, dan partisipasi politik di Indonesia pasca Orde Baru, Gramedia Pustaka Utama.

Mujiburrahman. (2006). Feeling Threatened: Muslim–Christian Relations in Indonesia’s New Order, Amsterdam University Press.

Porter, DJ. (2002). Managing politics and Islam in Indonesia, RoutledgeCurzon, Abingdon, Oxon, New York.

Pringle, R. (2010). Understanding Islam in Indonesia: Politics and Diversity. Honolulu : University of Hawai Press.

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Riddell, PG. (2005). 'Islamization, Creeping Shari’a, and Varied Responses in Indonesia', in P Marshall (ed.), Radical Islam’s Rules: The Worldwide Spread of Extreme Shari’a Law, Rowman & Littlefield, Lanham.

Salim, A. (2007). 'Muslim Politics in Indonesia's Democratisation: The Religious Majority and The Rights of Minorities in The Post-New Order Era', in RH McLeod & A MacIntyre (eds), Indonesia: Democracy and the Promise of Good Governance. Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian studies, pp. 115–37.

Salim, A & Azra, A (eds). (2003a). Shari'a and politics in modern Indonesia, ISEAS series on Islam. Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies. _____(eds) (2003b), Shari'a and politics in modern Indonesia, Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore.

Santosa, JC. (1996). Modernization, utopia and the rise of Islamic radicalism in Indonesia. dissertation thesis, Boston University.

Satriyo, HA. (2003). Decentralisation and Women in Indonesia: One Step Back, Two Steps Forward', in E Aspinall & G Fealy (eds), Local power and politics in Indonesia.

Decentralisation and democratization. Indonesia update series. Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies. Australian National University. Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, pp. 207–29.

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Suaedy, A. (9 January 2008). Perda SI Tidak Menyelesaikan Masalah Sosial (Syariah by Law do not alleviate social problems), wahidinstitute.org http://www.wahidinstitute.org/Program/Detail?id=205/hl=id/Perda_SI_Tidak_Menyelesaika n_Masalah_Sosial%3E. Suara Pembaruan. (2006). Petisi Pencabutan Perda Jalan Terus, Suara Pembaruan, 22 June 2006.

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Syeikh Abdul Qadir Bin Abdur Rahim Al-Fathani Bukit Bayas (1864) Towards Hadith Works and Writings of Fiqh Muamalat al-Maliyyah: An Introduction of The Malay Jawi Manuscript Entitled: Risalah fi Bayani Hukmi Bai’i war Riba

Syeikh Abdul Qadir Bin Abdur Rahim Al-Fathani Bukit Bayas (1864) Towards Hadith Works and Writings of Fiqh Muamalat al-Maliyyah: An Introduction of The Malay Jawi Manuscript Entitled: Risalah fi Bayani Hukmi Bai’i war Riba Z N, Mohd Khairul Nizam1* Mahmud Ahmad2 Nurul Jannah3 1Faculty

of Quran and Sunnah Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia, Bandar Baru 71800, Nilai Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia

2Department

of Akidah & Islamic Thought, Academy of Islamic Studies, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur

3Department

of Quran & Sunnah, Kulliyyah of Islamic Revealed Knowledge and Human Sciences, International Islamic University Malaysia,P.O. Box 10, 50728 Kuala Lumpur *Corresponding Author, Email: drknizamzn@usim.edu.my Abstract

The Malay work of writings which put Hadith as the Mawdu’ (title) of the writings of Malay Archipelago’s scholars is considered Nadir (small). This view is based on the remnants and the writings of Malay Archipelago’s scholars that are mostly focused on the aspect of tasawuf, fiqh and tauhid. This can be seen from their works or books circulated in the market that are still be read by the Malays. The historical development of knowledge in the Malay archipelago stated that the Malay ulamas have been in command of various fields of knowledge and disciplines such as Astronomy, Mathematics, Medicine and etc.This paperwork is an effort to discover the treasure of those Malay ulamas in producing written works on Fiqh Muamalat al-Maliyyahand putting hadith as a source. This writing is also to introduce Syeikh Abdul Qadir Bin Abdur Rahim Al-Fathani Bukit Bayas Terengganu and his book entitled “Risalah fi Bayani Hukmi Bai’i war Riba (papers describing on the matters of purchasing and interests). This book has been classified as a nadir (small) manuscript. This paper will also observe the method used in narrating hadith, total number of hadith and the source of hadith in the book.

Keywords: Malay, scholars, hadith, method, historical, narrating.

A. INTRODUCTION The arrival of Islam in Tanah Melayu during the 15th century when the Malay rulers notably the Sultan of Malacca converted to Islam in 1414 (Abdullah Ishak, 1990), has created a wave of interest among the Malay community towards knowledge. This is because; Islam encourages its followers to learn as the basic preaching in Islam. The role of ulama and religious school cannot be denied as one of the main reasons why knowldege became so lush inside the Malay community. According to Hall, the palace of Malacca, besides functioning as religious institution, is

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also function as the centre of dakwah for ulamas in spreading the light of Islam in the region and as a centre in producing works in various fields of knowledge: “they also introduced intelectuals and ulamas in order to strenghten the faith of the rulers and to build islamic missionary centres. The palace became the centre of religious knowledge and produced many literature works that are still can be found today”. (Abdullah Ishak, 1990).

As what claimed by Hall, the effort made by the ulama did not stop by oral preaching but also with the publishing of many important works for the current and future reference. Those works were published according to certain and specific subjects such as Usuluddin, Feqah, Tasawwuf and etc.

For example, they were practicing the system of muamalat al-maliyyah (transaction of property) in the matter of purchasing, mortgage, debt and such. Based on the history, the arrival of Islam in the Malay Archipelago especially Tanah Melayu, was supported by Muslim scholars from Mazhab Syafie. They spread Islam to the community without boundaries and focused much on the teaching of Shafie. However, their discussions were mostly based on academic and supported by dalil in al-Quran and Hadith.

1.

An Introduction to the author (Syeikh Abdul Kadir)

Syeikh Abdul Kadir Bukit Bayas or Wan Abdul Kadir bin Wan Abdul Rahim (1864) (Muhammad Abu Bakar), was hailed from Patani. He had produced several works, but the total number of his works cannot be determined as mentioned by Muhammad Abu Bakar: “it is not known about the works produced by Syeikh Abdul Kadir. However, there are atleast three reference books or used by him to teach his students”.

As a scholar, he has the ability to re-write religious works in Arabic. For example is a book entitled “Hadha Majmu’ Musytamilun ‘Ala Ihda wa Arba’in Risalah.(the collection of 40 writings) This book is a book of religious discourse by Syeikh Ibrahim al-Kurdi, a prime scholar from Mecca.

As a person who had his formal education based on the system of madrasah, he had proceeded the tradition in Terengganu. He was once mentioned as the pioneer of the madrasah system in Terengganu. The madrasah that he ventured into was first set up in Bukit Bayas which later also known as Kampung “Tok Syeikh.” Hashim @ Wan Husin Wan Embong, 1982).

The Sultan of Terengganu, Baginda Omar (1839-1876), appointed him as the State Mufti which later he received the title Syeikh al-Ulama’ by the Sultan. His stature as a teacher and the mufti to the Sultan had given many positive effects towards the system of administration of Terengganu.

During his years of ruling, Baginda Omar had massively introduced syariah Islamiyah as part of his government’s system. (Hasnan Kasan & Mohamad Taha, 2007). Tuk Syeikh Bukit Bayas passed away in the year of 1864 M in Kampung Paya Bunga, Terengganu.

2.

The Introduction of Kitab Risalah fi Bayani Hukmi Bai’i war Riba by Syeikh Abdul Qadir Bin Abdur Rahim Al-Fathani In Bukit Bayas Terengganu

According to the view expressed by Wan Mohd Shaghir Abdullah, Kitab Risalah fi Bayani Hukmil Ba’i war Riba is the only work he discovered. (Wan Mohd Saghir Abdullah, 1997). This book has several objectives such as giving information and lessons regarding the business practice or the

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system of economy based on Islamic teachings. The discourse covered the subjects of purchasing, riba (taking interest) and etc. The introduction of this book states: “… so to get rewards from Him by every single person who reads about the matter of transaction and women, big and small, young and about God…” This book as what depicted by Wan Mohd Saghir has two different sets of title in Arabic language.

The first one is ( ‫() ﺭﺳﺎﻟﺔ ﰲ ﺑﻴﺎﻥ ﺣﻜﻢ ﺍﻟﺒﻴﻊ ﻭﺍﻟﺮﺑﺎ‬pamphlet on the discourse of the law in procurement and interest) and the second book is called ‫"ﺍﻟﺘﺮﻏﻴﺐ ﻭﺍﻟﺘﺮﻫﻴﺐ ﻟﻠﺒﻴﻊ ﻭﺍﻟﺸﺮﻯ‬/ encouragement and the cautionary steps in transaction deals.

These books are read from left to right and have 65 pages. Both of them have been classified as nadir because up until now, there are only two complete manuscripts were found and another one is placed at Islamic Arts Museum Kuala Lumpur as part of the museum’s collection. According to the author, these books were completed during the time of Dhuha, Monday or on the 2nd / 8th of Rabiulawal 1234H /1818M in the state of Terengganu. They have never been printed by any publishers except for the ones copied by al-Haji Mahmud ibnu Muhammad Yusuf Terngganu on Monday of 19 Zulhijjah 1236 H. (Wan Mohd Saghir Abdullah, 2000).

This book has 11 main topics including sub-topics in which discussing about the matter of transaction and such. The primary method used by the author is to bring in dalil related to that particular topic discussed. Apart from that, the author had also mentioned about the narration of its references. He also focused on the matter of authenticity and facts that are taken from various valid sources and also rejected stories that are not based on al-Quran and al-hadith. According to him: “ It is not valid (the transaction) for the purchasing of Kafir’s books, sorcerer’s books and of those of filsafat’s books including Hikayat Seri Rama, Surat Jawa, and Syair Ken Tabuhan, including those that come out from poetry, and stories that have no benefits to its readers. And such is Haram to read for both male and female. And if doing so, the angels will run away for its foulness of smell that comes out from those who read such stories and poetry…”

B. METHODOLOGY 1.

Method in arranging the chapters / chapterization in book (TABWIB)

The book starts with an acknowledgment and introduction by Ustaz Wan Mohd Saghir. The introduction starts with a couple of comments on the book’s objectives and its explanation regarding the efforts taken to save Malay books that are classified as Nadir manuscipts.

Then, several brief informations are shared regarding the book such as the complete content of the book. The next chapter is the brief narration of the life and background on the author followed by the introduction remarks from Syeikh Abdul Kadir Bukit Bayas. According to the author, the book was written based on the concept of reminding betwen him and the Muslim ummah on matter related to transaction. The introduction of the book states that: “… as to earn benefit from Him by each person who reads on any related matters about transaction, be it male or female, small or big, young or old…” this book uses ancient Malay language with the system of ancient Rumi.

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Syeikh Abdul Qadir Bin Abdur Rahim Al-Fathani Bukit Bayas (1864) Towards Hadith Works and Writings of Fiqh Muamalat al-Maliyyah: An Introduction of The Malay Jawi Manuscript Entitled: Risalah fi Bayani Hukmi Bai’i war Riba

According to the author, all informations shared in this book are focused much on the aspect of its authenticity and the rejection of any sort of stories or fables that are not based on al-Quran and alhadith. He said that: “ It is not valid (the transaction) for the purchasing of Kafir’s books, sorcerer’s books and of those of filsafat’s books including Hikayat Seri Rama, Surat Jawa, and Syair Ken Tabuhan, including those that come out from poetry, and stories that have no benefits to its readers. And such is Haram to read for both male and female. And if doing so, the angels will run away for its foulness of smell that comes out from those who read such stories and poetry…”

The author started the insight with the recitation of “basmalah, hamdalah, salawat”and notify the title of the book in Arabic. Then, the author starts his discourse with a reminder regarding the sins of taking interests and the punishment for those who cheat in dealing with transaction.

C. RESULT AND DISCUSSION In this book, the author has devided the chapters into 11 main chapters discussing on certain particular topics. In each topic, the author discusses more than one hadith. Below, the author has simplified the content of those discourses for each chapter.

First chapter: This chapter is called “The origin of making the transaction permissable and the prohibition”. This chapter discusses on the debates regarding benefits in transaction and the forbidden of interest based on al-Quran and hadith. The author has also compared views between scholars regarding the issue of transaction and interest.

Second chapter: This chapter is called “Tanbih (reminder) arguments between ulama on the effort of terafdhal / primary”. This chapter discusses about the process of encouraging people to do business or to be an entrepreneur. The author has succesfully opened a debate on encouraging the reader to work hard without relying much on other people. This chapter, later on has been devided into several sub-topics such as to the third until the fifth chapter.

Third chapter: This chapter is called “ Selling materials that can be seen”. This chapter focuses on the question of buyers’ and sellers’ responsibility towards the material that they want to trade in between them.

Fourth chapter: This chapter is called “The selling of materials that are incomplete”.

Fifth chapter: This chapter is called “The selling of unseen materials”.

Sixth chapter: This chapter is called “The starting of the forbidden of interest”. In this chapter, the author has provided several arguments based on al-Quran and Hadith regarding the forbidden of taking interest. The author has also clarified on the issue of those who do business while not knowing of the law of transaction according to the consensus of the scholars’.

Seventh chapter: This chapter is called “tanbih (reminder) the forbidden of cheating in transaction”.

The author has brought upon several hadith related to this issue and the reminder from Prophet Rasullullah on cheating during the transaction process.

Eighth chapter: This chapter is called “Muhimmah (the importance)”. The author is trying to discuss on the matter relating to some of the very important reminder to sellers.

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Syeikh Abdul Qadir Bin Abdur Rahim Al-Fathani Bukit Bayas (1864) Towards Hadith Works and Writings of Fiqh Muamalat al-Maliyyah: An Introduction of The Malay Jawi Manuscript Entitled: Risalah fi Bayani Hukmi Bai’i war Riba

Ninth chapter: This chapter is called “Tanbih (reminder) the law on those who cheat in dealing with measurement. The author has brought upon some discussions in al-Quran and hadith in supporting his view related to this issue.

Tenth chapter: This chapter is called “Tanbih (reminder) on those who did injustice”. The author has discussed on the level of injustices, those who commit unjust, the reminder from Allah and His Prophet towards those people.

Eleventh chapter: This chapter is called “Khatimah (a closure) the taking of Laba parts”. This is the final chapter discussed by the author. The author has made a review and a conclusion regarding the devision of profits for the seller.

To understand better, the author has listed the content of the book specifically according to its chapter.

No. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

1.

Table 1. Content of the book Main chapter Introduction Asal Yang Mengharuskan Jualbeli dan Haram Riba Tanbih (reminder) Bersalah-salahan Ulama pada Usaha yang terafdhal Berjual matabenda yang dilihat Dijual akan matabenda yang belum mawjud Dijual mata benda yang ghaib, yang tiada dilihat Bermula asal pada haram Riba Tanbih (reminder) Haram Menipu Daya Pada Berjual Beli Muhimmah (importance) Tanbih (reminder) Suatu Perjagaan Pada Menyatakan Hukum Orang yang Mengurangkan Sukatan dan Timbangan Tanbih (reminder) Pada Menyatakan Zalim Suatu Khatimah (closing) Mengambil Modal Bahagian Laba / keuntungan

Page 1 2-4 4-9 10-17 18 19-20 20-31 32-41 41-46 46-49 49-60 61-65

The Methodology in Writing Hadith

In this methodology, the writer tries to observe the aspect of narrating hadith used by the author of the book. Throughout the observation, the writer has noticed that the author was heavily influenced with the methods used by the previous Malay Ulama and such authors who were hailed during the same era as him in putting several narrators’ name, indicating the saying of Prophet S.A.W with Arabic matan (text) or providing sources and translated it straight to Malay Language.

The author has his own style and method of writing. He presented hadith according to its neccessities and according to its respective chapter discussed. Hadith were arranged systematically according to its chapter and the arrangement was specifically assigned in academic style.

In designing the writing and hadith narrating, the author has generally specified the sources of hadith based on its sources such as mentioning “narrated by Bukhari and Muslim, reported by Ibnu Asakir and etc. However, there are also hadith that have only been mentioned about its name of the narrator without giving its respective source of reference. For example, the author only mentioned “ by Ibnu Umar from Prophet S.A.W, from Kaab al-Ahbar, from Ibnu Abbas and etc.

Sometimes, the author will write “ A hadith by Prophet S.A.W and go straight with the process of Taqal Matan or stating the text of hadith without mentioning its reference,source,narrator or from which book. In certain situation, the writer has also mentioned about the source of hadith taking such as from the book called Ihya’ Ulum ad-Din and such. The book of Ihya’ Ulumuddin is not

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taken as additional hadith book. It is clear that the writer only use the process of “Naqal”/ copying the hadith directly to his book wihtout revising or extracting the hadith.

The writer, in many situation has put the hadith text in Arabic and give its translation except for a couple of hadith in which he just simply provide the translation without giving the original text in Arabic.

The translation of those hadith were written in the style of old Malay translation.

From the analysis made by the writer, he doesn’t use the same method in narrating certain hadith.

Below, are the methods used by the writer : a. Starts with giving the name of the Sanad Hadith (chain of the narrators) and its matan (texts). The writer will mention about some of the narrators’s name, followed

by Rasulluh S.A.W and, or mentioning the hadith matan (texts) in full. This method cannot be conformed by the writer as there is no hadith with continous sanad (by using the process of Naqal / copying) used by the author . b. The author will cut off the name of the Sanad Hadith (chain of the narrators) that he feels too long to mention. In narrating a hadith, the author has cut or shortened the Sanad Hadith. He only mentioned one Sahabah’s name in the beginning of the sanad closed to Rasullullah S.A.W. (sanad A’li).

Example :

( ‫ﻣ !ﺔ‬# ‫ﺎ‬#‫ﻡ ﺍﹾﻟ !ﻘﻴ‬# ‫ﻮ‬, ‫ﻳ‬# ‫ﺍ ِﺀ‬#‫ﻬﺪ‬# ‫ﺸ‬ 3 ‫ﻊ ﺍﻟ‬# ‫ﻣ‬# ‫ﻢ‬6 ‫ﺴ!ﻠ‬ , ‫ﻤ‬6 ‫ﻕ ﺍﹾﻟ‬ 6 ‫ﻭ‬6‫ﺼﺪ‬ = ‫ﲔ ﺍﻟ‬ 6 ‫ﺮ ﺍﹾﻟﹶﺄ !ﻣ‬6 ‫) ﻋﻦ ﺍﺑﻦ ﻋﻤﺮﺍﻟﺘ=ﺎ ﹺﺟ‬ Meaning : From Ibnu Umar, those who do business that the trust is vast in Islam and of those martyrs in the hereafter. The complete Sanad of this hadith is as followed:

‫ﻋ !ﻦ‬# ‫ﺎ'ﻓ ﹴﻊ‬#‫ﻦ ﻧ‬#‫ﺏ ﻋ‬ # ‫ ﺃﹶﻳ!ﻮ‬%‫ﺮﹺﻱ! ﻋ'ﻦ‬%‫ﺷ'ﻦﹴ ﺍﻟﹾﻘﹸﺸ'ﻴ‬%‫ ﺟ'ﻮ‬7‫ﻦ‬%‫ ﺑ‬7‫ﺸ'ﺎﻡﹴ ﺣ'ﺪ@ﺛﹶﻨ'ﺎ ﻛﹸﻠﹾﺜﹸﻮﻡ‬C‫ ﻫ‬7‫ﻦ‬%‫ ﺑ‬7‫ﲑ‬C‫ ﺣ'ﺪ@ﺛﹶﻨ'ﺎ ﻛﹶﺜ‬F‫ﻨ'ﺎﻥ‬C‫ ﺳ‬7‫ﻦ‬%‫ ﺑ‬7‫ﻤ'ﺪ‬%‫ﺣ'ﺪ@ﺛﹶﻨ'ﺎ ﺃﹶﺣ‬ .!‫ﺔ‬#‫ﺎﻣ‬#‫ ﺍﻟﹾﻘ!ﻴ‬#‫ﻡ‬,‫ﻮ‬#‫ﺍﺀِ ﻳ‬#‫ﺪ‬#‫ﻬ‬3‫ ﺍﻟﺸ‬#‫ﻊ‬#‫ ﻣ‬6‫ﻠ!ﻢ‬,‫ﺴ‬6‫ ﺍﻟﹾﻤ‬6‫ﻭﻕ‬6‫ ﺍﻟﺼ!ﺪ‬%‫ ﺍﻟﹾﺄﹶﻣ'ﲔ‬%‫ ﺍﻟﺘ!ﺎﺟﹺﺮ‬1‫ﻠﱠﻢ‬1‫ﺳ‬1‫ﻪ' ﻭ‬8‫ﻠﹶﻴ‬1‫ ﻋ‬%‫ﻠﱠﻰ ﺍﻟﻠﱠﻪ‬1‫ﺭﺳ*ﻮ ﹸﻝ ﺍﻟﱠﻠ !ﻪ ﺻ‬, ‫ﺮ ﻗﹶﺎﹶﻟﻘﹶﺎ ﹶﻝ‬, ‫ﻤ‬, !‫ﻦﹺ ﻋ‬%‫ﺍﺑ‬ The author has cut short the Hadith Sanad in order to make it easier for the readers to understand thehadith. This is to ensure that directly, the author is using the same hadith is actually the same as what similar with the source of hadith taken by the author.

However, the process of shortening the Sanad Hadith in the writing of hadith is appropriate to the reading of the public. For hadith writer and those who know the way in writing hadith, this technique is actually not appropriate because it will only make the process of selecting the complete sanad hadith become harder. Sanad Hadith is very important in determining the level of authenticity of the hadith narration. It is considered as the symbol of the authenticity of a Hadith. c. Mentioning the name of hadith scholar in the beginning of Hadith Matan/ Text.

As what any other authors did, the author has also mentioned in his book the name of hadith scholars in the beginning of matan hadith. Some of the names are Bukhari,Muslim, al-Thabrani, Ibnu Majah, Khatib, Asbahani, ad-Dailami, ibnu Hibban, Ahmad, ibnu Asakir, Tirmidhi, dan Baihaqi.

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Example:

‫ ﻭﻣﺎ ﻫﻦ ؟ ﻗﺎﻝ‬، ‫ ﻳﺎ ﺭﺳﻮﻝ ﺍﷲ‬: ‫ ﻗﺎﻟﻮﺍ‬. ‫ ﺍﺟﺘﻨﺒﻮﺍ ﺍﻟﺴﺒﻊ ﺍﳌﻮﺑﻘﺎﺕ‬:‫ﻋﻦ ﺃﰊ ﻫﺮﻳﺮﺓ‬:‫)ﺍﺧﺮﺟﻪ ﺍﻟﺒﺨﺎﺭﻱ ﻭ ﺍﳌﺴﻠﻢ‬ ‫ ﻭﺍﻟﺘﻮﱄ‬، ‫ ﻭﺃﻛﻞ ﻣﺎﻝ ﺍﻟﻴﺘﻴﻢ‬، ‫ ﻭﺃﻛﻞ ﺍﻟﺮﺑﺎ‬، ‫ ﻭﻗﺘﻞ ﺍﻟﻨﻔﺲ ﺍﻟﱵ ﺣﺮﻡ ﺍﷲ ﺇﻻ ﺑﺎﳊﻖ‬، ‫ ﻭﺍﻟﺴﺤﺮ‬، ‫ ﺍﻟﺸﺮﻙ ﺑﺎﷲ‬: (‫ ﻭﻗﺬﻑ ﺍﶈﺼﻨﺎﺕ ﺍﳌﺆﻣﻨﺎﺕ ﺍﻟﻐﺎﻓﻼﺕ‬، ‫ﻳﻮﻡ ﺍﻟﺰﺣﻒ‬

Meaning: As narrated by al-Bukhari dan Muslim: From abi Hurairah :Stay away from seven sins that will destroy and the companions asked ya Rasulullah, what are of those seven And so he said. Fist is Shirk towards Allah and black magic and murdering people as forbidden by the Syarak accept of those for Qisass and that to take interest and that of taking the property of the orphans and of those that run away from the battle with non-believers and of those who accuse good women bad things. d. No full Hadith extraction and no mentioning about the level of hadith

In every chapter of the book, the author does not mention about the extracting process of hadith and its level. It is very rare to find a writer whose writer has made a mention about the level of hadith selected in his book. e. The collection of hadith under one specific chapter In hadith writing, the author has collected several hadith related to one specific chapter. For example, in the taking of interest’s chapter (riba), all hadith viewed in that particular chapter, actually hadith that are closely related to the discussion on Riba’. f.

The use of terms by hadith scholars

The author did not use any terms normally used by Hadith scholars in simpifying the name of narrators. Such terms are like :al-Shaykhan, Muttafaq ‘Alayh, al-Jama’ah, dan al-Arba’ah. The author, however only mention that those hadith were narrated by Bukhari and Muslim as the replacement of such term like al-ShaykhÉn and etc. g. Introducing hadith that are narrated by the Sahabah and Sahabiah (Prophet’s companions) The author has introduced hadith that are narrated by Prophet’s companions. Those hadith can be seen from the part of Sanad Hadith. There are also hadith that have sanad narrated by the Sahabiah. Some of the examples are : 1) Mentioning the name of Sahabah in the beginning of Sanad Example:

( ‫ ﺍﻟﺘﺎﺟﺮ ﺍﻟﺼﺪﻭﻕ ﲢﺖ ﻇﻞ ﺍﻟﻌﺮﺵ ﻳﻮﻡ ﺍﻟﻘﻴﺎﻣﺔ‬: ‫) ﺩﺭﻓﺪ ﺃﻧﺲ‬ Meaning: From Anas, the people who do transaction in full honesty is protected with the protection of Arash during the judgement day.

2) Mentioning the name of Sahabiah in the beginning of Sanad.

Example :

(!‫ ﻟﹶﻪ‬%‫ﻴ'ﺮ‬%‫ﻐ‬%‫ﺘ‬%‫ﺘ'ﻰ ﻳ‬%‫ﻪ! ﺣ‬.‫ﻋ‬%‫ﺪ‬%‫ ﻓﹶﻠﹶﺎ ﻳ‬4‫ﻪ‬.‫ﺟ‬%‫ ﻭ‬.‫ﻦ‬8‫ﻗﹰﺎ ﻣ‬.‫ ﺭﹺﺯ‬.‫ﻛﹸﻢ‬8‫ﺪ‬%‫ﺄﹶﺣ‬8‫ ﺍﻟﻠﱠﻪ! ﻟ‬%‫ﺒ'ﺐ‬%‫) ﺩﺭﻓﺪ ﺍﺑﻦ ﻣﺎﺟﻪ ﻋﻦ ﻋﺎﺋﺸﺔ ﺇﺫﹶﺍ ﺳ‬

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Syeikh Abdul Qadir Bin Abdur Rahim Al-Fathani Bukit Bayas (1864) Towards Hadith Works and Writings of Fiqh Muamalat al-Maliyyah: An Introduction of The Malay Jawi Manuscript Entitled: Risalah fi Bayani Hukmi Bai’i war Riba

Meaning: As narrated by and Ibnu Majah from Aishah, she heard Rasullullah S.A.W said that when Allah gives you the rezki that comes from other party, do not leave it be until Allah wills it to change.

2. The numbers of Hadith in the book Eventhough the book of Syeikh Abdul Kadir Bukit Bayas is more on the discussion of Muamamat (transactions), the author has not debated specifically on the aspect of that particular field of matter. Instead, as what mentioned by the writer previously, the author focuses more on the process of hadith takhrij listed in his book called Risalah fi Bayan Hukmi Bai’ wa Riba and followed by several analysis on those particular hadith.

The writer has made an effort in verifying each hadith mentioned by Syeikh Abdul Kadir Bukit Bayas in his book. Based on the verification, the writer has found out that there are 91 number of hadith in total mentioned in eleven different chapters altogether. See table 1.1 below to know the number of hadith mentioned in each chapter.

No. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

Table 2.The number of hadith according to its main chapter.

Main Chapter Number of Hadith Muqaddimah (Introduction) 0 Asal Yang Mengharuskan Jualbeli dan Haram 13 Riba Tanbih (peringatan) Bersalah-salahan Ulama 8 pada Usaha yang terafdhal Berjual matabenda yang dilihat 3 Dijual akan matabenda yang belum mawjud 0 Dijual mata benda yang ghaib, yang tiada 0 dilihat Bermula asal pada haram Riba 16 Tanbih (peringatan) Haram Menipu Daya Pada 24 Berjual Beli Muhimmah (kepentingan) 13 Tanbih (peringatan) Suatu Perjagaan Pada 0 Menyatakan Hukum Orang yang Mengurangkan Sukatan dan Timbangan Tanbih (peringatan) Pada Menyatakan Zalim 12 Suatu Khatimah (penutup) Mengambil Modal 2 Bahagian Laba / keuntungan Total number of Hadith 91

3. The Sources of Hadith The author has described and put upon several added hadith sources to streghtened his discussion. There are 16 hadith mentioned among 91 collections of hadith being used as his dicussions.

Table 3. The list of additional books and the total number of hadith No. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Additional books Bukhari and Muslim Bukhari, Muslim and Ahmad Bukhari and Ahmad Bukhari and Baihaqi Muslim Muslim and Ahmad Tirmidhi Tirmidhi and Abu Dawud

No of hadith 4 1 1 1 4 1 2 1

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Syeikh Abdul Qadir Bin Abdur Rahim Al-Fathani Bukit Bayas (1864) Towards Hadith Works and Writings of Fiqh Muamalat al-Maliyyah: An Introduction of The Malay Jawi Manuscript Entitled: Risalah fi Bayani Hukmi Bai’i war Riba

9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29

Tirmidhi, Hakim and Ibnu Majah Ibnu Majah and Baihaqi Ibnu Majah and Hakim Ibnu Majah Ibnu Majah and Ibnu Hibban Ibnu Majah and Ahmad Baihaqi and Asfahani Baihaqi Ahmad and Tabrani Imam Ahmad Tabrani Asbahani and Dailami Khatib Khatib and Ibnu Asakir Ibnu Asakir, Dailami and Khatib Toyalisi Ibnu Asakir Imam Ghazali Abi Naim and Ibnu ‘Adi Al-Ghazali No discription on additional sources Total number of additional sources: 28 Books

1 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 3 3 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 55 Total hadith : 91

D. CONCLUSION In conclusion, this book is entirely focused on the discussion regarding the law of transaction and interest based on the Syara’ (evidence from the Islamic Ruling). Apart from that, the arrangement of chapters adapted by the writer is done based on his understanding towards the discussion of Islamic scholars on the law of transaction. As an example to future research, it is advisable to make the revising or the takhrij process as compulsory in order to make sure that the hadith used by the author are considered as an effort to safeguard the hadith of Propher S.A.W. Other than that, the process of putting recital marks and the changing of recital from linguistic and arrangement of quranic words point of view should also be up graded with additional registration of content. These efforts can ensure the betterment of quality towards the book and thus bring positive changes to the Malays in general.

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Syeikh Abdul Qadir Bin Abdur Rahim Al-Fathani Bukit Bayas (1864) Towards Hadith Works and Writings of Fiqh Muamalat al-Maliyyah: An Introduction of The Malay Jawi Manuscript Entitled: Risalah fi Bayani Hukmi Bai’i war Riba

References Abdullah, Ishak. (1990). Islam Di Nusantara (Khususnya di Tanah Melayu). Al-Rahmaniah, Selangor, Malaysia.

Al-Fatani,. Fathi, Ahmad. (2001). Ulama Besar dari Patani. Universiti Kebangsaan: Malaysia.AlFatani.

Azyumardi, Azra. Jaringan Ulama Timur Tengah dan Kepulauan Nusantara Abad 17 dan 18,cet. 4.

Bandung: Mizan.

Baharin, Kamarul, A. Kasim. (2004). Koleksi Pilihan Dunia Melayu, Distinctive Malay World Collections, Jabatan Muzium dan Antikuiti. Kuala Lumpur.

Fathy, Ahmad. (2011). Ulama’ Patani di Terengganu : Sejarah dan Peranan (Dari Tuan Hassan Besut hingga Haji Abdul Rahman Pombeng, Jabatan Pengajian Arab dan Tamadun Islam.

Fakulti Islam, Universiti Kebangsaan, Malaysia.

Husin, Hashim @ Wan, Wan Embong. (1982/83.). Satu Analisa Pemikiran dan Peranan Sayid Muhamad bin Zayn al-Abidin al-Idrus ( Tok Ku Tuan Besar Terengganu) dalam Perkembangan Islam di Terengganu 1295/ 1878, Jabatan Pengajian Arab dan Tamadun Islam. Fakulti Islam, Universiti Kebangsaan, Malaysia.

Hasnan, Kasan & Mohamad, Taha. (2007). Siasah Agama dan Peranan Pemerintah dalam Menegakkan Syariah Islam di Tanah Melayu Abad Ke-19. in Islam di Tanah Melayu Abad ke19, ed. Farid Mat Zain, Karisma Publications Sdn. Bhd. Shah Alam. Malaysia.

Majah, Ibnu, Abi Abdullah Muhammad bin Yazid al-Qazwaini (1998), Sunan Ibnu Majah,: Dar alHadith, Tahqiq Muhammad Fuad Abdul Baqi. al-Qahirah.

Majah, Ibnu Muhammad Bin Yazid Bin Majah Al-Qazwaini (1974), Al-Sunan, (Muhammad Fu’ad ‘Abdul Baqi, ed.), Dar al-Ihya’ al-Turath ‘Arabi. Beirut.

Majah, Ibnu. Muhammad bin Yazid (1980 &1998), Sunan Ibnu Majah. Maktabah Ilmiyyah & alQahirah. Dar al-Hadith. Beirut.

Muhammad, Abu Bakar. An Introduction to The Malay World. _____. Ulama Terengganu Suatu Sorotan. Utusan Publication. Kuala Lumpur.

Qadir, Abdul,. Rahim, Abdur. Risalah fi Bayan Hukmi Bai’I wa Riba. Malaysia.

Wan Mohd Saghir, Abdullah. (2000).Penyebaran Islam & Silsilah Ulama Sejagat Dunia Melayu Jilid 10, Khazanah Fathaniyah. Kuala Lumpur.

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Abdul Halim and His Movement (1911-1962) Seeking Historical Roots of Persatuan Ummat Islam (PUI) Movement

Abdul Halim and His Movement (1911-1962) Seeking Historical Roots of Persatuan Ummat Islam (PUI) Movement Wawan Hernawan1 1Faculty

of Ushuluddin (Theology) UIN Sunan Gunung Djati Bandung.

Email: wanha99@yahoo.co.id Abstract

This research aims to reconstruct a movement led by Halim from 1911 to 1962. This is an important task in the global era when every body idolizes a global leader. People should be aware and wise to count a local leader who has a significant role in developing and creating a history of a country. In the era when people tend to be static and fatalistic person, Halim proposed a dynamic and progressive thinking. By applying a historical research method, this research found that Halim’s efforts to find out national identity has been initiated since his young age until he passed away. Halim has significantly contributed to the growing of many other movements led by younger generations after him. Halim has also succeeded in solving local people’s problems particularly on education, dakwa and social problems. The emergence of Persatuan Umat Islam (PUI) organization is a fact of Halim’s efforts and struggles.

Keywords: Organization, Madjlisoel ‘Ilmi, Persjarikatan Oelama, Persatuan Ummat Islam A. INTRODUCTION The first information about Halim can be found on Pendaftaran Orang Indonesia Jang Terkemoeka Jang Ada di Djawa proposed to Gunseikanbu Cabang (District) I, Pegangsaan Timoer 36 Djakarta, on 1942. Halim wrote his name Abdul Halim (Moehammad Sjatari), and born on 25 Sjawal Poeasa 1304 H. /17-6-2547 in Djatiwangi Madjalengka. In the above source (Pendaftaran Orang Indonesia Jang Terkemoeka Jang Ada di Djawa), under column Keterangan jang lain jang mengenai oesaha bagi oemoem, Halim wrote as a founder and a chairman of Persjarikatan Oelama Indonesia that later on be changed to become Perikatan Oemat Islam and Halim vecome an advicer (Halim: 2602).

The next information about Halim can be found when someone visits Majalengka, West Java. The main road in Majalengka, from Bundaran Munjul (Munjul Roundabout) to Bundaran Cigasong (Cigasong Roundabout), it is around 5.760 metres long, someone can easily find a street under his name namely Jl. K.H. Abdul Halim or Abdul Halim’s street. An official website of Pemerintah Kabupaten Majalengka (2013), says that the local district of Majalengka named a street under Halim’s name to memorize and appreciate movement’s values led by Halim. Halim’s name is also used to name a building, hall or classrooms at PUI’s schools. Halim is one of Indonesian national leaders who got a medal of Kehormatan Bintang Mahaputera Utama, Bintang Mahaputera Adipradana, and also a title of National Hero from the Indonesian government (Sekretariat Jenderal Dewan Tanda-tanda Kehormatan RI, 2008).

Based on the background information above, several questions, as focus of this paper, appear such as why did Halim get a special attention from the government? If it is due to his movement and organization he led, how was Halim’s movement during Dutch colonialism, Japanese

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occupation and Indonesian independence era? And how was an existence of organization found

by Halim after the Indonesian independence?

This study tries to document biography of Halim as an organizational or movement leader and how he transferred values of movement to his followers. For a historical science, this study hopefully can contribute to an Indonesian historiography, particularly in term of figure’s historiography.

Through this study, the role of Halim in his movement during Dutch colonial, Japanese occupation and the existence of PUI can be clearly explained.

Halim’s movement for the period 1911-1962 is interesting to be scrutinized due to several reasons.

First, 1911 is an early movement of Halim after he finished his study in Mecca and establishes Madjlisoel ‘Ilmi. His family and educational background can be explained. Second, 1962 is the last focus of the study in which Halim passed away. Third, from 1911-1962, Halim has showed his dedication and role as a problem solver for problems faced by the local people. Spatial aspect of this study covers a West Java area where PUI was found and as an area of mass basis of the organization established by Halim.

1.

Literatures Review

There are several sources and research results that are directly or indirectly discuss Halim and his movement. Historical background of Halim was found in the book entitled Kiai Hadji Abdoel Halim Penggerak P.U.I., written by Akim and published in 1964 by Yayasan Kiai H. Abdoel Halim Majalengka. Akim lives at the same era with Halim in which both of them become the leader of the early establishment of PB PUI. The book (63 pages length) discusses the genealogy of Halim’s family, several organizations found by Halim, the event of fusion and organizational structure of the first PB PUI organization. Although the book is thin enough, this book gives enough information about Halim and early movement of PUI. The second book is Revitalisasi Peran PUI dalam Pemberdayaan Ummat published by the PW PUI Jawa Barat in 2006. The book (279 pages) was written by 30 cadres and organizational followers that discusses several aspect of Halim. For an akidah (theological) aspects written by Djadja Djahari, Irfan Hielmy, and Aisyah Mutaqin; tarbiyah (education) aspect written by Azyumardi Azra, Hendi Suhendi, and Iding Bachruddin; dakwah aspect written by Endang Soetari, M. Herman Soewardi, and M.A. Riva’i; and tarikh (history) aspect written by Hasan Mu’arif Ambary, Nina H. Lubis, and Edi S. Ekadjati. These four aspect of the book, not only discuss hope, future and vision of PUI, but also consist of several work plans of PUI (Setiady, 2006).

Besides the books above, there is a PhD thesis entitled Santi Asromo K.H. Abdoel Halim: Studi tentang Pembaharuan Pendidikan Islam di Indonesia written by Jalaluddin in 1990. This thesis discusses the role of Persjarikatan Oelama (cikal bakal ormas PUI) in the field of education by explaining the concept of al-salam, santi asromo, and santri lucu. This thesis also explains the concept of Intisab and al-Islah al-Tsamaniyah, which later on has been patterned as the guidelines and work plan of PUI. From a literature study, it is found that sources related to Halim and his movements are quite available enough.

B. METHODOLOGY This study uses a historical research method which covers four steps that are heuristik, kritik, interpretasi, dan historiografi (Garaghan, 1946; Lubis, 2008). In the heristic step, the researcher visit several archive institutions and libraries such as Bibliotheek Koninklijk Institut voor Taal Land

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Abdul Halim and His Movement (1911-1962) Seeking Historical Roots of Persatuan Ummat Islam (PUI) Movement

en Volkenkunde (KITLV), Arsip Nasional Republik Indonesia (ANRI), Perpustakaan Nasional RI, and personal Family Library of Keluarga Besar Abdoel Halim in Majalengka. Through these visits, much information, which supports this research was found.

C. RESULT AND DISCUSSION 1.

Family and Educational Background

Gunseikanbu (1944) states that Halim’s parents named him Mohammad Sjatari. He was born on 25th Syawal 1304 H or 17th June 1887 M or 17th June 2547 Ç, at Desa Sutawangi, Jatiwangi, Majalengka. His father is Iskandar and his mother is Siti Mutmainah. He was a fatherless since his childhood. Halim was grown up under his mother supervision. His mother strictly guides Halim’s life under religious values. Jalaluddin (1990) argues that Sjatari never enrolled into a formal school. Wanta (1991) calls Halim as an autodidactic person. This situation can be understood because at that time social, political including educational situation in Indonesia is not conducive due to colonial occupation (Prawira, 1975).

At the age of ten, Sjatari was sent by his mother to study Al-Qur’an to a popular Kyai (religious Islamic scholar) in Cideres. When he was in Cideres, Sjatari not only studied al-Qur'an, but also learnt reading and writing Latin words as well as Dutch to a Christian Pastor, Verhoeven (Jalaluddin, 1990; End, 1986). Since the age eleven, Sjatari started to deeply learn Islamic religion from pesantren (Islamic boarding school) to pesantren. Firstly, he studied at Pesantren Lontang Jaya, Panjalin to learn qira'at and tajwid (Jalaluddin, 1990). After he graduated, he moved to Pesantren Bobos to study Arabic literatures and moved again to Pesantren Ciwedus. After he graduated, he continued his study to Pesantren Kanayangan. And finally, he returned back to Pesantren Ciwedus (Prawira, 1975; Wanta, 1991).

When he turned twentyone years old, his mother called him to come back to his hometown Jatiwangi, Majalengka. When he arrived in Jatiwangi, he married with Siti Murbijah. Murbijah was the last daughter of Muhammad Ilyas, Penghulu Landraad in Majalengka. Wanta (1991), states that based on genealogical records. Sjatari and Murbijah are still having family relationship. Their marriage had double meanings that are not only performed syari'at Islam but also strengthened family relationship.

In 1908 Sjatari went to Mecca for pilgrimage as well as continued his study there (Prawira, 1975; Jalaluddin, 1990). His education periods in Mecca are the same time with his friends from Sumatera such as Mas Mansur, Abdul Wahab, Sanoesi, and others. They studied to the same teachers. Among Sjatari’s teachers in Mecca are Ahmad Khatib and Ahmad Khayyat (Steenbrink, 1984). Besides these two popular teachers, Sjatari also mentioned other religious teachers such as Syakib Arslan and Tanthawi Jauhari (Stoddard, 1966). Sjatari studied in Mecca for three years.

He was fetched by his family in 1911. When he returned back to Indonesia, he has never used his name, Mohammad Sjatari, but he changed his name by Abdul Halim until he passed away (Wanta, 1991).

2.

History of His Activities and Movements

The return of Halim from Mecca in 1911 has brought a bright history for Islamic movement in Majalengka. On that year, Halim established an educational institution called Madjlisoel ‘Ilmi. For the first establishment, this Madjlisoel ‘Ilmi has taken place in a small mosque called tajug (praying room) with only 8 square meter and very simple mosque. Among students who studied in this

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institution are Sjafari, Abdoelfatah, Adnan, Ahmad Sjoto, Oemar Djahoeri, Djamaloeddin Kosim, and Zoehri (Abdulchalim, 1932; Akim, 1964).

In 1912, Madjlisoel ‘Ilmi changed its name become Hajatoel Qoeloeb. This Hajatoel Qoeloeb not only provides educational training but also social and economic activities (Noer, 1995). In the field of social and economics, Hajatoel Qoeloeb recruited its members from local traders and farmers.

This recruitment aimed to help them to compete with Chinese traders. In the field of education, Hajatoel Qoeloeb started to hold a weekly religious discussion on fiqh (Islamic law) and hadith (The Prophet Muhammad tradition) for adult person. The educational activities of Hajatoel Qoeloeb, firstly was only followed by 40 people. In his teaching’s activities, although he holds traditional fiqh, Halim avoids issues of differences in religious interpretations (khilafiyah). On the khilafiyah matter, Halim lets his students or audiences to choose by themselves (Noer, 1995).

The age of Hajatoel Qoeloeb was very short. Due to frequent conflicts between members of Hajatoel Qoeloeb and Chinese traders, the Dutch Hindia government dissolved Hajatoel Qoeloeb in 1915 and forbidden all Hajatoel Qoeloeb’s activities (Noer, 1995). To face this challenge, Halim endured and kept Hajatoel Qoeloeb’s activities without using official name of Hajatoel Qoeloeb (Prawira, 1975).

On Wednesday May 16, 1916, several Muslim figures in Majalengka who concerned with educational conditions of local Muslim, held meeting in Kantoor Priesterraad (Kantor Penghulu) of District Majalengka. There are eight figures who presented at this meeting such as Mas Haji Iljas, M. Setjasentana, Habib Abdoellah Al-Djufri, M.H. Zoebedi, Hidajat, Sastrakoesoema, Atjung Sahlan, and Halim. They represented teachers, religious leaders and local people (Abdulchalim, 1932). This meeting agreed to establish an organization and a modern Islamic educational institution. Halim named that organization Jam'ijjat I'anat al-Muta'allimin which had a main duty to establish Islamic school (madrasah) whicah later on called Madrasah I'anat al-Muta'allimin (Abdulchalim, 1932). In that meeting, Halim was asked to whether ready to lead the madrasah if someday this school was established. Halim unhesitatingly agreed and ready to lead the school.

The members of the meeting then collected donation as a source funding to establish educational institution. At that time, they sucessfully collected ƒ 12.50.

The establishment of Jam'ijjat I'anat al-Muta'allimin was positively responded and welcomed by teachers. Due to professionalism of leaders and teachers of madrasah I'anat al-Muta'allimin, their existence was accepted by distrik-distrik under afdeeling Majalengka. To be officially recognized, the caretaker of Jam’ijjat I’anat al-Muta'allimin finally proposed the official status to the Hindia Dutch government (Abdulchalim, 1932). In that proposal, Madrasah I'anat al-Muta'allimin was included (Gouvernements Besluit, 1917). After proposal of statuten was ready, the organization sent Habib Abdullah al-Jufri to coordinate with Oemar Said Tjokroaminoto to meet GouverneurGeneraal Mr. Jean Paul Graaf van Limburg Stirum or commonly called toean Besar GG (Stafel, 1941). By Tjokroaminoto’s advises and help, on December 21, 1917, Hindia Dutch governmet issued a letter of rechtspersoonlijkheid (unification) between organization of Jam'ijjat I'anat alMuta'allimin and Madrasah I'anat al-Muta'allimin, and became a Persjarikatan Oelama (Gouvernements Besluit, 1917).

After an issued of official letter from the Hindia Dutch government, Persjarikatan Oelama completed the structures of the organization or hoofdbestuur. According to Akim (1964), main figures of Jam'ijjat I'anat al-Muta'allimin then were appointed as hoofdbestuur Persjarikatan Oelama and Halim became the chairman of organization or Voorzitter. This Persjarikatan Oelama has struggled on education, dakwah and social activities. In the field of education, they arranged

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Abdul Halim and His Movement (1911-1962) Seeking Historical Roots of Persatuan Ummat Islam (PUI) Movement

subjects and curriculla based on Islamic education branch of knowledge that covers science of Syar’iyyah; Aqliyyah; Adabiyyah, and Rijaliyyah. Syar’iyyah covers al-Qur’an, al-Hadis, and science of fiqh. Aqliyyah covers science of tauhid, manthiq, hujah, and munadhoroh (debat).

Adabiyyah covers science of nahwu, tarich (babad), sorof, ma’ani-bayan, writings, tasawuf, loegat (language), and science of teaching. And Rijaliyyah covers science of pantun (syair), earth, drawing, math or aljabar, falak, Thobi’iyyah Natuurkennis (biology) flora and fauna, Thobaqatulardi (geology), meubeler, agronomy, health, geometry and astronomy (Abdulchalim, 1932).

Based on the classification of Islamic subjects above, madrasah Persjarikatan Oelama insisted three aspects that their students should have when they graduated namely: (a) Ethical education (al-akhlak), (b) Social education (al-ijtima’), and (c) economics education (al-iqtishad). The three aspects above can be elaborated into several subjects. They are: (1) Religious science and everything related to it, (2) Language, including reading and writing story, (3) History (Tarich), (4) geography (Jagrofiyah), (5) Natural science (Thobi’iyah) including flora and fauna (6) Engineering (Hindasah), (7) Measuring, (8) Drawing (9) science of hadith (rijaliyah), and (10) Science of creativity. However, not all of these sciences should be offered at madrasah in Persjarikatan Oelama. Both members and leaders of Persjarikatan Oelama should prioritize lessons related to skills (psychomotor) rather than lessons related to understanding (cognitive). This policy was caused by the fact that people need to have skills more. For example, if the people can not become a teacher, they can become a farmer or a furniture trader instead. (Abdulchalim, 1932).

With these subjects or lessons provided above, in a very short times, madrasah Persjarikatan Oelama became a very popular in Majalengka as a professional modern Islamic school. A very important characteristic of this madrasah was a classroom model (which was very rare at that time) and five years time frame applied. Efforts done by Halim and Persjarikatan Oelama to improve their quality were making a memorandum of understanding or cooperation with other institutions like Jami 'at Khair and al-Irsyad in Jakarta. As a result of their quality improved, madrasah Persjarikatan Oelama attracted many students not only from Majalengka but also from Indramayu, Kuningan, Cirebon, and others places in Central Java. Those students enrolled in several subjects related to Islamic studies (Akim, 1964; Noer, 1995). During the period 1917-1920, there were twentysix madrasah (Islamic schools) under the organization of Persjarikatan Oelama’s supervision. Among these madrasah, according to Wanta (1991), almost all founders are Persjarikatan Oelama’s graduates.

The very fast development of madrasah Persjarikatan Oelama had an implication to teachers’ availability. In a time of ‘teachers’ emergency’ (due to a very small number of teachers compared to huge number of students), in 1919 Halim as a voorzitter Hoofdbestuur of Persjarikatan Oelama, gave a full trust to Setjasentana to arrange a leerplan (curricula) for a Kweek School or teachers’ education. The establishment of Kweek School can not be neglected from the help of Halim’s father in law (Iljas) and assisted by Imam Hasan Basjari, and Abdoel Ghani. This Kweek School was later on called Moe’alimien. At the first establishment, Madrasah Moe’allimien P.O. took place at a house belongs to Soedjarwo (now took place at Jl. Teuku Umar Majalengka). Later on in 1921, madrasah Moe’allimien P.O. had own building, built in a land belongs to Abdoelghani Penningmeester (Treasurer) Hoofdbestuur Persjarikatan Oelama (Wanta, 1991).

In its development, when Persjarikatan Oelama held conference on educatiom on 19-20 November 1932, name of Kweek School P.O. has been changed to become a Madrasah Daaroel Oeloem. And for female students, it was found a madrasah Fathimiyah. This name was taken from the female wing of Persjarikatan Oelama. Madrasah Daaroel Oeloem for males and Fathimiyah for females had improved dramatically. Number of students from several regions increased. They not

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only came from regions in West Java but also came from Tegal, Semarang, Kudus, Banyumas, Kediri, Pare, Lampung, and Jakarta (Jalaluddin, 1990).

Besides Kweek School, in1932 Halim also established Santi Asromo. Important characteristics of Santi Asromo are: First, it is a new Islamic Boarding School that combined religion and secular knowledge. Students in this pesantren not only studied Sedjarah Doenia (World History) and Bahasa Belanda (Dutch), but also studied how to plant, meubeler (perkayuan), menenun, and other soft skills. Second, this school aims that their students can work independently and do not dependent on other people’s helps. After graduated, they should become an entrepreneur who can work by themselves (selfhelp) and autoactiviet. Third, the students should live in dormitory for around five to ten years (Jalaluddin, 1990).

In a dakwa (proselytization) aspect, since 1921 Persjarikatan Oelama established a female wing organization called Fathimijah. Statuten was alsmost the same as that of Persjarikatan Oelama that was a movement on education, dakwa and social activities (Abdulchalim, 1932). The first chairwoman of Fathimijah was Kusijah Soedjarwo. Since its establishment, Fathimijah actively held periodically religious activities and organizational congress (Akim, 1964). In its effort to develop dakwa, Persjarikatan Oelama also established Persatoean Pemoeda Persjarikatan Oelama (P3O), Persatoean Goeroe Persjarikatan Oelama (PGPO), Hizboel Islam Persjarikatan Oelama (HIPO), Koperasi Pesjarikatan Oelama (KPO), Penolong Kesengsaraan Oemoem (PKO), and Himpoenan Peladjar Persjarikatan Oelama (HP2O) (Verslag van het congres van de Perserikatan Oelama te Madjalengka van 29-31 Augustus 1931). In these dakwa activities, Persjarikatan Oelama required their cadres to establish branches of Persjarikatan Oelama in several districts or regions. The purpose of branches’ establishment was not for economical benefit but for enlargement of brotherhood and dakwa (Abdulchalim, 1932).

In its social activities (aspects) Persjarikatan Oelama established an institution that empowered poor people and orphans. They were taught several knowledge and skills in order they can survive in life by themselves. Persjarikatan Oelama also established several clinics. To strengthen economy of local people, Persjarikatan Oelama established koperasi-koperasi (Abdulchalim, 1932; Wanta, 1991).

In accordance with the development of Persjarikatan Oelama, Halim made collaboration with an organization of Sarekat Islam (SI). Halim, acoording to Noer (1995), had been actively involved in Sarekat Islam’s programs and activities from 1918 to 1933. When all branches of Sarekat Islam were fused into an organization called Centraal Sarekat Islam (CSI), Halim was appointed as a Comisaris Bestuur CSI for West Java region (ANRI, 1976; Panji Masyarakat, 1967). When he was a Comisaris Bestuur CSI, Halim and his colleagues Djubedi, Hidajat, and Abdoelhamied led and organized Sarekat Sekerja Personeel Fabrieks Bond (FPB) to held a protest (strike) to a sugar factory in Jatiwangi in 1918 (Panji Masyarakat, 1967).

Due to its significant influence to the people, key leaders of Persjarikatan Oelama or Hoofdbestuur proposed to Hindia Dutch government to officially open their branches an all Java and Madura.

This proposal was approved by Dutch government by issuing besluit number 35 on 19th January 1924. The besluit was signed by the 1st Gouvernement Secretaris, H.A. Helb, Buitenzorg-Bogor.

The success of massive movement of Persjarikatan Oelama could not be separated from solidity of lid-lid (members) in every branch. To strengthen their solidity, Persjarikatan Oelama has held a periodical congress (meeting). According to Akim (1964), up to April 1938, Persjarikatan Oelama has held congress for fifteen times.

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Gobee, in his report to the Govenor General of Hindia Dutch on 9th congress of Persjarikatan Oelama in 1931, explained that Persjarikatan Oelama was a political and religious organization. Its movement was almost the same as PSII or (Partai Sarekat Islam Indonesia), but Persjarikatan Oelama was slightly more moderate. The organization actively involved in education, dakwa and empowerment of economy of local people (Verslag van het IX de congress van de Perserikatan Oelama, 1931). Gobee also mentioned that the congress not only discussed the development of Muslim in Dutch Hindia area but also Muslim in the Muslim world in general. The congress was closed by encouragement for Muslim to fight when they were insulted and Islam should stand forward in Hindia Dutch region. In an economic aspect, Persjarikatan Oelama should make a collaboration and synergy between farmers and industry by providing micro-credit and maximizing the use of their own factory. In the field of education, Persjarikatan Oelama urged the government of Hindia Dutch to establish a Hollandsch-Inlandsche (Verslag van het IX de congress van de Perserikatan Oelama, 1931).

Besides the 9th congress 1931, another congress of Persjarikatan Oelama which attracted special attention of Hindia Dutch government was 13th congress, held in Indramayu. In Gobee’s report on 23 September 1935, it was mentioned that the 13th congress of Persjarikatan Oelama was an annual meeting attended by 38 branches and 50 representatives from schools of Persjarikatan Oelama (Verslag van het 13de congres van de “Persjarikatan Oelama”, 1935). In this congress, the uniqueness of school under Persjarikatan Oelama was discussed. The school not only taught their students secular and Islamic studies but also taught Dutch and English languages. The congress also discussed about “Santi Asromo”. The uniqueness of Santi Asromo was very environmentally friendly. Their students not only taught secular and religious subjects but also trained to have an expertise in agriculture, handiwork, weaving and others skills such as making a soap (Verslag van het 13de congres van de “Persjarikatan Oelama”, 1935).

Because of its organizational development, in 1936 Halim and Kelan as a chairman and secretary or Hoofdbestuur Persjarikatan Oelama, proposed to change their statute law. In its proposal, Persjarikatan Oelama proposed to open its branches in all regions in Indonesia. Persjarikatan Oelama’s proposal was approved by the Hindia Dutch government in 1937 (Algemeen Secretaris, 1937). According to Jalaluddin (1990), since that year, Perjarikatan Oelama has successfully broaden ‘their wing” to all over Indonesia. They were successful in establishing branches in Semarang, Purwokerto (Banyumas), and Tebing Tinggi (Sumatera Selatan). Still in 1937, when Majelis Islam A'la Indonesia (MIAI) was established, Halim as a Hoofdbestuur Persjarikatan Oelama was selected as a member of Hoofdbestuur MIAI. Halim holds his status at MIAI until the period of Japanese occupation in Indonesia (Panji Masyarakat, 1967).

From 14 to 18 April 1938, Persjarikatan Oelama held 15th congress in Majalengka. This congress was popularly known as ‘an adult congress’ (Kongres Dewasa). It was called ‘adult’ because in its 21 years old, they successfully made leadership regeneration. In this congress, Ahmad Ambary from Kuningan was elected as a Hoofdbestuur (Gunseikanbu, 1944). He was helped to run organization by Asjikin Hidajat as a secretary and Abdulwahab as a Penningmeester or treasurer of Persjarikatan Oelama. Several cadres who were appointed as members of Hoofdbestuur namely Poernomoheni, Fadhil Dasoeki, Djoenaidi Mansur, Ahmad Nawawi, Ahmad Jazid, Moch Kelan and others. Halim was appointed as an adviser of the organization (Akim, 1964; Wanta, 1991).

The Japanese arrival to Indonesia in early 1942 was welcomed by Indonesian people. Several nationalist figures such as Soekarno and Hatta were willing to cooperate with Japanese, not with Hindia Dutch colonial. Japanese colonial not only cooperated with nationalist figures but also

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Muslim figures. Even Muslim figures had more opportunities to cooperate. For example, the organization of Madjelis Islam A’la Indonesia (MIAI) was still allowed to operate. However, the organization should change its statute particularly on section basis and objective of organization.

The Japanese asked MIAI to add its objective this statement: “turut bekerja dengan sekuat tenaganya dalam pekerjaan membangunkan masyarakat baru, untuk mencapai kemakmuran bersama di lingkungan Asia Raya di bawah pimpinan Dai Nippon (join to work hard in creating a new and prosperous society in Great Asia under Dai Nippon occupation). In addition, the Japanese government also created a special section on teaching and religion under supervision of Kolonel Horie (Poesponegoro dan Notosusanto, 1993).

On September 1943, four big Islamic organizations --Muhammadiyah, Nahdhatul 'Ulama, Perikatan Oemmat Islam, and Persatuan Oemmat Islam Indonesia—were allowed to actively run their activities and programs. Unfortunately, because programs of MIAI were unsatisfied Japanese colonial, it was dissolved on October 1943 (Ambary in Setiady, 2006). As an exchange, Madjelis Sjoero Moeslimien Indonesia (Masjumi) was established officially by Gunseikan on 22nd November 1943. In institutions such as Cuo Sangi In and Syu Sangikai, there were several Muslim figures who became members. In Cuo Sangi In that had 43 members, there were three Muslim figures, namely Abdul Halim, Wahid Hasjim, and Fathurrohman. Cuo Sangi In later on was changed to become Dokuritu Zyunbi Tyoosakai (Badan Penyelidik Usaha-usaha Persiapan Kemerdekaan Indonesia, BPUPKI or Investigating Committee for Preparatory Work for Indonesian Independence ) (Gunseikanbu, 1944; Poesponegoro dan Notosusanto, 1993).

In BPUPKI, Halim was number 19 among 62 members under leadership of Radjiman Wedyodiningrat (Saafroedin Bahar et al., 1995). The important statement from Halim during BPUPKI’s meetings was his idea on Indonesian state’s formation. According to Halim, if in the future Indonesia became an independence state, Indonesia should select a unitary state led by a President not by a King or a Sultan (Sekretariat Jenderal Dewan Tanda-Tanda Kehormatan RI, 2008). On July 11, 1945 when the committee of Bunkakai was established, Halim was chosen as one of Bunkakai members as an advocacy member (Sekretariat Jenderal Dewan Tanda-Tanda Kehormatan RI, 2008).

When Indonesia declared as an independence state on August 17, 1945, Halim and Perikatan Oemat Islam (POI) continued their activities. On September 1945, Halim was appointed as a member of Komite Nasional Indonesia Daerah (KNID) Keresidenan Cirebon (Sekretariat Jenderal Dewan Tanda-Tanda Kehormatan RI, 2008). Hindia Dutch colonial did not recognize Indonesian independence. They even tried to again colonize Indonesia by sending their troop to Indonesia in July 1947 which was popularly know by Indonesian as an Agresi Militer I (Military Aggression I), followed by Agresi Militer II (Military Aggression II) in 1948.

The impact of Military Aggression, there was a huge people evacuation in Java. This event led Indonesian people to fight against Duct colonial through guerrilla war. During guerrilla war, Halim from Perikatan Oemat Islam (POI) was appointed as a “Bupati Masyarakat/Mayor or Regent of the people” of Majalengka by Residen Cirebon, Hamdani. Halim then led people of Majalengka to do guerrilla war around Ciremai Mountain and fight against Dutch troop (Netherlands Indies Civil Administration forces/NICA) in Keresidenan Cirebon (Sekretariat Jenderal Dewan Tanda-Tanda Kehormatan RI, 2008). Dutch military finally attacked Halim’s house in Pasirayu because it was suspected as a basis of Indonesian military camp.

In that attack, Halim, his daughter and his son in law were caught and interrogated by Nefis. In that attack, almost all buildings at Santi Asromo complex were destroyed. Althaugh Halim was caught;

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he consistently rejected the politics of compromise with Dutch military. When he was released, Halim supplied logistic need of Indonesian military (TNI) that stayed in his area. As a result, although Indonesian troops (TNI) were surrounded by soldier of NICA, TNI survived (Sekretariat Jenderal Dewan Tanda-Tanda Kehormatan RI, 2008).

In fact, Military Agression of Dutch not only focused on military aspect but also religion and political aspects. In term of religion, for example, to divide Indonesian society, the Dutch encouraged people to become separatists group or sparatis-millenaristis. For example, it can be seen from the movement led by Haji Sarip in Burujulwetan, Jatiwangi in 1947. In his teaching, Haji Sarip urged Majalengka people to cooperate with Dutch government (Sekretariat Jenderal Dewan TandaTanda Kehormatan RI, 2008). Haji Sarip said that on 12th month of Rajab, there would be Great War and those who supported wrong people would be defeated. The ancestors would help people in that war until a new government established. The one who governed was not Dutch colonial who colonized Indonesia before, but Indonesian ancestors who transformed to become Dutch people. And Majalengka would become a prosperous district because the one who hold a power was their ancestors. However, separatist’s movement led by Haji Sarip was unsuccessful because Halim always reminded people of Majalengka to defend Indonesia as a unitary country or Negara Kesatuan Republik Indonesia.

In the field of politics, Dutch military tried to implement a concept of state federation (federalism).

For that objective, Dutch tried to establish several states in Indonesia. For example, in West Java, they established a state of Pasundan. Looking at that fact, Halim and members of Perikatan Oemat Islam (POI) cooperated with other Muslims in West Java established an organization called Gerakan Muslimin Indonesia (GMI) in Bandung (Sekretariat Jenderal Dewan Tanda-Tanda Kehormatan RI, 2008). As a chairman of GMI, Halim then was appointed as a Chair Committee of Destruction Pasundan State (Ketua Panitia Penggempuran Negara Pasundan (Akim, 1964). At the end of March 1950, Pasundan State was successfully dissolved (Poesponegoro dan Notosusanto, 1993).

Political decision of Halim that could not be ignored was Halim rejection to existence of Daarul Islam (DI/TII) or Islamic State declaration led by Kartosoewirjo in 1949 (Jackson, 1990). Halim argued against Kartosoewirjo’s idea, which according to Halim, contradicted with Islamic teaching that Halim believed. For Halim, what has been done by Kartosoewirjo and his followers were wrong and could not be tolerated. However, Halim avoid confronting directly with Kartosoewirjo.

Instead, he gave information about presence of DI/TII to Indonesian military when they visited Pasirayu (Sekretariat Jenderal Dewan Tanda-Tanda Kehormatan RI, 2008).

Another Halim’s decision, which could not be neglected was his declaration to merge Perikatan Ummat Islam (PUI) centered in Majalengka with Persatuan Ummat Islam Indonesia (PUII) centered in Sukabumi. This declaration of fusion was hold in Bogor on 5-6 April 1952 or 9-10 Rajab 1371. The aim of the fusion was to avoid cleavage or split among Muslims. The case of fusion had paved the way to the birth of new Islamic organization in Indonesia called Persatuan Ummat Islam (PUI) centered in Bandung, West Java. While waiting for an official congress, Halim was appointed as a chairman of adviser (Ketua Dewan Penasihat) (Wanta, 1991; Sekretariat Jenderal Dewan Tanda-Tanda Kehormatan RI, 2008).

On the 1955 election, Halim was elected as a member of parliament from Persatuan Ummat Islam (PUI) who had a duty to arrange Indonesian constitutional law. Unfortunately, in 1956, Halim’s health was poor and he finally reduced his activities. Halim decided to stay in Santi Asromo, Pasirayu-Majalengka. In 1960, Halim’s health was getting worse. However, Halim still kept his

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routine religious speech which held weekly in Santi Asromo. Almost in every speech, Halim repeatedly entrusted Santi Asromo and PUI by saying: “titip Santi Asromo dan PUI”. Halim passed away on Monday, May 7, 1962 or 3 Dzulhijjah 1381 around 03.05 PM when he was 75 years age.

He was buried in the following day, took place at around Santi Asromo Pasirayu Majalengka Wanta, 1991; Ambari dalam Setiady, 2006; Sekretariat Jenderal Dewan Tanda-Tanda Kehormatan RI, 2008).

D. CONCLUSION From the above discussion, it can be concluded that Halim was ‘a motor’ of Islamic organization that lived between 1887 and 1962. His movement was begun when he returned back from Mecca in 1911 by establishing Madjlisoel ‘Ilmi. Halim had led political and social struggles not only during Dutch and Japanese occupation but also almost his entirely life until he passed away. Started by establishing Madjlisoel ‘Ilmi, he then found and led Hajatoel Qoeloeb, Jami’at I’anat al-Muta’alimin, Persjarikatan Oelama, Perikatan Ummat Islam, and Persatuan Ummat Islam (PUI).

Although activities and programs of organizations found by Halim much focused on education, dakwa and social activities, one could not neglect his roles in political activities. For example, he was appointed as a Comisaris Bestuur Central Sarekat Islam Hindia Timur for West Java region, member of Cuo Sangi In, member of Dokuritu Zyunbi Tyoosakai, and General Chairman of Gerakan Muslimin Indonesia (GMI). When there were BPUPKI’s meetings, Halim was a member of Panitia Pembelaan Tanah Air (a Committee of Indonesian Struggle). Another position hold by Halim was a member of Komite Nasional Indonesia Daerah (KNID) District of Cirebon, a Regent of People Majalengka, a Member of Parliament or Anggota Konstituante, and a Director of Central Hospital in Jakarta.

To commemorate and remember Halim’s movement, the government records his name as a name of Main Road in Majalengka. His name was also used to name building or classroom of schools that are under PUI organization. For his dedication, Halim was also awarded as an Oelama Pejuang (A Religious Leader Hero) from Yayasan Asih Patmah Jakarta. And the Indonesian government awarded him Tanda Kehormatan Bintang Mahaputera Utama in 1992, Bintang Mahaputera Adipradana and National Hero in 2008.

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References Akim, Moh. (1964). Kiai H. Abdul Halim Penggerak PUI. Yayasan K.H. Abdul Halim, Majalengka.

Algemeen Secretaris No. 43. August 18. (1937). ddo. Kiverson-Cipanas. ANRI. Ambary, Hasan Mu’arif. (2006). Sejarah Perkembangan Persatuan Ummat Islam (PUI) in Revitalisasi Peran PUI dalam Pemberdayaan Ummat. Darun Setiady (ed.). PW PUI Jawa Barat, Bandung.

Bahar, Saafroedin et al,. (1995). Risalah Sidang Badan Penyelidik Usaha-Usaha Persiapan Kemerdekaan Indonesia (BPUPKI) Panitia Persiapan Kemerdekaan Indonesia (PPKI) May 28 to August 22, 1945. Jakarta .Setneg RI. Chalim, Abdul. (1932). Padoman Persjarikatan Oelama. Madjalengka: KITLV. End, Th. Van den. (1986). Sumber-sumber Zanding tentang Sejarah Gereja di Jawa Barat 18581963: Seri Sumber-sumber Sejarah Gereja di Indonesia No. 3. BPK . Jakarta: Gunung Mulia.

Garaghan, Gilbert J. (1946). A Guide to Historical Method. New York : Fordham University Press.

Gunseikanbu. (2002). Pendaftaran Orang Indonesia jang Terkemoeka jang Ada di Djawa, eks Arsip Gunseikanbu Cabang I, Pegangsaan Timur 36 Jakarta. Nomor A. 205 gol. III b. Nomor berkas A. 15. ANRI. Gouvernements Besluit. No. 43. ddo. December 21, 1917. ANRI. Gouvernements Besluit. No. 35.ddo. January 19, 1924. ANRI. -------. 2604. Orang Indonesia Jang terkemoeka di Djawa. Jakarta, Gunseikanbu. ANRI. Indonesia, Arsip Nasional. (1976). Sarekat Islam Lokal. Jakarta: Sumber-Sumber Sejarah No. 7.

ANRI. Jackson, Karl D. (1990). Kewibawaan Tradisional, Islam, dan Pemberontakan: Kasus Darul Islam Jawa Barat. Jakarta : Pustaka Utama Grafiti.

Jalaluddin. (1990). Santi Asromo K.H. Abdul Halim Studi tentang Pembaharuan Pendidikan Islam di Indonesia. Disertasi. Jakarta: IAIN Syarif Hidayatullah.

Lubis, Nina H. (2008). Metode Sejarah. Satya Historika, Bandung.

Noer, Deliar. (1995). Gerakan Modern Islam di Indonesia 1900-1942. Jakarta: LP3ES. Panji Masyarakat, No. 2 Th. II. 1967: 19. ANRI. Poesponegoro, Marwati Djoened dan Nugroho Notosusanto. (1993). Sejarah Nasional Indonesia.

Jilid VI. Jakarta : Balai Pustaka.

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Portal Resmi Pemkab Majalengka. (22 Maret 2013). Gubernur dan Wabup Resmikan Jl. K.H. Abdul Halim. Http://www.majalengkakab.go.id/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=487:guber-nur-dan-wabup-resmikan-jl-kh-abdul-halim&catid=5:terkini.

Prawira, Suwandi Wigena. (1975). “K.H. Abdul Halim dan Santi Asromo” dalam Panji Masyarakat, Majalah No. 177, th. XVI. Hlm. 17-18.

Sekretariat Jenderal Dewan Tanda-tanda Kehormatan RI. 2008. Profil Penerima Tanda Kehormatan Gelar Pahlawan Nasional, Bintang Mahaputera dan Bintang Budaya Parama Dharma dalam Rangka Peringatan Hari Pahlawan 10 November 2008. Sekjen DT2K-RI, Jakarta.

Setiady, A. Darun (ed). (2006). Revitalisasi Peran PUI dalam Pemberdayaan Ummat. Bandung: PW PUI Jawa Barat.

Stapel, F.W. (1941). De Gouverneurs-Generaal van Nederlandsch-Indie in Beeld en Woord. W.P. van Stockum & Zoon, Den Haag. KITLV. Steenbrink, Karel A. (1984). Beberapa Aspek tentang Islam di Indonesia Abad ke-19. Jakarta: Bulan Bintang.

Stoddard, Lothrop. (1966). Dunia Baru Islam. Terjemahan Panitia Penerbit. Panitia Penerbit, Jakarta.

Verslag van het congres van de Perserikatan Oelama te Madjalengka van 29-31 Augustus 1931.

Batavia, October 16, 1931. ANRI. Verslag van het IX de congres van de Perserikatan Oelama gehouden op den 29 t/m 31 Agustus 1931 te Madjalengka. ANRI. Verslag van het 13de congres van de “Persjarikatan Oelama” in September 1935 te Indramajoe.

Batavia, September 23, 1935. ANRI. Wanta, S. (1991). KH Abdul Halim dan Pergerakannya. Seri VI. PB PUI Majelis Penyiaran Penerangan dan Dakwah, Majalengka.

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Empowering Muslim Women Though Executive Coaching & Mentoring

Empowering Muslim Women Though Executive Coaching & Mentoring Fadila Grine1 1Academy

of Islamic Studies, University Malaya, Kuala Lumpur Malaysia.

Email: fadilagrine@um.edu.my Abstract This paper examines the role and effect of executive coaching and mentoring on the empowerment of Muslim women and enhancing their levels of contribution. It further substantiates the manner in which executive coaching can accommodate both the nature and needs of Muslim women while further unleashing her respective talents, creativity and skills. The study further highlights the role and significance of coaching in spheres relevant to family, as well as social and career development. This study highlights the use of the strategic technique for personal and leadership development set to explore talents, leaders and implicit abilities. Moreover, it exhibits the flexibility of self-coaching and its appropriateness for Muslim women, especially concerning self-development, which in turn influences social and institutional development. This inquiry highlights a number of practical results which emphasizes the viability and efficacy of executive coaching on personal and institutional levels as far as the making of better world for Muslim women is concerned.

Keywords: Empowering, Executive Coaching, Muslim women, Mentoring, Skills A. INTRODUCTION Executive coaching is a relatively new practical strategy for the enhancement of those skills on personal, cognitive and practical levels. It aids in enhancing skills through progressive selfdevelopment and nurturing basic techniques and skills such as creative thinking, strategic thinking, alongside communication, planning and marketing; in addition to the enhancing of incorporeal values such as developing self-responsibility and a distinctive consciousness defined by success, outlining goals and further applying the required procedures to approach goals. This is undertaken under the supervision of a coach trained to ask deep and strategic questions in order to stimulate and provoke self-consciousness while simultaneously building willingness and self-responsibility.

The coaches remains completely neutral and avoid directing trainees to what they believe is right for them. Instead, the decision is made in accordance with the demands and needs of the trainee which makes effective use of good listening.

Coaching revolves around several strategic questions that are carefully examined and selected as catalysts for creating stimulated thought and an enhanced ability to think strategically and practically. It depends on reinforcing positive thinking and stimulating the trainer to improve their level of thinking and further seek out the best alternatives and solutions based on the notion: “Take a step forward.� The main idea of executive coaching is to prepare individuals to be leaders of their own making, and to further be responsible for their decisions and choices, while further being aided in following up their achievement plans on personal and institutional levels. Moreover, coaching also boosts the special abilities of the trainer and paves the way for leading development. This indicates the importance of applying such techniques in scientific and

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leadership development fields, and in the everyday life of the Muslim woman who is becoming increasingly responsible for various roles in the process of comprehensive development.

In the past, women used to make minor decisions related to their family life such as assuming responsibility for grocery shopping, home furnishings and other decisions rarely related to their persons or their family’s future. The situation however, has changed significantly, where Muslim women presently find themselves to be living in a rapidly developing and dynamic world that is subject to continuous change. Furthermore, the Muslim woman is confronted with greater challenges influencing her family life through television as a well as a variety of stereotypes brought about by technology, that has caused their lives to be consequently be far more integrated and open.

Within this context, preparation and training is found to be a Prophetic practice and a universal rule. Whether the woman practices leadership at home or work, she is nonetheless expected to make effective decisions and to apply and extend her authority with care and caution. This in turn requires guided thinking and strategic planning, and thus effectively underscores the importance of executive coaching and mentoring. The Muslim woman found in Islamic society carries with her a sincere message to both family and social collective. This encompasses the responsibility of her nation’s bright future and prospects as she effectively shapes her society’s development from A to Z, while further serving as the maker of life and society. Added to this, she holds the ability to perform several activities on various levels due to her unique and intricate feminine disposition which enables her to hold a pen in one hand and write a poem, breast-feed her baby with the other, cook and make decisions from her desk. Nevertheless, such an ideal woman suffers from numerous psychological and social challenges, and unfortunately finds herself helpless at times; considering herself a victim of a society and subject to no mercy. On the other side of the coin, this creates high expectations of her. Although some of this is true in a manner of speaking, it is considered a significant error from an executive coaching standpoint. That is, it assumes that every individual is fully responsible for shaping their future and managing their way of life. As such, individuals should determine their goals and take appropriate action without deflecting blame onto others for their failure. Along a similar parallel, Allah (S.W.T) says: “Every soul, for what it has earned, will be retained.” (Quran, 74: 38).

Quite often, Muslim women complain from husbands, fathers, sons or managers. The generally held notion is that they all frustrate women and do not grant or allow her the chance to enjoy her full range of rights (Sulaimān Bin al-Ash’ath Abū Dawūd al-Sijistānī, Izzat Ubayd al-Da’ās). The issue here however, seems to be a matter of claims as opposed to rights. Thus, whoever possesses skills works in a good manner and shows themselves to not be plagued by such feelings of depression and hopelessness, as is especially the case with women who are incapable of achieving goals on their own. In such a context, coaching and mentoring supports the pivotal role of the woman and further encourages her to develop and attain more achievements. Even though coaching may not present solutions for all challenges faced by women, it is most certain that their lives will grow easier as a result of it, which in turn will cause them to feel competent and hopeful.

B. METHODOLOGY This study highlights the use of the strategic technique for personal and leadership development set to explore talents, leaders and implicit abilities. Moreover, it exhibits the flexibility of selfcoaching and its appropriateness for Muslim women, especially concerning self-development, which in turn influences social and institutional development.

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C. RESULT AND DISCUSSION 1. Advantages Of Executive Coaching and Mentoring a. Self-actualization The Muslim woman should realize her full potential and devote serious consideration and thought to which she can be and what she is capable of reaching. What are her personal goals as an independent individual whom Allah has created and prepared for a sublime goal? Coaching and mentoring systematically aids one in revealing their individual features, positive and negative aspects, while highlighting their strong points and displaying their weak points significantly enough, while also precisely specifying which fields one is in need of developing. Furthermore, they point one along paths demanding that one practice and excel, while developing the conditions and means to acquiring self-esteem. Moreover, this goes further in clarifying how one should maintain their mentality, soul, and health while further achieving harmony between their self and the world that Allah has created for their service and benefit. Muslim women should be at peace with their selves, achieve self-stability and consciously evaluate themselves with fairness. It within such a paradigm that the need for creativity and success in any life and the afterlife makes itself felt. The link drawn between human dignity and responsibility is made clear in the following two Qur’anic verses: “And We have certainly honored the children of Adam and carried them on the land and sea and provided for them of the good things and preferred them over much of what We have created, with [definite] preference” (al-Isrā’: 70) and “Then We made you successors in the land after them so that We may observe how you will do” (Yūnus: 14).

The Qur’an, Sunnah and Islamic heritage are rich sources for thinking, observing and exploring ourselves; and while the concepts may vary, the essence is nonetheless singular. When a Muslim woman chooses to be part of executive coaching and mentoring, she should start from the point prior to her interest in developing her working skills, for the reason that these skills are complementary and are useless without sufficient self-awareness. The Qur’an states: “So have they not traveled through the earth and have hearts by which to reason and ears by which to hear?

For indeed, it is not eyes that are blinded, but blinded are the hearts which are within the breasts” (al-Hajj: 46). b. Balance between life objectives and job burdens As a matter of course, the woman often chooses to acquire job skills prior to the gathering of life skills; building on the basis that in doing so she secures her future. In this context for instance, computer skills are perceived to be useful when searching for a job, but strategic thinking skills and future planning is limited to the highly intelligent and insightful. Most women are concerned with successful marital life skills, which may be for the reason that they suffer from complicated marital problems or perhaps merely seek good relationships. Despite this, women rarely recognize the relation between self-development, clarity of their goals, marital relationship success and the upbringing of children. Women may attend a number of courses on job communication skills, yet fail to link what they have learned in their family life and children’s upbringing. The role of executive coaching further explores and bridges the gap and field of incompetence; something required by women in their lives, careers and relationships. c. Qualifications for success Success is neither an unusual case nor an issue of chance as considered by some people; especially women. This is for the reason that her success is rather different from that of the man,

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and is based on who she is while deriving from her personal features. In addition to their demand for work, women further require a stable life. Moreover, their need for self-management skills is no less important than the imperative necessity of their family management skills. Time management, on the other hand, is essential in lessening the amount of tension resulting from family and outside home responsibilities. The woman needs, as well, for her heart to be at ease (Al-Shams: 9-10), far more than the man does. This in turn indicates that she will be able to boost her positive attitudes efficiently; as found in the case of the woman whose husband threatens to depress her, whereupon she replies, “My heart is in the Hands of Allah, and you have no power over it!” This incident is an exemplar of self-management skills and positive attitude mentoring. A woman without her husband for a short while lives under self-pressure, and is transformed into a capable human power if she is offered proper stimulation and self-coaching, following which she may deduce the extent of such a potential; instead of coming by it as a present and realization on the day of her fiftieth wedding anniversary. Women should acquire the skills that establish them as self-esteem makers, organize their priorities, and become brave enough to face challenges in a responsible manner and with calmness. Instead of throwing their dreams out into the air in apathy and minimal care, women may plant it in the earth and water it with fertility, positiveness and continuous care. The universal rules will then ensure the flourishing and growing of a fruitful garden. Executive coaching and mentoring aid the woman in learning how to live, plant and harvest as opposed to buying into what does not suit her lifestyle or solutions.

2. Skills For Working Muslim Women Success at work, according to universal rules of international quality, does not deal with the case of the woman as a private issue. Therefore, working women should handle their life smartly to come to an accommodation with their working life and achieve comfort, happiness and success.

The first step begins when the Muslim woman forms a clear idea of herself and life with the help of the executive coaching program. Women should outline, and further define the exact meaning of success in the case of a woman; as what may be considered success in one case may be judged as failure in another. The program would decrease negative attitudes by changing the respective manner of thinking. In other words, people should come to an agreement with their selves, values and principles, instead of falling into continuous self-confrontation. Moreover, they should leave behind the past and merely chalk it up to a past effort and lesson; thereby not hindering them in any way from progressing and developing. If this is the case however, then this is considered an illness, which requires psychological treatment, as opposed to coaching and mentoring. Along such a parallel, the coach should speak frankly with the trainee from the onset of their interaction.

Thus, if the case of the trainee requires a psychotherapist, then it is ineffective and difficult to solve the problem by means of coaching and mentoring, which deals with those of good health but suffers from certain difficulties, or those who are highly ambitious but suffer from failing to reach their goals.

Within work, coaching and mentoring is associated with improving the level of performance, bearing responsibilities (Muhammad Nāser al-Dīn al-Albānī in Ismā’īl bin Muhammad al-Ajlūnī, 1421 A.H), planning and carrying out duties, following up on steps for better results, selfactualization and creativity. Hence, this takes on the shape of real and manifested preparation for the future as illustrated by Ibn ‘Umar (R.A.A.): “When morning comes upon you, do not expect to see the night, and when night comes upon you, do not expect to see the morning. Take advantage of your health before your illness and your life before your death (Bukhārī, Muhib al-Dīn al-Khatīb, 1400 A.H).” The main contention is therefore related to controlling the basic rules and applying them to achieve goals quickly and skillfully. One is often required to revise their self: why are they not well?, why have they not been promoted yet? Moreover, why are their papers not being

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published quickly? According to the coaching and mentoring program, the answer to these questions rests mainly in recognizing objectives, observing reasons, evaluating the situation and following up with procedures.

By following such a string of steps, the trainee will avoid languishing and settling in the mood of the problem, and instead shift to a state of approaching appropriate solutions by thinking in a manner free from pressure, and devoid of blockages of the heart and mind. Women often save energy in solving their problems by thinking, but instead end up dragging them from their home to their work, and vice versa. This is for the reason that women generally do not think to search for solutions, but remain under the pressure of the problem; assuming themselves as victims, resulting in a sort of self-fulfilling prophecy which as in turn deprives them from executing strategic thinking. On the other hand, coaching and mentoring helps women to recognize and differentiate the real problems from the insignificant and fabricated, and thus make correct decisions and come up with adequate solutions.

3. Working Culture Executive coaching and mentoring affords Muslim women and female figures the chance to ascend and grow in a positive attitude far removed from confrontation with men, or accusations pertaining to the decline of womens’ status. This places an end to claims for rights, and instead activates the gaining of those rights. There is no need to establish this, as Muslim women have risen and taken places in work, da‘wah (Islamic propagation) and in all fields and walks of life and leadership. It is nevertheless realized through the reviewing of many individual cases that: a. Self-responsibility plays an essential role in the success of many distinguished women in various fields of civilization. b. Individuality has a big role in the success of many female figures. As an example, women who are successful in education, politics or business are skillful in their duties and simultaneously aware of their privacy and abilities. Such women have found their way to success as they have set their hands on unique keys that were not available or affordable to others, and therefore these cases may not be used as a general rule.

For this reason, every woman ought to be exposed to coaching and mentoring programs individually. She should also be qualified for various roles according to her abilities, her social status and her health condition.

4. Managing People Affectng The Life Of Muslim Woman The woman is a social and interactive creature but at the same time, suffers much from others at work. Statistics show that women are sensitive to any move or word made in their presence; calling to attention all the benefits and fallbacks associated with such sensitivity. Attributing this to the feminine nature and other hormonal reasons was neglected based on studies and statistics that reflect otherwise. The essence of this is found in that such feelings of women are caused by several reasons, most importantly: 1. Feeling downgraded and insecure; 2. Lacking training and the experience to deal with others; 3. Treating women as men and not differentiating between their work and personal relations; and 4. A Lack of self-confidence and emotional intelligence.

Nevertheless, these reasons are remediable through coaching and mentoring on both the individual and institutional levels in order to achieve greater personal success and, as a result, institutional success. This is for the cardinal reason that women occupy many sensitive jobs in a number of spheres including teaching, management, teamwork and economics. Hence, training for

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effective teamwork and realizing behavioral manners, in addition to the nature of work relations and work tensions inside and outside the institution grant the woman the opportunity and capability to serve the dynamic role and position of an effective and powerful participant throughout a wide array of different institutions. In this regard, her voice is heard and she shares respect with other employers at her work. Moreover, she has confidence in others and leaves out arrogance and the downgrading of others. She utilizes her energy and power for more achievements so that she may introduce her services and secure her reputation as a trainee, employer or even a businesswoman. In this, she would follow the example of Khadījah (R.A.) who undertook an executive business career. Khadījah (R.A.) was a paragon when it came to manners and business credibility, to the extent that no one would object to naming her ‘the Lady of Business’ and ‘the Mistress of Ladies in Paradise.’ This effectively opens the door for women to compete and build achievements. What therefore remains, is Muslim women excelling in coaching and mentoring in order to participate in leading the world towards development on an Islamic basis. This is possible through acquiring a strong belief background, clear religious rights and Islamic knowledge which lead her to success.

5. Criteria Of Gain And Loss: An Islamic Insight The criteria for gain and loss varies according to the Islamic perspective (Muhammad Nāsir al-Dīn al-Albānī , 1408 A.H), based on a number of forms of thinking and approach. Some of them are close to the Islamic view whereas others are very distant. Such information should be realized among the Muslim woman’s priorities, in addition to specifying objectives and defining success.

Allah (S.W.) states in the Qur’an: “But among them is he who says, “Our Lord, give us in this world [that which is] good and in the Hereafter [that which is] good and protect us from the punishment of the Fire” (Quran, Chapter I: 201). Success is more like a garment that fits a person if it is their size, and suits their taste and personality. Thus, if the Muslim woman wears the outlook of a woman who experiences spiritual deprivation and a materialistic trend and suffers to earn money to make a living without the help of even her father, then the objectives she looks forward to are not adequate for her. Such an example is experienced by many Muslim women all over the world, simply for the reason that she is European and typified as blonde. It goes without saying that women should succeed, be strong and well qualified on the spiritual and materialistic levels.

However, the social priorities and responsibilities, as well as the spiritual values women hold to impose upon them a different order for priorities that vary from one woman to another, and from one society to the next.

Coaching and mentoring helps one take a step further towards the future. The importance is not pinned on whether the woman fails or succeeds. Rather, the most important matter is how she can approach her objectives, and furthermore, if there is a better and safer means for her to achieve her aims. Coaching grants every woman a chance to understand how success is achieved so that she may be an expert. The coaching program is suitable for every woman; whether she is a housewife or a leader. It encourages her to think to her own benefit, listen to others, and speak out loudly and find suitable solutions. This, indeed, will help her to become more self-confident and improve her skills continuously, exactly as is the case with a toddler who walks the first step and falls in others until he or she learns to walk independently. This is known as strategic development for individuals and institutions, which is introduced by executive coaching as an alternative to old teaching techniques.

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6. Skills To Empower Muslim Woman In All Fields a. Spiritual Skills Allah (S.W.) says: “And [by] the soul and He who proportioned it and inspired it [with discernment of] its wickedness and its righteousness” (al-Shams: 7-8). Neither psychology nor spiritual coaching books, which are widespread in Western bookstores, provide a clear process for selfpurification and progress as the Holy Qur’an and the Sunnah did. That is, the Qur’an is a continuous daily reminder, which washes away the accumulated dust (sins) of the day and night with pardon and forgiveness. On the other hand, the Sunnah is a comprehensive method of life that maintains the stability of physical organs and senses, while also acting as a continuous means of purification for the heart and soul. Coaching, in Muslim societies is considered to be a new means for da‘wah, especially in calling women to be religious after having understood the essence of Islam and its rituals. It also takes on the role of protecting them from following base desires, and strengthens their spiritual condition; effectively shifting it into stored energy and a beginning for achievements. Hence, if Muslims utilize this means of da‘wah, then da‘wah would shift to the level of self-treatment for each case in flexibility and privacy. This is exemplified by the case of fatwā (Islamic ruling) where two persons may receive completely different fatwā for the same question.

Moreover, the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) used to care for each of His companions, providing them with spiritual care and guidance. Spiritual coaching acts as purification even though the terms may be different. The Prophet (PBUH) addressed His companions one day and asked, “Who among you is fasting today?” Abu Bakr replied: “I am.” He said: “Who among you has attended a funeral today?” Abu Bakr replied: “I have.” He said: “Who among you has fed a needy person today?” Abu Bakr said: “I have.” He then said: “Who among you has visited a sick person today?” Abu Bakr said: “I have.” The Prophet then said: “These (traits) are not combined in a person but that he will enter paradise”. The new concept presented here is that each person is encouraged to bear responsibility in exploring their own spiritual aspects and probe the degree of deprivation they suffer from. This enables them to determine the amount of purification needed in order to progress and purify the spirit following the manner set by the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) who practiced this and guided people to practical steps of self-development that will hold true to the Day of Judgment. Thus, if the woman excels in spiritual self-coaching, she will enjoy a great deal of spiritual and religious joy that will effectively bolster her and pave the way for her achievements and distinction. Some examples which may be followed during coaching are as follows: What is your aim in performing prayers?

To become nearer to Allah (S.W.T).

Do you feel yourself to be closer to Allah (S.W.T) when you pray?

Not very much.

What do you mean by ‘not very much’?

I am not content with my prayer.

What can you do to feel content with your prayer?

I can work on focusing more during my prayers.

What are the procedures that help you to keep your focus?

I can concentrate on the Qur’anic verses I am reciting.

How can you keep concentrating?

By repeating the verses I was not attentive in and by repeating the whole prayer if I did not concentrate in my prayer.

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Can you use this solution continuously?

Yes. Make a daily scheme for prayers and tick the box in front of each prayer you have concentrated in, and evaluate your self after a month.

While this is a rather simple example of coaching, it is enough to point out the following: 1) The woman performing prayer is the one who observes and discovers, and not the coach.

2) The woman who prays is the one who suggests the solution and the working plan.

3) The coach helps in directing the trainee for continuous training and grants the trainee a chance to observe and remark throughout the daily scheme.

4) The result: the women performing prayer has noticed a daily improvement in her focus during prayers.

5) This practical improvement in prayer has helped the woman to proceed and feel self-content. b. Cognitive Skills Women need to possess a subtle knowledge about themselves, the environment, their field of interest and their role. Thus, any neglect or shortage occurring in one of these fields will result in a regression of the woman’s performance on all levels. This is known as the disastrous disordered performance, which usually results due to a lack of knowledge (Muhammad Nāsir al-Dīn al-Albānī, 1400 A.H). It is for this reason that a woman may destroy her life while she intends to live in love, ruin her children with blind love, lose her husband as she is ignorant of the art of marital relations and hurt herself because she does not make use of chances for development. Coaching is a dynamic strategy that urges women to ask questions, to acquire knowledge and to gain skills. The education of the woman should therefore take into consideration her discretion when she chooses to be a successful mother and not a successful employer while enjoying her role as a homemaker.

In this case, coaching also provides her with the essential skills to manage her own institution (i.e., her family). Coaching will also provide help and assistance for the female writer by teaching her the skills of modern writing, which also emerges with respect to her discretion; uninfluenced by the coach. Teaching a female the skills of speech, conversation and time management to become a prominent caller for Allah also takes her wishes into primary consideration. Regardless of her field of interest, the woman should master the main concepts of her field; whether she is a mother, wife, director, educator, prime minister or businessperson. Although some skills are essential for all women, coaching and mentoring allow the woman to explore herself and determine her needs, which may vary from one woman to another. Indeed, this is the main feature of coaching, something rather essential for the development of the Muslim woman; especially if renowned female figures are involved in the process of the Muslim women’s comprehensive development.

In most situations, women choose to hand over the process of thinking to others, in a sense going in line with the proverb, which dictates: “Do not think, as the king will think for you.” However, even if this ‘king’ was a loving husband, a warmhearted father or a kind brother, the nature of the woman and her personality is not fully established and cannot flourish without objective thinking and the ability to analyze situations and make use of them. Critiqued personal thinking will lead her to progress constantly, and strategic thinking will grant her a step forward. The Muslim woman should pay attention to creative thinking and cognitive skills more than other women should. By reading and reflecting on the holy Qur’an every day; the Muslim woman can begin to explore talents, and recurrently train the mind with the empowering skills of self-deterministic cause and effect.

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Muslim women should think of the solutions and in turn find adequate answers. Indeed, making mistakes while finding out answers is the shortest way to the solution. Executive coaching and mentoring (for Muslim female scholars, students, mothers and employers) is sufficient to explore the abilities of female jurists, scholars, researchers and creative women in all fields. That is, executive coaching helps in exploring the abilities of the mind and takes the woman step by step towards a bright future which Allah (S.W.T) granted to humanity upon granting them with perception, cognition, and the ability to explore the rules of development in both the human being and the world at large.

7. Personal Skills And Responsibility While many women who have obtained high academic degrees and have been gifted with high levels of intelligence may have been awarded numerous medals in their academic and technical fields; they nonetheless suffer from working within small groups and lacking skills of leadership.

This in turn deprives people from benefiting of their vast knowledge and experiences. Some may even choose to avoid meeting people if she can help it, and instead compose books for half a century. This is considered to be a social disability and a deficiency in the realm of personal skills and responsibility. For a person to perform in his/her full capacity, they must establish successful social relationships on the personal and professional levels. This may be achieved through planning, self-educating oneself by being aware of personal insufficiency, and then following through by bridging the gap between their self and people in a bid to benefit society and gain contentment and happiness; which not only generates intrinsic satisfaction, but pushes the individual forward onto achievement and success.

As an example, I trained a female teacher who was active and hardworking but suffered from problems with her co-teachers in the workplace. During the process of self-coaching, I found through the questions I asked her that she lacked the appropriate skills to deal and interact with her friends at work. I also found that she had furthermore carried out a number of mistakes with her co-teachers. Throughout the coaching program, she managed to develop a plan, which she named ‘the natural healthy relation.’ Her friends began to realize that she had changed; with the result that she became clearer to them and more social, which encouraged her to pursue her work although she had planned –prior to the coaching program– to leave the school and work in a faraway place based on the assumption that everyone hated her. Our female teacher became effectively more self-confident and empowered. She experienced the solving of her previous problems, and furthered her work through harmony, transparency and social interaction. Under the coach’s remark section, I later wrote: ‘She has learned to take responsibility for her mistakes on her own: a successful coaching case.’

8. Communication Skills It is striking and surprising that a woman living in such an age of globalization and increasingly rapid technology and information can lacks experience and expertise when it comes to using such technology in developing her family, work, and her children’s upbringing. In a the newly industrialized and rapidly developing country Malaysia, it is astonishing to find a female university lecturer who is unable to carry out the simple task of attaching a file to an e-mail; instead using old teaching methods and techniques to instruct tech savvy students, who treat technology and gadgets as an extension of their body. This deficiency and technophobia in the Muslim women’s world specifically, is a drawback that may be solved by means of executive coaching and mentoring. Moreover, it may also be tackled by learning the latest communication skills both inside and outside home; alongside their respective use and practice according to the role of the woman;

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whether she be a school teacher, businesswoman, Islamic propagation caller or a leader.

Ultimately, women should excel in skills of interactive communication and make use of technology.

This not only provides a definite boost in terms of sealing the gender inequality gap, but also further serves as a catalyst for self-confidence and development; thereby opening doors to a potential for acquiring more skills while breaking the ice that kept from upgrading her persona.

9. Physical Skills Unfortunately, many Muslim women lack bodily fitness and physical skills, which require muscle control, in addition to the bodily ability necessary for performing highly strenuous tasks. In order for a person to come to terms with whether they have already obtained those skills or not, they ascertain their familiarity with features of physical skills as pointed out by human development scholars. A person should be capable of dealing with all situations accordingly and quickly. This means that successful Muslim women should be able to walk, jog and write well at an average rate of speed to reflect competence. Among the features of physical skills and fitness is the invaluable ability to operate under pressure. It is for this reason that soldiers in military coaching are exposed to pressure such as the lack of sleep, fatigue and difficult tasks requiring one to draw on reserves of will, perseverance and strength beyond the ordinary. This in turn helps them to gain flexibility and tolerance. Recent problems faced by Muslim women have shown a very weak tolerance and threshold for pressure in personal and working levels. A simple comparison between the lives of the generation of mothers and those of their grandmothers would not only show a severe disparity between the two, but the latter’s ability to adapt to more difficult situations as they lived harder lives and in doing so acquired better tolerance.

The coaching program is also inclusive of observation of the trainee and their respective tolerance, in addition to placing them under pressure in order to crystallize their opinion, will and their skill to the extent desired by the trainee. While Muslim women may find it somewhat nonsensical or preposterous when asked to exercise, the reality remains that exercising is not only beneficial in terms of beauty purposes but also for strength, energy and control. It is not a standoff or confrontation with men, but rather that a beautiful strong woman is more likely to react in a healthy manner and suffer from less self and work induced pressure. On the other hand, a weak and easily exhausted woman usually lives a miserable life, and experiences progressive hardships with those around her. On a more significant note however, coaching provides a sense of time value and boosts responsibility and accountability towards time as the period needed for achievements specifies the state of success or failure. In this light, numerous skills nowadays draw on or are directly related to strategic thinking; as with the skillful footballer who thinks strategically to make a goal or two, whereas the fatigued footballer only wishes to end the game safely and peacefully.

Fatigue and boredom hold a high likelihood of hindering women’s progress. Added to this, she may be inhibited due to her children getting sick, her husband falling ill or her trade failing due to her lack of experience. Continuous executive coaching, self-learning and the acquiring of basic skills help women to perform better, and progress on the personal, professional and social levels.

Moreover, there is a direct relationship between coaching and the number of decreased mistakes and increase in good performance in all fields and occupations.

10. Coaching For Personal Relations Coaching and mentoring, as previously mentioned, involve all fields and walks of life including the personal, professional and social skills. This includes the sphere of personal relations as it plays a significant role in the midst of these fields, and is further affected by development. This is why

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executive coachers pay high attention to personal relations, with some specializing in marital relations to secure positive relations towards growth and development and further eliminating negative effects on institutions and coaching standards to achieve successful and interactive personal relations. Indeed, the family has been regarded as the building of block of society since ancient times with mentions of its significance and respective impact on society found as early as 2300 years ago in Aristotelian thought. Books on coaching establish many standards varied from one coacher to another towards this end. These standards may be set as the criteria for correct relations; otherwise, personal relations may be set accordingly. The standards include: a. Deeper relations The coacher would ask a number of selective questions to reveal the nature of the relation and its deepness. Thus, the goal is explored through the relation. The answer to the following question: “Are you interested in this person? Answer by using numbers from 1 to 10” would say much about the status of the relation and its importance in human life. The decision could then be made to pursue and progress or terminate this relation.

For example: a woman complains about her friend who disturbs her every day through phone calls and speaks to her of other people’s news. I asked her: How valuable is this relationship in your life? She said: Somewhat. I asked: How much would you give this relation out of 10? She said: 2. I said: Do you think you should improve this relationship or keep away from it? She chose to keep away from it, as the relation was shallow and meaningless. b. Guided and clear relations Some personal and trade relations are almost certainly headed to failure once they begin as they tend to be characterized by an absence of clarity and in incompetence. During my coaching lessons, I faced a number of women who provided me with vague answers related to their social and family relations. I asked, for instance: Why did you choose this person to be your friend if you think she is annoying? The answer usually sounds like this: “I have not thought much of this relationship before. The relationship actually lacks any objective, and I’ve just thought about it now.” With the amount of existing marital discord as a an abstract yardstick, it is more than likely that a significant amount of marital relations are often practiced spontaneously and haphazardly; while such a sensitive relationship should be studied and nurtured more than any other relationship in order to achieve a healthy and comfortable marital relationship. Some answers provided by trainee women on the nature of their marital relationships with their husbands are stark and rather terrifying. I question them: “Do you have a clear relationship with your husband?”

With their response being: “I do not understand.” Upon which I explain: “Do you recognize the status of the relationship between you and your husband?” Some reply: “Love”, “Marriage” or “I do not know”, with the latter being the most frequent answer. Executive coaching provides women with insights regarding the nature of relationships and its variants and increases their ability to cure it, treat it or maintain it. c. Confidential relations It is impossible to have clear and good relationships without the existence of confidence. The Prophet Muhammad (S.A.W.) was known by his people as ‘the faithful.’ This feature was clearly reflected in those dealing with Him and could be easily recognized in such interactions. However, if such a feature were missing, the relationship would end the minute it began. Coaching, guiding and their form of questions effectively evaluate the basis confidence in personal relationship.

Hence, a simple question such as, “Can you depend on your husband when you face a real

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problem?” would effectively reveal the degree of confidence which may or may not have been considered by the trainee before. In the case of a friend, the same question is asked, “Can you depend on this person?” One may find it hard to evaluate the nature of the relationship until such queries are posed to them. d. Positive relations There are innumerable tiresome relationships, which influence the person’s psychological and physical health; especially in a world replete with illiterate women. For instance, relations may face negativity, which directly and detrimentally affects decisions and reflects a non-healthy lifestyle. A well-trained woman in personal relations can easily diagnose friends, and positive and negative relations. Simple questions such as, “How much of your life is influenced by your friend?” or “Do you feel comfort after meeting this friend?” mostly yield answers such as: “I feel self-conscious because she makes me listen and talk of unimportant things” or “I feel frustrated whenever I meet this woman.” Coaching is not meant to judge others, but to rather train people how to deal with similar cases in the future. This allows the person to become familiar with the criteria of proper relations and thus empowered, act accordingly. e. Open, comfort and continuous relations Sometimes, relations tend to be vague which cause extra trouble for the person. In the Arabic world, for instance, one often feels shy to turn away friends. One does not ask daring questions such as: “What do you mean?”, “Why do you want me to do this or that?” or “What exactly do you want from me?” Such social pressures effectually drives relationships into a form of harmful vagueness. Vague relationships may even be found among members of the same family; with a woman potentially finding her husband vague, or vice versa. This largely depends on the degree of clarity utilized during communication and dealing with one other. It also requires some effort for explanation, as in the case of the western mother who explains to her child why he or she is being punished. In sharp contrast to this however, many eastern mothers beat their children while the child does not even comprehend or know the behind being beaten. Clarity can be acquired through coaching and practicing to be clear with others. Many people tend to be vague as a matter of habit and dislike explaining their actions or simply speaking, but when they realize the great benefits inherent in being clear and acquire the appropriate communication skills are witness to their lives being changed. A female trainer decided to record herself while talking to her husband and found that her husband did not answer her questions. After observing the conversations, she realized that she usually asked five questions at one time. f. Pure relations Humans hold significant values that should be channeled into their relationships and working life.

Pure relationships are truthful and rightful, and further require the practicing of the essential mores of humanistic conduct such as showing mercy to one another, being cooperative, maintaining good brotherly or sisterly relations, keeping in touch with relatives and taking care of friends and family. In other words, that one do equally to others in accordance with what one would wish for their own self. This is embodied in the narration of the Hadith of the Prophet (S.A.W.): “None of you is a true believer until he likes for his brother what he likes for himself” (Muhammad bin Ismā’īl al-Bukhārī, 1400 A.H), and “The believer to the believer is as a building whose different parts support one another. The Prophet then clasped his hands with his fingers interlaced” (Ibid) which effectively indicates that the believers’ support one another through cooperation and solidarity.

Social relations in the Islamic society are of pure origin as they are judged by norms and divine

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rules that are not restricted to people’s modes and passions. The wife, for example, who may be disliked, as well as the friend that we do not feel comfortable with and even the neighbor who shouts disturbingly all have rights upon the individual, and thus one is required to look after them with an open-heart and dedication in return for collective brotherhood and sisterhood. Executive coaching helps in spreading a culture of mercy and solidarity amongst people, specifically carried out through trainings on work relations, neighborhoods and in mosques. This is considered a revival of the Prophetic Sunnah (S.A.W.), morals and goodness in treatment Muhammad Nāsir alDīn al-Albānī, 2003) The coach may therefore ask numerous questions, with their answers being considered a self-criticism of the status of social relations and responsibilities. g. Healthy Relations Western studies have discussed in some depth what is considered a ‘healthy relationship’. It is important to know what this concept refers to from a Western perspective, that we may evaluate our relations accordingly. Westerners apply the understanding of a ‘healthy relationship’ when a number of basic elements are found, including healthy habits, thinking good of others, developing one’s self, continuous self-improvement, increasing self-confidence, increasing self-responsibility, developing one’s habits, setting goals, approaching success and having the ability to face life’s problems. These elements however, are all required from an Islamic point of view. Morals are nonetheless morals, and as such, the culture of ‘healthy relationships’ is a goal that may be accomplished through continuous coaching on personal and institutional levels. Women, in particular require this form of coaching as they need to properly conduct professional and personal relations while excelling in creating substantive meaningful relationships that set her personal and professional life at ease in comfort. It is useful to make use of the Western notion of the ‘healthy relationship’ by applying it to our relations. We may then ask in terms of coaching: Is this a healthy relationship? Does this relationship help in development and achieving success or does it hinder and bring about negativity? These questions, among others, should be introduced to continuous coaching and thinking for the sake of improvement and progress.

D. CONCLUSION This research is a humble effort towards the establishment of executive coaching and mentoring.

Indeed, many readings on this issue have been made to find solutions to the problems encountered in various fields of the Islamic world, among which are those related to women and education. However, references available on this subject have not been used directly in this research. Furthermore, the research does not refer to a specific reference or book in the relative area, although plenty of references on executive coaching exist in English and French languages.

This is for the reason that this research is directed towards the Muslim society, which allows it to be nurtured in an Islamic context where quoting and copying from foreign references would cause it to be less effectual. This means that the subject in hand is relatively new, and is based on personal experience and practice.

This study is an attempt to establish a number of primary concepts and criteria that are applicable to becoming the basis for coaching and mentoring from an Islamic perspective, especially in dealing with the Muslim woman’s development in the Islamic world, in general, and Saudi Arabia, in particular. Coaching has proven its success in enhancing the wheel of progress and continuous development in Western societies. As a Muslim woman who has lived in the west for a considerable period of time, studied coaching and mentoring and practicing it in teaching and education while continuing to practice it in Malaysia particularly at the women’s level, I have found that it is a significant technique to approaching goals.

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Furthermore, I find it to be far better than, and in fact surpassing consultation and traditional learning. This is so for two reasons: namely that the coaching technique teaches trainees to depend fully on themselves and bear their own responsibility when making personal decisions. It allows them to follow up their decisions through practical procedures under the supervision of the executive coach. Coaching is different from courses given for enhancing skills due to its privacy and personal follow-up. The other reason is found in its purpose of directing the trainee towards the future without hesitation or looking backward. The coach asks deep questions of the trainee to allow them to focus on the future rather than the past, without any interference in the form of advice or suggestion. This in turn gives the trainee the chance to be free from past mistakes, and to ensure that they receive solutions from not from outsiders, but rather from their own selves. This consequently encourages trainees to adopt their own opinions, as they are the ones who have succeeded in providing solutions to problems. The coach then will only follow up on the coachee’s procedures and applications until the goal is approached. This technique has proven its usefulness for Muslim woman as it helps her to discover herself and her talents, and to employ her creative abilities to bear her own responsibilities in this life and the hereafter.

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References Dhilāl al-Jannah fi Takhrīj ‘al-Sunnah’ li Ibn Abī Aāsim. (Al-Maktab al-Islāmī).

Ismā’īl bin Muhammad al-Ajlūnī, Ahmad al-Qallāsh (ed.), Kashf al-Khafā’ wa Muzīl al-Ilbās ammā Ishtahara min al-Ahādīth ala Alsinat al-Nās. (Mu’ssasat al-Risālah).

McMahon, Gladeana. (2010). 01 Coaching Strategies and Techniques. Hove: Routledge.

Muhammad bin Ismā’īl al-Bukhārī, Muhib al-Dīn al-Khatīb (ed.), al-Jāmi’ al-Sahīh al-Musnad min Hadīth Rasuli-llah wa Sunanihi wa Ayyāmihi. Cairo: al-Maktabah al-Salafiyyah.

Peltier, Bruce. The Psychology of Executive Coaching: Theory and Application. New York: Routledge Publisher, 2nd ed. _____, Sahīh al-Adab al-Mufrad li al-Imam al-Bukharī. (Dār al-Siddīq). _____, Silsilat al-Ahādīth al-Sahihah wa Shay’ min Fiqhihā. (Maktabat al-Ma’ārif).

Stern, Lew. (2008). Executive Coaching: Building and Managing Your Professional Practice .

Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley & Sons.

Sulaimān Bin al-Ash’ath Abū Dawūd al-Sijistānī, Izzat Ubayd al-Da’ās (ed.), Sunan Abī Dawūd.

(Dār al-Kutub al-Ilmiyyah). _____, Zuhayr al-Shawīsh (ed.), Sahīh al-Jāmi’ al-Saghīr wa Ziyādatuh. Beirut: al-Maktab alIslāmī.

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Pesantren Responses to Religious Tolerance, Pluralism and Democracy in Indonesia

Pesantren Responses to Religious Tolerance, Pluralism and Democracy in Indonesia Nurrohman1 1Faculty

of Sharia and Law, Sunan Gunung Djati State Islamic University, Bandung Indonesia.

Email: nsyarif2006@yahoo.co.id Abstract

Pesantren (Islamic boarding school) is the oldest Islamic institution in Indonesia that often affiliated to the largest mass Muslim organization Nahdlatul Ulama. This organization is well known for its stance to uphold moderate, tolerance Islam and accepting pluralistic state based on Pancasila.

Pesantren also often referred as the barometer to understand the way of thinking of Muslims grass root in Indonesia because many Islamic figures in Indonesian village are alumni of pesantren.

There are debates among scholars on whether religious violence has a root in religious doctrine or it is caused by factors outside religion such as poverty or injustice. By assuming that both inside and outside factors have significant contribution to violence or radicalism this study will discuss the doctrine that potentially can be used to justify violence and intolerance by reviewing the opinion of pesantren leaders in West Java on jihad, violence or intolerance and power. This study is aimed to examine whether the commitment of Muslim leaders in national level on democracy and plurality is supported by grass root particularly from pesantren leaders.

Overall the study found that although they agree that democracy is compatible with Islam, this study reveals that their acceptance to pluralism still be questioned as evidenced by almost half of them supported theocratic caliphate carry out by radical group.

Although many argued that pesantren promotes tolerance and pluralism, nevertheless this study shows that some of their teaching tacitly supported violence act in the name of religion that will tarnished the effort of Indonesia to synchronize Islam, democracy and modernity. It means that many of them actually not wholeheartedly accepted democracy and pluralism.

Keywords: radical Islam, Islamic state, democracy.

A. INTRODUCTION Indonesia often praised as a country that their Muslim population embraced moderate and tolerance face of Islam in which Islam can thrive together with democracy and modernity (Clinton, 2009). But strangely when religious intolerances and violence acts using religious nuance occurred, the majority of Muslims are silent. Of course it raises some questions whether they are tolerating this act, whether their tolerance to violence actually has a root in their teaching and doctrine? Whether they are accepted democracy whole-heartedly?

Pesantren (Islamic boarding school) is the oldest Islamic institution in Indonesia (Karel A. Steenbrink, 1986). That often affiliated to the largest mass Muslim organization Nahdlatul Ulama.

This organization is well known for its stance to uphold moderate, tolerance Islam and accepting pluralistic state based on Pancasila. Pesantren also often referred as the barometer to understand the way of thinking of Muslims grass root in Indonesia because many Islamic figures in Indonesian

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village are alumni of pesantren (Nurrohman & Zulkarnain, 2007).

Radical Islam movement always has connection with the way they embrace the meaning of jihad particularly in order to combat vices (munkar) or what they called the situation of injustice. Radical Islam also always close to practical politics in the sense gaining, defending or destroying political power deemed as an obstacle to their own political agenda. In order to pursue power or establish Islamic state, they no hesitate to use violence and criminal acts (Abas, 2006).

Historically, West Java is one of the regions that ever used as the base of struggle to hold power and establish Islamic state (C.Van Dijk, 1987). Preliminary survey indicates that some of pesantren (Islamic boarding schools) in West Java has a potential to be used for the basis of the growing movement allowing violent act. The early research also reveals that Jamaah Islamiyah (JI), Islamic hardliners group striving to build caliphate (khilafat) in South East Asia also use pesantren as the basis to instill their political ideology.

The latest report from International Crisis Group (ICG) in Brussels entitle: Jamaah Islamiyah's Current Status, reveals that JI still harbor an idea to establish Islamic State in Indonesia. This report also mentions that the power of JI in various areas in Indonesia will be determined by some factors such as pesantren affiliation with JI, the history of Dar al-Islam in this region, business and family relationship among their member, their success in recruiting cadres from campus and the recruitment process occurred within the prison (www.crisisgroup.org).

There are many factors can drag somebody to become radical, such as education, economics, environment including political ideology which developed in his or her milieu. Not all of these factors be searched and investigated, this research focused only on the religious views mirrored on the views of religious leaders in this case pesantren leaders.

There are debates among scholars on whether religious violence has a root in religious doctrine or it is caused by factors outside religion such as poverty or injustice. By assuming that both inside and outside factors have significant contribution to violence or radicalism this study will discuss the doctrine that potentially can be used to justify violence, intolerance or radicalism by reviewing the opinion of pesantren leaders on jihad, violence or intolerance and power. This study is aimed to examine whether the commitment of Muslim leaders at national level to promotes pluralism is supported by grass root particularly from pesantren leaders.

The amount of pesantren in West Java according to data from EMIS (Education Management Information System) is 6.930. The population of pesantren in five locations in which research has been conducted are 1459 consisted; Cirebon 397, Indramayu 56, Majalengka 323, Kuningan 430, and Ciamis including Pangandaran 353. Not all of them are surveyed or investigated. After being separated based on the types of pesantren (traditional, modern and semi modern) only some 20 pesantren represents the three types of pesantren in each region are randomly picked. So the total amount of pesantren used as sample is some 100 pesantren.

B. METHODOLOGY Data will be analyzed based on discourse on political power, sharia law and Islamic state among Muslims as well as discourse on religious tolerance and pluralism. It is hypothesized that some of pesantren in West Java still promoting the religious teaching that can be viewed as a form of legitimacy to use violence or in accordance with political idea of Islamic radical groups. This research based on assumption that the more Muslims give their support for certain Islamic

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teaching legitimizing the use of violence, the more violence will happen. This research also based on assumption the more Muslims give support to political ideology of radical group, the future of Pancasila ideology and democracy in Indonesia are in danger.

C. RESULT AND DISCUSSION 1.

On jihad and terrorism

Concerning jihad and terrorism, this research finds that most Pesantren in West Java not agree to equate jihad with war or other violence act. Almost all (99%) of pesantren leaders realize the most important problems faced by Muslims are stupidy, poverty and backwardness. Therefore jihadul akbar or jihad as a spiritual struggle against selfish desire, greed and lust for power is more important than jihadul asghar ( waging a war). However an ambivalence attitude was revealed by some pesantren leaders in dealing with Osama bin Laden. The worrying attitude is, there are pesantren leaders who still agree to what was done by Amrozi cs and acknowledged it as part of jihad. There are also a tendency among pesantren leaders to support a group of Muslims or state that accumulate weapon to face the enemy of Islam. One of the perceived enemies of Muslim is United States, particularly its interventionist policies.

2.

On violence and intolerance

Many pesantren leaders condoned the emergence of vigilante groups that taking the law by their own hand in order to eradicate vices. They are condoned violence acts perpetrated by hard line groups such as Islamic Defender Front (FPI). This research finds that Muslims commonly still sensitive to speechs or expressions deemed an insult to Islam.They are supported the notion to give harsh punishment to everyone that they deem blasphemy to Islam.

Potential conflict between Muslim and non Muslim is still high since many pesantren leaders think it is impossible to built peace coexistence eternally with non Muslims or infidels.

The significant amount of them of them not ready to live in peace with Muslims sects considered deviant and blasphemy to orthodox tenet.

The resistance of pesantren leaders toward church very high as indicated by their support to Muslims who refuse to give permit for Church building in their area. Even just said happy Christmas is not allowed by many of pesantren leaders.

Concerning domestic violence, such as beating wife or children, many pesantren leaders still see it as an act legitimized by religion. Corporal punishment that has been abolished in more civilized country is still believed by some pesantren leaders as something appropriate for current time.

Acts that in international community had been categorized as violence against women, such as female circumcise, still supported by large amount of pesantren leaders for religious reason, although the Indonesian ministry of health has released circular prohibiting paramedic to serve this practice.

Discriminative attitude also exposed by some of pesantren leaders, when they also refused woman and non-Muslim to become head of state of Indonesia.

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3.

On political power and Islamic state

Concerning the relation between religion and power, Islam and state this research finds that most pesantren leaders embraced an opinion that Muhammad PBH (peace be upon him) is not only a prophet or religious leader but also a head of state. Most pesantren leaders supported an opinion that Islam is religion and state (al-din wa dawlah) Therefore Muslim not only encourage to build the unity of political leadership in the world level by establishing the caliphate system but also should become a member of the political party based on Islam.

On Islamic state, although most of them agree to call Indonesia Islamic state and therefore to make Indonesia an Islamic state no more needed, most of them supported the effort to include Jakarta Carter as part of the Indonesian constitution as well as sharia inspired bylaw. However, their support to Pancasila state and NKRI is very high.

4.

Discussion and analysis

Does sharia really need Islamic state?

All Muslims likely agree to made the prophet Muhammad as the role model of them (uswatun hasanah) (QS 33: 21), so it is understood if all of his livelihood be used as a source of inspiration for them. All Muslims also acknowledged that Muhammad is a moral and spiritual leader. This acknowledgment is strengthened by Qur’an (innaka la’ala khuluqin azim) (QS 68:4) and the saying of the prophet himself “I am asked to improve good morality“. Therefore from the beginning, there is no indication that the prophet Muhammad has a target to become a holder of worldly power or political leader. If this is what he wishes, it can be achieved when he still in Mecca, as long as he ready to halt his message (Khan, 1987).

It is true, after he migrated to Medina, he trusted to be a leader of pluralistic society that can be called a state. Therefore it is not wrong if W. Montgomery Watt called Muhammad a prophet as well as statesman (Watt, 1961). But this position not acquired through direct injunction from Qur’an. There is no single verse in Qur’an that directly asks the prophet to establish a political power or state. After viewing that there is no verses that boldly obliged Muhammad to establish government, Ali Abd al-Raziq, one of the noted ulema form al-Al-Azhar in the early twentieth century, stated that building government or state is not part of the task that is revealed by God to the prophet Muhammad (al-Raziq, 1985). On other words the political position trusted to the prophet, because of his ability to preserve his high morality.

The similar opinion is also adopted by Asghar Ali Engineer when he asked by reporter of Tempo magazine. Qur’an not talking about state, he said. It only talks about society. In society we should enforced justice, forbidden to exploitation, not allowed to persecution. Qur’an is a book of moral guidance, how we can maintain our attitude, how to minimalize conflict. All eventually will gave benefit to livelihood in state, Asghar Ali added (Tempo magazine, 2008).

What it means? It means that the readiness of Muhammad SAW to become “head of state” is based on his ijtihad or individual reasoning at that time. I think, it is the reason, why when the prophet trusted to be a leader of pluralistic society, he ask all parts of community in Medina to make consensus that later well known by mithaq Madina or Medina Constitution. Constitution is then used by the prophet Muhammad to manage pluralistic society. So, it is understood, if not all Muslims agree to establish political power in the form of state.

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When Sunni scholars in classical period anonymously agree to establish caliphate their reference is “consensus” (ijma) of companions after the passing of prophet. That is why, not all Islamic scholars in classical period agree with this opinion. Abu Bakar Al-Asham from Mu’tazily sect, for instance, said that establishing caliphate is not mandatory for Muslims. The most important one for Muslims is performing sharia. As long as Muslims not hampered to perform their sharia norms, there is no need to establish political power or what is called Islamic state (Nurrohman, 2007).

In other words, the need to establish a state actually to assure the freedom of religion in which there is no single person that can be barred to conduct their religious belief and rite, as well as to protect and enforce social justice for all. It is the principle of social justice for all that was exemplified by the prophet Muhammad through Medina constitution.

According to Harun Nasution , there are at least eight principles adopted by Medina Constitution : 1) monotheism 2) unity and togetherness 3) equality and justice 4) religious freedom 5) defending state 6) preserving good tradition 7) supremacy of sharia 8) the politics of peace and protection.

These principles are not so difference with principle adopted be UUD 1945, Indonesia’s Constitution.

The principle of monotheism is mentioned in article 22,23,42,47 in Medina Charter, it also mentioned in the first principle of Pancasila, article 9 and 29 of UUD 1945. The principle of unity and togetherness is mentioned in article 1,15,17,25 and 37 of Medina constitution as well as mentioned in the third principle of Pancasila, article 1 verse 1, article 35 and 36 of UUD1945. The principle of equality and justice is mentioned in article 13,15,16,22,24,37 and 40 of Medina Constitution. It also mentioned in the fifth principle of Pancasila, article 27,31,33 and 34 of Indonesia’s constitution.

The principle of defending state is mentioned in article 24,37,38 and 44 of Medina constitution. It also mentioned in article 30 of Indonesia’s constitution. The principle of preserving good tradition is mentioned in article 2 until 10 of Medina constitution. It also mentioned in article 32 Indonesia’s constitution.

The principle of supremacy of sharia is mentioned in article 23 and 42 of Medina charter.(The disputes are ruled based Allah rules and the judgment of Muhammad SAW) This principle is not explicitly mentioned in Indonesia’s constitution, but religious norms was adopted as logical consequence of implementing the first principle of Pancasila and article 29 of Indonesia’s constitution.

The principle of politics of peace and protection is mentioned in article 15,17,36,37,40,41,47 (peace and internal protection) as well as in article 45 (peace and external protection) of Median constitution. In Indonesia’s constitution, this principle mentioned in preamble, article 11and 13 (Nasution, 1985).

Munawir Sjadzali, in his book Islam and Government (Islam dan Tata Negara) mentioned that the foundations laid down by Medina Charter as the basis of state for the plural society in Medina are: 1) all Muslims although from different ethnic or tribe are one community 2) the relationship between Muslims community and others is based on principles (a) good neighboring (b) to help each other in facing common enemy (c) defending who are persecuted (d) giving advice to each other and (e) respecting religious freedom. In addition, Munawir said that Medina charter that often called by many political scholars as the first constitution of Islamic state not mentions state religion (Sjadzali, 1990).

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So, if compared between Indonesia’s constitution and Medina constitution, there is no significant difference except in wording.

So, when NU accepted pluralistic state based Pancasila as the final political ideal for Indonesian Muslim, it is actually based on strong arguments. This acceptance should be followed by its implications, including not demanding to revive Jakarta Charter. The fact, that more than half of pesantren leaders still have an “imagination” to insert Jakarta Charter to Indonesian constitution is an indication that the pluralistic attitude taken by elite NU is not really understood by their grass root or it is evidence that ideology of radical movement has infiltrated to pesantren. The height of support for caliphate system indicates that they are not wholeheartedly supporting Pancasila state as the final state for Muslims. In other word Pancasila state is only a middle target before Muslims have the power to establish political leadership in the world level by reviving caliphate system.

Implementing sharia actually not depend on Islamic state. Because there are many models that can be picked by Muslims to perform their religious rite and activity. At least there are three models that can be used to assess the application of sharia in one region; exclusive, inclusive and mixed or combination. The first model tried to implement sharia such as it is mentioned literally in the text of holy books. This model is based on assumption that sharia is a complete norms for Muslim covering all aspect of life. After the death of prophet Muhammad, sharia no more experience a process of evolution. Therefore, Muslims just implement it, if there is a clear formulation in the text of Qur’an or Hadits. If there is no clear norm in it, Muslims can use analogy /qiyas or individual reasoning/ ijtihad. There is no need to adopt a system outside ”Islamic system”.

Sharia is a God law that cannot be understood its goal precisely by human except Jurists or Mujtahid. Therefore, each legislation arranged by legislative body should be approved by sharia experts who had the right to assess and veto if they believe it contradict to sharia. Supporters of this model commonly embraced Receptie in complexu theory (LWC van den Berg). According to Juhaya S Praja, this theory comprises of three elements: 1) Islamic law can be imposed to Muslims in Indonesia 2) Muslims should embrace Islamic teaching 3) Islamic law is effective universally covering economics, penal or criminal law and private or family law (Praja, 2009).

The second model tried to implement sharia by seeing the concept or the purpose of sharia. If the main purpose of sharia has been captured, its implementation can be flexibel, able to accomadate traditions or outside resources. This model is based on assumption that each norms in sharia has its own reasoning and purpose. Therefore the proponents of this model not objected if sharia experinces a process of evolution. They are relatively easy to accept whatever system of law as long as this system adopted the principle of justice, equality, freedom, brotherhood and humanity.

They able to accept system that protect five purposes defined by some Islamic scholars well known by maqashid al-shari’ah such as religion (al-din) a freedom of thinking (aql), offspring or heredity (nasl), property (mal) and the soul (al-nafs). In this model, sharia can be implemented openly. It means in applying sharia, local tradition and opinions derived from outside can be adopted. Sharia can be called an open system because it can be interpreted by a common person.

There is no monopoly in interpreting sharia therefore the existence of the ”super body” who monitored and monopolized its interpretation no more needed. The role of sharia expert is only giving fatwa (non binding legal opinion). Supporters of this model commonly used Receptie theory to explain the transformation of sharia law in Indonesia.

This theory developed by Snock Hurgronje in the late of nineteenth century. This theory said that for the indigenous people the law applied to them is customary law. Islamic law can be applied only if it has been accommodated in customary law (Praja). This theory based on assumption that not all Islamic law that originally from “Arab” is suitable to Indonesia therefore local or customary

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agent has the right to select and chose what element of Islamic law that suitable or not suitable for them. This causes plurality among Muslims or what Azyumardi Azra calls cultural pluralism (Azra, 2010).

The third model tries to combine both of two models. Regarding sharia norms that can be categorized as private or civil law they tend to use exlusive model , while on sharia norms that can be categorized as public matter , they tend to use inclusive one. Indonesia adopted mixed model of sharia implementation by using the maslaha theory as the grand theory and using a mixed between Receptie in Complexu and Receptie theory as an application theory. History shows that the model chosed by Indonesia is influenced by the politics of law (http://www.badilag.net) or the interconnection between law and politics (Daniel S. Lev, 1990).

In line with pluralistic model of sharia implementation, when Muslims countries declared their independence from colonialism and intended to establish modern state complete with its written constitution, there are many forms of constitution. Because, there aren’t any exact model of government in Islamic teaching. At least there are four types of constitution. The first is state that its constitution recognized Islam as a state religion and placed sharia as a primary source in drafting legislation such as Saudi Arabia, Iran and Pakistan.

Secondly, state that its constitution denote Islam as state religion but not mentioned sharia as a primary source of legislation. It means that sharia treated only as one source of many sources used to make legislation such as Malaysia (Mahmood, 1987). The third, state that not made Islam as a state religion and also not mentioned sharia as a primary resource in formulating legislation but acknowledged sharia as a living law in society and considered it as one of many source in drafting legislation such as Indonesia. The fourth, state that declared itself as secular state and try to make sharia not influenced its legal system such as Turkey (Nurrohman, 2007).

In Indonesian history, discource on the position of sharia in constitution, at least has been discussed five times in parliament ; at the Council and Committee for Independent Preparation (BPUPKI-PPKI) in 1945, the Council of Constituante in 1956-1959, Temporary of People Consultative Assembly (MPRS) in 1966-1968, annual meeting of People Consultative Assembly (MPR) in 2000, and annual meeting of MPR in 2001.

Each time, when sharia will be formally included in Indonesian constitution, it always invited pros an cons. The proponents of formalization of sharia, commonly argue that since the majority of Indonesian is Muslims, so it is understood if the law imposed in Indonesia particularly for Muslims is sharia. Secondly, the assurence of sharia in constitution actually part of gentlement agreement of founding fathers expressed by their acceptence to Jakarta Charter (Piagam Jakarta). This charter is a compromise choice between secular and Islamic state. Thirdly, the formalization of sharia not affected non Muslim because sharia law will gave blessing to humankind.

The opponent of sharia formalization in constitution exposed arguments, among other ; firstly, the inclusion of seven words of Piagam Jakarta will pave the way of state intervention in religious domain that evantually will affect religion as well as public domain. Secondly, the inclusion of seven words of Piagam Jakarta will raises old prejudice from non Muslim on Islamic state in Indonesia.Thirdly, the inclusion of Piagam Jakarta also contradict with national system that treated all group in society as equal citizen, including religious groups (Zein, 2001).

The opponent of sharia formalization also presented reason about the possiblity of nation disintegration because people who reside in eastern part of Indonesia threatened to separate from

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Unitary State of Indonesia if sharia law inserted in constitution.

In the other side, the proponent of sharia formalization blamed government for their reluctant to accomodate sharia law. This reluctant caused the emergence of dissatisfaction that manifested in Darul Islam rebellion. Firdaus AN one of Islamic figure that actively engage in various Islamic mass organization, for instance, regretted the omitting of seven words which according to him triggered the emergence of rebellion in many regions. Begining with Darul islam lead by Kartosuwiryo in West Java (9 August 7,1949), then continued by Kahar Muzakar in South Sulawesi (1952), Daud Beureuh in Aceh ( 1953) and Ibn Hajar in South Kalimantan (1953) (Zein, 1987).

How strong the argument used by radical group to justify violence?

Although the term jihad actually has many meanings, radical movement who used Islam as political ideology prefers to use its violence meaning. In defending their preference, they have similar arguments upheld by supporters of exclusive and literal model of sharia implementation.

The main arguments used by exclusivists are: 1) sharia is a complete norm for Muslim covering all aspect of life, so there is no need to adopt a system other than”Islamic system”. Therefore good Muslims will adopt sharia totally (kaffah) 2) sharia is not experience a process of evolution.

Therefore the development of age should be adjusted to a system of Islam that has been practized in the past not vice versa 3) Since sharia is God law, that cannot be understood by common person, it need special body comprised of sharia experts or fuqaha who had the right to veto a bill if they believe it is contradict to sharia.

The first argument “sharia is a complete norms for Muslim covering all aspect of life” is clearly exposed by Suryani, a plaintiff of judicial review, who see that the implementation of jinayat punishment is a part of the effort to make Muslims completely conducting their duty in implementing sharia (verdict of Constitutional Court, 2008). For him, Muslims as community not able to be called embracing Islam in totality (kaffah) yet if they cannot apply jinayat sanction such cutting hand off the theft. When Suryani requested a review on article 49 verse (1) of Islamic court law, he clearly presented the verse 38 of al-Maidah, which according to him, literally, asked Muslims to cut the hand off the theft. Islam kaffah is originally derived from the words al-silmi kaffah in the verse 208-chapter al-Baqarah in the Qur’an. While al-silmi has other meaning such as peace, Suryani prefer to pick Islam or precisely sharia as it’s meaning. So, the mean of Islam kaffah according to him is embracing sharia law, not only in private or civil matter but also in public matter literally. The argument picked by Suryani, commonly, used by groups of Muslims that see Islam as exclusive religion.

The second argument “sharia is not experience a process of evolution” is also clearly used by both Suryani as well as Ja’far Umar Thalib when the later imposed rajam penalty in Ambon to it member because of adultery. Both believed that the punishment of a marriage adulterer is rajam and the punishment of the theft is cutting off his or her hand. It means that sharia norm particularly that regulates punishment of crime not experience evolution or change. This belief differs from other Islamic scholars who divided sharia broadly into two; ibadah (something related to ritual activities) and mu’amalah (something related to human to human relation). Many scholars believe that sharia on ritual activity not experience change, while sharia on human to human relation can experience change in line with the dynamic of human civilization. Slavery is a glare example that although it is clearly mentioned in sharia, almost all Muslim scholars in this day agree to abolish it.

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The third argument is based on assumption that sharia is God law, that cannot be understood by lay person, therefore it need special body comprised of sharia experts or fuqaha who had the right to veto a bill ”contradicts” to sharia. This assumption is clearly exposed by Ja’far Umar Thalib when he and his Laskar Jihad sought after back up from Ulema. According to Ja’far, rajam punishment in Ambon is preceded by declaration approved by some of Islamic figures to maintain security and upholding sharia. When the blessing or permission from Ulema placed above the existing legal system of Indonesia, it means that Ulema likely have the veto right to abandon the existing laws or regulations that they deemed contradict to sharia. This stance is, of course , challenged by other Islamic scholars.

In commenting rajam case in Ambon, KH Umar Shihab, one of the chairman of Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) , said : ”Implementing sharia law should follow the mechanism of legal system legitimazed by the state”. Umar Shihab argues that according to Qur’an, who asked to enforce law is government or the holder of power. ”Sharia law should be based on what is approved” He added. Similar comment also presented by Prof.Drs.Asmuni Abdurrahman from State Islamic Institute (IAIN) Sunan Kalijaga, Yogyakarta.

According to Asmuni, in implementing sharia law, the rule of game should be clear. ”The government should be Islamic government, the adulterer or the perpetrator shuold be processed and ruled by the council of jugdes”. Asmuni said to Sukoco from Gatra magazine. Prof. Dr. Syechul Hadi Pernomo, Islamic law scholar from IAIN Sunan Ampel, Surabaya, tries to offer solution. “If they want to have autonomy in legal affairs, at least there should be a region and waliyul amri (government),'' he said. That is why Syechul advised, if Islamic law want to be implemented it should be collaborated to KUHP (Penal Code) that currently accepted as positive law for Indonesia (http://www.oocities.com ).

In explaining why religion can resort to violence, Din Syamsuddin, chairman of Muhammadiyah, said that religion , including Islam, can serve as an integrative force paving the way to peace, dialogue and cooperation, but in another time it can also be disintegrative one leading to conflict, violence and war.

The disintegrative force of religion manifests itself in at least three characteristics of religion, which always appear in the consciousness of the believers. Firstly, religion brings about absolutism. This becomes a consequential outcome of personal and subjective belief toward the Absolute Being or God. Absolutism is often followed by rejection attitude against other faiths. In many cases, absolutism becomes a root cause for fanaticism, exclusivism and extremism, which encourage conflict in both intra and extra levels of a religious community.

Secondly, religions teach expansionism, that is, a doctrine on the obligation of the believers to spread their belief to other people. The history of religions bears witness to the fact that all religions expanded out of their birth places. Expansionism, which has ideological legitimacy from the Holy Scriptures, is believed as a sacred mission to be undertaken. The problem starts to occur when the mission is undertaken by each religious group against the other. An inevitable interaction thus arises and becomes a driving factor for tension and conflict.

Thirdly, religion also has a penetrative tendency into non-theological areas, such as social, politics, economy and culture. This penetration, which takes the form of acculturation between religion and culture, may proceed in two possible ways: absorption of religion into culture or absorption of culture into religion. The interaction between two realms, each has its own defenders, has stimulated religious conflict with a cultural dimension, or cultural conflict with a religious dimension

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in the life of the society. Religious conflict is, thus, multi-dimensional in nature; it is true that it has a theological dimension, but it cannot be ignored that it also included socio-economic, political and cultural dimensions. These non-theological factors, sometimes, become primary reasons for conflict and cooperation as well.

Those three characteristics above have prevented religionists to realize the moral and ethical values of religions, such as love, mercy, tolerance and understanding, in the making of peaceful coexistence, dialogue and cooperation. Religions have an ambivalent tendency toward dialogue, cooperation and peace. If it is seen from sociological and horizontal perspective, religions have two forces: integrative force and disintegrative force. In this context, religions could create close and cohesive unity, peace and cooperation, but at the same time they could also bring disunity, tension and conflict (Syamsuddin , 2006).

With this long explanation, Din Syamsuddin likely said that when religion was mixed with other interest such as politics and economics, it is difficult to make it as unifying factor.

Similar to what is said by Din Syamsuddin, Asghar Ali Engineer when asked about the possibility to make all Muslims as one political power, said that Muslims able to be united as one community only on religious matters not on political matters. We are speak in difference language, have difference culture, using different clothing. The only factor that unified us is the sameness of our religion. Muslims are never becoming a political unity from the start until now. Each state and ruler has different interest. Egypt, Syria and Libya ever joined to be one nation; United Arab Republic but its age only two years. Pakistan and Bangladesh eventually separated. Indonesia and Malaysia cannot be united (Tempo magazine, 2008). It means that effort of some radical movement to establish caliphate is an illusion viewed from historical experience (Wahid, 2009).

So, from the above explanation, radical group actually used disintegrative force of religion, term used by Din Syamsuddin, by exploiting its absolutism, expansionism and its penetrative tendency to non- theological area.

Why pluralism and religious tolerance difficult to be accepted by some Muslims?

In my opinion there are many factors that caused some Muslims difficult to accept pluralism and tolerance.

The first related to concept of hifzu al-din (protection of religion) in Islamic law. This concept actually should be used to protect someone in performing religion conviction and religious obligation. In Qur’an there is a guaranty that there is no coercion in religion (QS 2; 256), for you your religion and for us our religion (QS 109: 6). But some Islamic scholars still uphold the opinion that someone who convert from Islam to other religion or someone who blaspheme Islamic religion can be considered apostate. And the punishment for apostasy, in classical Islamic law, is to be killed. Therefore it can be understood that following the issuance of the verdict, said that Ahmadiyah is heretical sect and it followers are apostate (murtad) some hard-line groups declared the blood of the Ahmadiyah congregation halal (permissible).

Secondly related to the concept of nahi munkar (preventing something considered bad) derived from the prophet tradition. The prophet said whoever sees something considered bad please change it with their own hand. While it is correct to change something bad in society, the hardliners among Muslims often translated or replaced the word to change with to destroy.

Admittedly it is difficult and need more effort, strive and patient to change something without

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destroying it. It needs deep study to understand factors caused it and the interrelation between one factor with another. When some hardliners in Bandung eager to close and destroy Saritem area ( place notoriously used by prostitute to serve their clients) KH Imam Sonhaji, chief of lawmaker body in Bandung NU district, for instance, instead, choose to establish Daar al-Taubah boarding schools in this location and approached them peacefully. What is Sonhaji done is an example of changing without destroying.

The third is the concept of annulment (nasah mansuh). This concept based on assumption that there are many verses in Qur’an that contradict each other. To overcome this problem some scholars said that the verse revealed earlier should be cancelled by the verse received later (Abdullahi Ahmed an-Na’im, 1990). As a consequence, verses encourage pluralism and tolerance according to some scholars, had been cancelled. Assessing that verses strengthened pluralism and tolerance had been cancelled was equivalent to ignoring part of the verses of Qur’an that actually can be used as proposition to develop religious pluralism and tolerance.

The fourth is the lack of law enforcement from the law officers in Indonesia. In many cases it is the victims not the attackers who arrested and investigated by police. Actually it is the right of MUI to issue the fatwa (edict) said that religious teachings influenced by pluralism, liberalism and secularism are against Islam. It is the right of MUI to said that Muslims must consider their religion to be the true, and consider other faiths as wrong. In democratic society, it is the right to someone to say that Ahmadiyah, an Islamic group that does not recognize Muhammad as the last prophet, is a heretical sect, and its followers are murtad (apostate). But when the hardliners used this edict to attack them physically it is the duty of police to prevent it.

The fifth is the lack of education among Muslims as result of poverty. It should be acknowledged that religious violence in many cases often related to political conflict or political interest. Some persons used religious symbol as political commodity to gain power but it is difficult politicize religion if Indonsian Muslims more smart and prosper.

D. CONCLUSION Pesantren (Islamic boarding school) is the oldest Islamic institution in Indonesia that often affiliated to the largest mass Muslim organization Nahdlatul Ulama. This organization is well known for its stance to uphold moderate, tolerance Islam and accepting pluralistic state based on Pancasila.

Pesantren also often referred as the barometer to understand the way of thinking of Muslims grass root in Indonesia because many Islamic figures in Indonesian village are alumni of pesantren.

Therefore, examining whether the commitment of Muslim leaders in national level on democracy and plurality is supported by grass root particularly from pesantren leaders is the most significance of this study. In the mid of recurring extreme or radical movement in Indonesia, this study actually can be used as scholarly debate particularly to curb radical ideology from further entering pesantren.

Overall the study found that pesantren commitment to democracy still high. But, although they agree that democracy is compatible with Islam, this study reveals that their acceptance to pluralistic state based on Pancasila still be questioned as evidenced by many pesantren leaders think it is impossible to built peace coexistence eternally with non Muslims or infidels and almost half of them supported theocratic caliphate carry out by radical group.

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Although many argued that pesantren promote tolerance and pluralism, nevertheless this study shows that some of their teaching tacitly supported violence act in the name of religion that will tarnished the effort of Indonesia to synchronize Islam, democracy and modernity. It means that many of them actually not wholeheartedly accepted democracy and pluralism.

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References Abas, Nasir. (2006). Membongkar Jamaah Islamiyah: Pengakuan mantan Anggota. Jakarta: Grafindo.

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Azra, Azyumardi. (1-4 November 2010). Cultural Pluralism in Indonesia: Continuous Reinventing of Indonesian Islam in Local, National and Global Contexts. Islamic Studies Banjarmasin.

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Eksekusi Rajam Untuk Penzina di Ambon. http://www.oocities.com/arumbaikole/gatra040501.htm?20104.

Gatra No. 24. (30 April 2001). http://www.oocities.com/arumbaikole/gatra040501.htm?20104.

Khan,Qamaruddin. (1987). Political Concepts in The Qur’an, translated to Tentang Teori Politik Islam, Bandung: Pustaka.

Lev,Daniel S. (1990). Hukum dan Politik di Indonesia: Kesinambungan dan Perubahan (Law and Politics in Indonesia: Continuity and Change). Jakarta: LP3ES. Mahmood, Tahir. (1987). Personal Law in Islamic Countries: History, Texts and Comparative Analysis. New Delhi: Academy of Law and Religion.

Nasution, Harun. (1985). Islam dan Sistem pemerintahan Sebagai yang Berkembang dalam Sejarah dalam Studia Islamika, Nomor 17 tahun VIII (July 1985). LP IAIN Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta.

Nurrohman. (2007). Syari’at Islam, Konstitusi dan HAM. Bandung: Pustaka al-Kasyaf.

Nurrohman and Fisher Zulkarnain. (2007). Pesantren Gontor di Pentas Nasional; Potret Sejarah dan Pemikiran Alumni Pesantren Gontor (Gontor Pesantren at National Stage; History dan Thought of Gontor Alumni). Bandung: Malindo Institute.

Nurrohman. (2007). Konsep Imama: Studi atas Pemikiran al-Haramain, (The concept of Imama; Study of al_Haramain Thinking). Bandung, Pustaka al-Kasyaf.

Praja, Juhaya S. (2009). Teori-teori Hukum Islam. Bandung: Pasca Sarjana Universitas Islam Negeri (UIN).

Sjadzali, Munawir. (1990). Islam dan Tata Negara. Jakarta: UI Press.

Steenbrink, Karel A. (1986). Pesantren Madrasah, Sekolah, Pendidikan Islam dalam Kurun Modern, Jakarta: LP3ES.

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Suhartono. (7 Oktober 2010). KONFIGURASI POLITIK DAN LEGISLASI HUKUM ISLAM DI INDONESIA (Suatu Kajian tentang Positivisasi Fikih Muamalah dalam Perspektif Politik Hukum). http://www.badilag.net/data/ARTIKEL/WACANA HUKUM ISLAM/KONFIGURASI politik dan legislasi.pdf.

Suhartono. Konfigurasi Politik dan Legislasi Hukum Islam di Indonesia (Suatu Kajian tentang Positivisasi Fikih Muamalah dalam Perspektif Politik Hukum).

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Syamsuddin, Din. (2006). The Role of Religions in Promoting Intercultural Understanding Toward Sustainable Peace. International Seminar hosted by the International Center for Islam and Pluralism (ICIP) and Finland Embassy Jakarta.

Wahid ed. Abdurrahman. (2009). Ilusi Negara Islam: Ekspansi Gerakan Transnasional di Indonesia. Jakarta: The Wahid Institute.

Watt, W.Montgomery. (1961). Muhammad Prophet and Statesman. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

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Islam and Economic Development: Exploring the Role of Indonesian Muslim Society in Developing Islamic Microfinance Institution

Islam and Economic Development: Exploring the Role of Indonesian Muslim Society in Developing Islamic Microfinance Institution Ayi Yunus Rusyana1 1Faculty

of Sharia and Law, Sunan Gunung Djati State Islamic University, Bandung Indonesia Email: ayiyunus@gmail.com Abstract

Although a religion is considered as a one of the cultural barriers that can impede an economic development, nevertheless in this paper I prove that Islam as well as Muslim society has a big role to empower economic life in Indonesian Muslim. The growth of Bayt al-Māl wa al-Tamwīl (BMT), Islamic microfinance institution, initiated by Muslim community is a great evidence on how religioun gave a positive impact in economic development in Indonesia. Using the theory of collective action proposed by Alberto Melucci, I explore the main factors that influenced Muslims to establish BMT, and how BMT movement develops in Indonesian Muslim society. Overall, in this paper I argue that the BMT movement can be considered as a social movement where the civil society takes more important role than the state. Interestingly, the lack of regulation is not becoming an obstacle for Muslim society to establish and develop BMT in some regions in Indonesia.

Keywords: Bayt al-Māl wa al-Tamwīl (BMT), Muslim society, social movement A. INTRODUCTION Although in the Annual Speech of 2010 the President of Indonesia, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY), said that the number of poor people (the population with expenditure per capita per month below the poverty line) in 2010 decreased by 1.51 million compared with March 2009 which amounted to 32.53 million persons, poverty, in my opinion, is still a crucial problem in Indonesia.

The report of Central Statistics Agency (BPS) Indonesia quoted by SBY explains that the standard poverty line set by the BPS is IDR 182.636 (about US$20) or IDR 6.000 (about US$ 0.6) per day.

The number is of course very small and, therefore, is considered illogical according to the rising of prices of essential goods (rice, oil, and another food) linked to increased fuel prices.

The state is actually the prime stakeholder who has responsibility to eradicate the poverty among its citizens. The Constitution of 1945, particularly in Act 34, clearly describes that the State is responsible for ensuring that its citizens live in prosperity. According to Sachs,( Jeffrey D. Sachs, 2005), the state actually has many roles to play in economic development such as financing highpriority infrastructure projects, creating an environment conducive to investments by private businesses, exercising self-restraint in demanding bribes or side payments, maintaining internal peace and safety, and maintaining judicial systems. When the governments are unable to perform their most basic functions, they fail to achieve economic growth. In addition, Sachs discusses physical geography, the lack of innovation and cultural barriers as other factors causing the failures of countries in order to achieve economic growth.

From these factors, I am interested to highlight “the cultural barriers”, because Sachs considers religious norms as the cultural barriers that become the obstacle of economic development. For

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some countries, perhaps religion becomes the problem in reducing the poverty. However, in Indonesia, we can see the growth of Islamic economic institutions, such as Bayt al-Māl wa alTamwīl (BMT), initiated by Muslims in effort to empowering economic civil society. It is usually established by individual or group initiatives to help micro-entrepreneurs as a strategy for eradicating rural poverty, especially in villages or traditional markets, operationally based on Shari’ah principles and cooperation. BMTs did expansed rapidly after 1996, as a result of promotion by Pusat Inkubasi Bisnis dan Usaha Kecil/PINBUK (Center for Micro Enterprise Incubation), a non-government organization, and continued throughout the financial crisis.

Discussing BMT movement in Indonesia is very interesting, because this institution is initiated by Muslim civil society based on Islamic teaching. In other words, through this institution, Muslim civil society takes an important role to solve the problem, which the state must be responsible to do.

Furthermore.

B. METHODOLOGY This research will examine Sachs’s thesis, stating that religious norms will be obstacles in economic development. Hence, will examine how BMTs play a role in strengthening Muslim economy with answering the following two questions: “What are the main factors influence Muslims to establish BMT?” and “How does BMT movement develop in Indonesian Muslim society?”

C. RESULT AND DISCUSSION 1. Literature Review: The Development of BMT in Indonesia BMT (Bayt al-Māl wa al-Tamwīl) is the microfinance institution known as Islamic savings and loan cooperative initiated by Indonesian civil society. Its movement is actually begun by Salman Mosque activists in ITB/Insititut Teknologi Bandung, in 1980s. They created Teknosa, Islamic Microfinance Cooperative that growth rapidly. Unfortunately, it is finally bankrupt. The first real BMT, then, emerged in Jakarta in 1992 namely BMT Insan Kamil pioneered by Zainal Muttaqin, Aries Mufti and Istar Abadi. Soon after its founding, some people, particularly in Java area, founded the same institution. Most of them come from well educated Mosque activists, Islamic Organisation such as Muhammadiyah, and community leaders.

The accurate data about BMT is actually not provided yet, however, Aries Muftie, the leader of Asosiasi BMT Seluruh Indonesia (Absindo), said that there are about 3000-4000 BMTs in Indonesia. Furthermore, Saat Suharto,( http://www.republika.co.id), CEO of BMT Venture Capital, said that BMT in 2010, grew on average between 35 and 40 percent and will continue in 2011.

Although having a potency to strengthen Muslim economy, there have been very few social studies on BMT. Lesmana (http://www.republika.co.id ), did research about the role of BMTs in three provinces in Indonesia, namely West Java, Central Java and South Sulawesi. In this paper, he presented the main empirical findings as follows. Firstly, some of observed BMTs have a high performance in terms of asset growth. Secondly, BMT activities have a positive socio-economic impact on micro enterprises which become its client. Thirdly, the prospect of BMTs are promising either Shari’ah based on microfinance or as an empowering agent for micro enterprises in the real sector.

What Lesmana said about the performance of BMTs is very interesting. However he did not explain what main factors do influence their performance. Hence, the research about BMT

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conducted by Adnan and his associates is needed to present in this paper, because they evaluate and analyze the main factors influencing a high performance of BMTs. According to them, the salary rate of management, the education and the management skill of personnel involved in daily operation and the product attributes are the main factors beyond the high performance of BMTs. (Tedy Lesmana, 2008).

Concerning the BMT’s performance and its development in Indonesia, Sakai (Minako Sakai, 2008), was interested to examine the perceptions of those who are directly involved in providing or obtaining Islamic microfinance. He also described how BMTs operate including their legal and financial structure, the service they provide, and their internal management structure. He also explored that the founder, users and employees have high motivations and aspirations to operate BMTs. In addition, Kholis completed the previous research when he examined the contribution of BMT in increasing social welfare particularly in Indonesia. According to the experience of BMT Dana Shari’ah in Yogyakarta, his research shows that BMT achieves positive results of Islamic micro finance activities. The financing activities done by BMT Dana Shari’ah generate positive economic effects including income growth and reducing poverty, self employment, asset ownership, food security, and the capability to make their children educated.( Nur Kholis, 2009) Although all of previous authors demonstrate the development of BMTs and their role in Islamic finance system in Indonesia, there is no explanation about BMT movement. In my opinion, the researchers seem to consider BMT as merely an institution without connecting with the state and civil society. They do not realize that such an institution is not established in an empty space. For instance, Kholis (2009) presented the achievement of BMT Dana Shari’ah in Pakem Yogyakarta in reducing poverty. Unfortunately, he did not examine how and why the BMT obtain some achievements in empowering civil society, and what is the role of religion, civil society and the state to support this institution.

2. The Collective Action: Theoritical Framework According to Pepinsky, a national financial system is usually not independent from political influence. Quoting Krishner, he argues that political considerations lie at the heart of modern finance from monetary policy goals to the choice of monetary institutions. Therefore, Islamic financial systems do not emerge spontaneously either because the national financial systems do not arise absent a state to create them (Thomas B. Pepinsky, 2012).

The spread of Islamic finance to Indonesia was also shaped by political influence. The first Islamic financial institutions arrived somewhat later in Indonesia than they did in other Muslim-majority countries, for under the New Order Islamic finance, like any other conspicuously Islamic behavior, was linked to radicalism and extremism (Angelo M. Venardo, 2006). As a consequence, advocates for Islamic finance suffered from the same obstacles that the country’s popular Muslim organizations faced under Soeharto’s rule. Only in the early 1990s, when Soeharto began to adopt a more conciliatory stance vis-à-vis Islamists were Islamic financial institutions permitted to organize (Robert, W. Hefner, 2003).

Relating to this study, I will say that the BMT movement can be considered as a social movement where the civil society takes more important role than the state. Therefore I will use the theory of collective action proposed by Melucci (Alberto Melucci, 1996) which provide a meaningful basis for analysis of social movements. He proposes the concept of instrumental movement and expressive

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movement. Concerning the organization's objectives, he distinguish analytically, between the two concept. According to him, expressive movement goals are oriented towards the satisfaction of the social and psychological needs of the movement's members through participation and solidarity; the latter, instrumental movement goals, are achieved in the attainment of specific goods external to the organization. This distinction may be useful in operational terms, but should be applied with some caution to contemporary forms of action.

3. A Historical Background of BMT Establishment The term Bayt al-Māl wa al-Tamwīl, according to Antonio ( See Muhammad Syafii Antonio, 2008), is taken from the Bayt al-Māl, one institution at the time of Prophet Muhammad which is responsible for national budgeting, maintaining the stability of the money supply, and handling domestic and international payments. This institution had developed under the second caliph, Umar Ibn Khattab (ruled 634-644 CE), and had some branches set up in every capital city of the caliphate to collect taxes and administrative fees, manage the spoils of war and raise charitable funds. In addition, they were also used to finance infrastructure and pay wages of states officers.

The BMT is the combination of the Bayt al- al- Māl activities and wa al- Tamwīl. According to this combination, BMT has conceptually two functions: first, Bayt al- Māl (Bayt= house, Māl = Wealth) is accumulating zakah, infaq and ṣadaqah for qarḍ ḥasan (benevolent credit) scheme and other social welfare activities; second, Bayt al-Tamwīl (Bait= house, Tamwīl= developing the wealth) is accumulating saving from the community and furnishing various scheme of investment loan and working capitals based on Shari’ah principles to the petty businessmen (M. Amin Aziz, 2008).

The idea of BMT establishment should be related with the tendency of Indonesian Muslims to have their own bank applying Islamic economic system. In the 1970s, they proposed a planning to establish Islamic bank. However, this idea was initially suspected of being part of the remnants of the Islamic State ideas, so it was rejected by the government. The official reason that they put forward, according to Dawam Rahardjo (M. Dawam Rahardjo, 2002), is that Islamic bank smashed with the banking legislation which did not provide space for the operation of the bank without interest.

In the mid-1980s, MUI began discussing the possibility of establishing an Islamic bank. Although it has long been regarded by the critics of the government as a corporate mechanism to co-opt the clergy, MUI actually had always internal diversity. Therefore, in line with the increasing thinness of the government against Islamic religious concerns, and also in line with the more apparently results from the rise of Islam, some scholars in the MUI began reviewing the possibility to apply for re-plan the establishment of an Islamic bank (Robert, W. Hefner, 2003).

Furthermore, on August 19 to 20, 1990, MUI hosted a workshop held in Cisarua, Bogor. Although the legal status of interest was not decided yet in the workshop, some participants did agree to establish an interest-free bank based on Islamic law. Recommendations from the workshop was followed up by assigning MUI Leadership Council to initiate the establishment of the bank and eventually formed the MUI banking team led by M. Amin Aziz and supported by ICMI's legal team headed by Karnaen Perwaatmaja (Darul Aqsha, et.al, 1995). Finally Bank Muamalat Indonesia (BMI), the first Islamic Bank, was founded in 1991, after Soeharto gave permission and supported it.

The establishment of BMI, then, was considered by Effendi (Bachtiar Effendi, 2003), as a one of four political accomodation types to Islam: structural accommodation, legislative accommodation, infrastructural accommodation, and cultural accommodation. Structural accommodation is

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recruiting some Muslim leaders in executive agencies (bureaucracy) and legislative institutions of the state. This kind of accommodation is clearly seen when President Suharto supported the establishment of ICMI (Association of Indonesian Muslim Intellectuals) in 1990. The legislative accommodation associated with the issuance of laws or some regulations associated with Islam as an independent and legitimate rule. In addition, the policy of accommodation are ratification of the National Education Act of 1989, enacting laws religious courts, the permissibility of wearing the hijab in 1991 and legislation relating to Islamic banking in Indonesia in 1992. The infrastructural accommodation is the provision of infrastructure required Muslims to perform their religious obligations. One form of this accommodation is the willingness of the government not only to allowed, but also to helped the establishing of Bank Muamalat Indonesia (BMI) in 1992.

Why Indonesian Muslims has a strong tendency to establish Islamic bank can be explained by some factors; firstly, they have a theology emphasizing that Islam is a total way of life. In this sense, they believe that Islam is a comprehensive religion providing a solution to all problems of life. Thus Islam has to be accepted in its entity and to be applied to the family, to the economy and to the politics (Ibid). The holistic view of Islam, according to Saeed (Abdullah Saeed, Riba, 1996), was influenced by Neo-Revivalism, a great movement in the first half of the 20th century coming from Egypt (Ikhwān al-Muslimīn founded by Hasan al-Banna) and Indian (Jamaat-i Islami founded

by Abu Ala al-Mawdudi). Neo-revivalism, according to him, was in part a continuation of the revivalism, and a reaction to the excesses of secularism in the Muslim world. It focused on the following important issues: resistance to the ‘Westernization’ of the Muslim community (ummah); advocacy of the self-sufficiency of Islam and of Islam as a way of life; and rejection of any interpretation of the Quran or Sunnah. He points out that neo-Revivalist movements appeared both in Egypt, marked by the Muslim Brotherhood (Ikhwān al-Muslimīn), which was founded by Hasan al-Banna (d 1949), and in the Indian subcontinent, marked by the Jamaat-i Islami (Islamic Party), which was founded by the Pakistani Scholar Abu Ala Mawdudi (d 1979).

The neo-Revivalists believed that Islam had answers for all the modern-day ills of both the East and the West. According to them, Muslims should implement Islamic beliefs, values and law, and they then could re-establish themselves as they had been in the past and could once again become contributors to world civilization, reversing the course of humiliation they had undergone during the colonialism and imperialism from the West. Based on this view, the neo-Revivalists emphasized that the implementation of criminal and family laws must refer to Qur’an and Sunnah.

In addition, they identified interest on loans as riba (usury), thus Muslims should implement an economic system based on Islamic principles. To sum up briefly, we can say that the neoRevivalist theology was more influential to the Indonesian Muslims in the establishment of an Islamic bank than the Modernist one.

Secondly, the idea to establish an Islamic bank using a profit and lose sharing system is started from an opinion that interest is riba because it contains extra payment (ziyādah). Therefore interest, according to them, is harām (prohibited). Consequently, many Muslims refuse to deal with conventional banks and prefer to keep their money "under the bed". In the New Order era that emphasizes economic growth, the ability of public competition in terms of capital accumulation can not be separated from the role of banking institutions. This opinion, then, gave a great influence to some Muslims to have Islamic bank that free from interest.

Thirdly, the Chinese dominance in the economics field, on the one side, and the poverty of Muslims, on the other side, become a strong background on why Indonesian Muslims intend to establish an Islamic bank. The gap between Muslims and Chinese in the control of the economy is very clear. Hefner (Robert, W. Hefner, 2000), reported that in the mid-1980s, an estimated 70-75

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percent of domestic private capital is owned by Chinese. The concentration of ethnic is getting a great view of the fact that as a group, Chinese is only 3-4 percent of Indonesia's population, while Muslims at that time amounted to around 88 percent.

The hegemony of Chinese businesses simply could not be removed from the New Order government’s policy to conduct economic collaboration with them. Their business community had become a partner in national development and they obtained the capital, skills, entrepreneurs, and access to financial networks in East and Southeast Asia (Richard Robison, 1986). In the 1970s, 80 percent of the total allocation of state credits was granted to the Chinese. In return for agreements, certain elite among the business leaders gave their indigenous partners compensation in the form of direct payments, stock blank or joint business (Ibid). For Muslims, such treatment was a form of injustice that resulted in economic inequality that led to the creation of jealousy, which later crystallized into an attitude of “anti-China”. These imbalances lead to stratification in the field of revenue. Ethnic Chinese views of economic status are at higher levels than native citizens.

The two Government policies, supporting the Chinese businessmen and marginalizing Pribumi, are what led to the Muslim reaction to propose the application of Shari’ah into the strict application of the economic sector. Although, according to Hefner (Robert, W. Hefner, 2000), it is not the only shown reaction, because some Muslims were involved in a strong polemic of "anti-China", and the others tried to did business with Chinese. Some people claim that there is no Islamic economy and Muslims must learn modern management techniques. However, in the 1990s, when Indonesia began to enter a competitive stage of economic development, Indonesian Muslims began to wonder about what was actually needed to ensure that they would also be able to enjoy the fruits of development. Finally, they took the initiative to establish Bank Muamalat Indonesia (BMI), as part of their effort to strengthen the participation of Muslims in national economic development.

For Muslims, according to Hefner (Robert, W. Hefner, 2000), the establishment of BMI is an important innovation having the potential of bringing marginalized people from conventional banking to a modern economy. Thus, Islamic banking can help to strengthen the small Muslim middle class and to empower Muslim economic interest. Furthermore, some supporters of BMI claimed that this bank will not require its clients to have collateral to get bank capital. Freed from collateral requirements, Islamic banks would be better able to service small, capital-poor entrepreneurs.

In fact, Islamic bank could not service small entrepreneurs or poor people who intend to start a business. They are usually difficult to obtain capital financing agreement from Islamic Bank because they could not fulfill the requirements, such as giving collateral or having at least two years business experience. Therefore, some Islamic NGO activists created the BMT concept, as described above, to fill a gap left by the Islamic bank, which have largely neglected the needs of the working poor. Sakai (Minako Sakai, 2008), states that Amin Aziz, a pioneer figure in the BMT movement and the establishment of Bank Muamalat Indonesia, “found that the bank was severally constrained by the need to produce profit for shareholder, and in practice catered only to people who were already financially well established”.

4. BMT as a Social and Economic Movements Since its establishment, BMT is designed as an Islamic finance institution which is focused on the small entrepreneurs or poor people. It attempts to assist the development of micro and business ketch, especially capital aid. To help launch the business capital, BMT tries to raise funds,

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particularly from local communities in the vicinity. In other words, this institution attempts to organize efforts to help each other inter-residents of an area (community) in economic problems.

Most of BMTs were established in the form of cooperative because it has been widely recognized by society and it is considered as the form which can give a formal legal status. However, according to Aziz (Amin Aziz, 2007), there are some BMTs created in the informal community organizations or associations of local communities. In general, both a form and a legal basis of BMT were not considered as the important factor at the beginning of its establishment. When its activities began to grow, then, the need to fix its organisation, including legality aspect, emerge in the minds of the founders and managers. Almost all of BMT’s activists choose the cooperative as a legal entity or at least it is used as its concept. Furthermore, the phenomenon of the establishment and development of BMT were not only limited by economic considerations, but also by the desire to implement Islamic values, in accordance with the mention of self-Islamic connotation. In short, there is relation between BMT and Islam as a doctrine for Muslim economic life.

In addition, most BMTs were born and developed by Islamic community, like jamā'ah (member) of mosque, pilgrims community, pesantren (Islamic Boarding Schools), or Islamic community organizations. BMT Daarut Tauhid (DT) is one example of this institution which was founded by follower of jamā'ah pengajian in Geger Kalong-Bandung, West Java. In the beginning, as reported

by Aziz (Amin Aziz, 2007), Abdullah Gymnastiar, the founder of Pesantren Daarut Tawhid known as Aa Gym, convey ideas to his santris (students) to establish Islamic economy institution. The idea was welcomed by his santri by establishing BMT DT on July 14, 1994, with initial capital IDR 250,000. (http://www.kopontrendt.com). Although started with the small capital, they eager to operate it after getting a skill training from PINBUK. In addition, the establishment of BMT is motivated by a sense of high concern to the practice of moneylenders (usurer) who has trapped the weak economy. At the time, many poor people were caught by them because they have no other choice. They could not access Islamic bank to borrow some money because its amount is very small (about IDR 100,000-1.000.000), and they can not provide collateral that asked by bank staff. Finally, they borrow money from moneylenders even they have to pay very high interest rate.

BMT DT was subsequently established as an alternative for them to borrow money with more easy refund.

Members of Majelis Taklim gave a positive response to the BMT. In the first year, there were at least 100 people who entrust their money in this institution. Starting with their money, BMT DT has been developing some business institutions, such as mini market, cafe, cottages, or shops. Until 2006, this institution assets are amounted to IDR 10,9 billion with the number of savers are 5000 people and the amount of busnisess funded by BMT are 800 small entrepreneurs. One of important factors that led to the development of BMT is the figure of Aa Gym. Many people entrust their money because they believe in Aa Gym as well as believe that entrust their money in this institution will help pesantren in spreading the teachings of Islam because its benefits BMT will support the Da’wah program’s Daarut Tauhid. However, BMT DT businesses, according to Hoesterey, are declines in 2007, after Aa Gym did marry with his second wife (polygamy). Most of his female followers boycott his BMT’s products (James B. Hoesterey, 2008).

Another Islamic Microfinance Cooperative was established by Muhammadiyah, the biggest modern Muslim organizations. However, in contrast with BMT that already exist, they use the name of Baitul Tamwil Muhammadiyah (BTM). The organization chooses it, because Muhammadiyah already has Lembaga Amil Zakat Muhammadiyah (Lazismuh) which serves as Baitul Mal. In the National Seminar and Workshop on "Revitalization of the Muhammadiyah Movement for Economic and Community Empowerment" in Yogyakarta on February 7th, 2010,

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Su'ud, BTM Wiradesa Manager, explained: "Currently in Muhammadiyah, [BMT] was distinguished to both Baitul Maal and Baitul Tamwil, because in our opinion, Maal and Tamwil should be separated” (http://pdm1912.wordpress.com).

BTM Wiradesa is one of the most successful of the Muhammadiyah Islamic Microfinance.

According to Su'ud, this institution was established with initial capital of IDR 25 million coming from grants (hibah). Based on the grantor’s message, all of the funds channeled to the empowerment the poor through loan facilities Virtue (Qorḍ al-Hasan). Loan recipient is only obligated to return the loan principal, and if able they are advised to give infaq. To make more independently develop, BMT’s management argues that it conduct business development. In addition to managing the grant funds, BTM Wiradesa was then directed to institute a mediator that facilitates the interests of the community who have excess funds (agniyā /the rich people) to those who lack or need of funds (masakīn/the poor people). By becoming a mediator institution, the existence of BTM Wiradesa expected to provide benefits to society because it may play a role in community empowerment activities (http://pusatbtm.wordpress.com).

Another interesting phenomenon to observe is that even BMT was burdened by a variety of ideals or normative values, such as for social empowerment of the poor, BMT can be professionally managed and push to make a profit. In Yogyakarta, BMT Beringharjo is an established institution that serves the needs of micro-financing urban traders in the market including Beringharjo. This institution has been operating since 1994 and in 2003 its assets had reached IDR 23 billion, -. It continues to help SMEs through Baitul Tamwil (its business), while the Baitul Maal (treasurer), his offer various empowerment programs. Since 2006, BMT Beringharjo has been offering not only savings services, but also investment schemes, which is primarily intended for overseas workers (Tenaga Kerja Indonesia/TKI) in Hong Kong through Beringharjo Investasi Sharia (BISA). Through this scheme, the workers, which are mainly consisting of the female domestic helpers from East Java, become investment partners and establish a new BMT in their villages. The scheme will result in the establishment of new branches in Ponorogo, Madiun, and Kediri in 2008.

Despite being profitable financial institutions, some of BMTs have also been successfully helping small entrepreneurs to develop their business and reduce poverty. According to the experience of BMT Dana Shari’ah in Yogyakarta, BMT achieves positive results of Islamic micro finance activities. The financing activities done by BMT Dana Shari’ah generate positive economic effects including income growth and reducing poverty, self employment, asset ownership, food security, and the capability to make their children educated (Nur Kholis, 2009).

The facts or phenomena of growth and development of BMT show us a BMT movement in Indonesia. The word “movement” is mentioned to emphasize the idealistic aspects of BMT’s activists who want to alleviate poverty based on Islamic values. It is also showing the respect and appreciation for its activists, that is, those who pioneered, manage and develop the BMT. They are generally willing to sacrifice both material and labor, at least willing to reward work which is relatively lower than if they work somewhere else. Whereas most of them have adequate personal capabilities, which if desired, they are very possible to work elsewhere in exchange for a much better salary.

Another advantage of BMT movement is the formation of a solid community, which is not only bound by economic interests, but also bound by the values of brotherhood and commitment to Islamic law. Hospitality forums and lectures become a means of gathering a lot of dimension, but they are positive aspects. So the dimensions of economic, sociological and religious aspect were united within BMT movement. Therefore, Sakai and Marijan identified the BMT as a "social

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entrepreneurship" that is part of the field of science emerging entrepreneurship. This concept can be defined as a process that involves the use and integration of resources in an innovative way to opening opportunities to accelerate social change and/or meet social needs. The main characteristic of social enterprises is driven by the awareness to achieve the objectives and social values, not only to maximize personal benefit” (Minako Sakai and Kacung Marijan, 2008).

5. BMT and the Problem of Regulation One of the problems still faced by BMT is the lack of regulation governing the existence and development of BMT as an institute of Islamic microfinance. In fact, this institution has grown rapidly both in urban and rural areas. Until now, there is draft Bill (RUU/Rancangan UndangUndang) of Lembaga Keuangan Mikro (Micro Finance Institution) No. XXX of 2007 in the House of Representatives (DPR), unfortunately it is not seriously discussed yet. Meanwhile, the government still uses the State Minister of Cooperatives and Small and Medium Enterprises No. 91/Kep/M.KUKM/IX/2004 on Guidelines for Implementation of Cooperative Activities Financial Services Shari’ah (KJKS/Koperasi Jasa Keuangan Shari’ah), in addition subject to the Act Cooperative No. 25 of 1992 and Law No. 9 of 1995 on Small Business.

Although BMT has not been clearly regulated by the state, but the movement of BMT establishing in Indonesian society is widespread. Muslims do not seem too concerned about the legality, for them to strengthen the economy of poor society is a prime priority. Consequently, BMTs in Indonesia are not part of the formal financial sector. They may or may not be registered with the Ministry of Cooperatives; accordingly, they may be placed into either the semiformal or the informal financial sector. As they are not formally regulated, the distinction is of limited relevance.

Initiated by a group of Muslim intellectuals and promoted by PINBUK, they are generally referred as BMT. Seibel states that according to Bank Indonesia, only about 500 of the 3,000 BMT are registered as KSP (Koperasi Simpan Pinjam/Saving and Loan Cooperatives) with the Ministry of Cooperative (MoC). All others are regarded as “pre-cooperatives”. With reference to the draft of Micro Finance Institution (MFI) law of 2001, BMT are considered by PINBUK as sharia MFIs (Lembaga Keuangan Mikro Syariah, LKM-S), which may be considered as semiformal institutions: recognized but not regulated. Consequently, there are no auditing requirements; there is no effective supervision and no enforcement of any norms; and to our knowledge no official closing of non-functioning cooperatives (Hans Dieter Seibel, 2005).

D. CONCLUSION From the describing above, we can conclude that the changing of New Order government to accomodate Muslims influence them to establish BMT. In addition, the Chinese dominance in the economics field, on the one side, and the poverty of Muslims, on the other side, become a strong background on why Indonesian Muslims intend to establish an Islamic finance institution. The establishment of BMT by Muslim activists can fill a gap left by the Islamic bank, which have largely neglected the needs of the working poor.

What is remarkable about BMT’s is that their development has been supported largely by individuals and private organisastions rather than the government. Interestingly, they did not care about BMT legalisation status or government support. Their goals to strengthen Muslims economy, alleviate the poverty and sava them from usurer (lintah darat) motivated Muslims society to establish BMT. Using Melluci’s perspective, the establishing and developing of BMT then can be

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categorized as an instrumental movement to achieve its goals. However, the inisiator and management of BMT should maintain and develop some great programs to alleviate poverty and to strengthen the small enterpreneur or poor people.

To maintain its movement, BMT most urgently need a system of prudential regulation, mandatory auditing and effective supervision by an appropriate financial authority (perhaps delegated to an autonomous auditing federation, but definitely not in the hands of a ministry). Thus, the government should take a role to support and strengthen BMT. In other hand, the associations of BMT, such as PINBUK, may be strengthened to eventually replace a governmental agency like the Ministry of Cooperatives, which, in the framework of massive government interference under the previous political system, seems to have had a more detrimental than constructive effect in terms of building self-reliant, healthy cooperatives.

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Reference Abdullah Saeed, Riba. (1996). Interest and Islamic Banking: A Study of the Prohibition of Riba and its Contemporary Interpretation. Leiden: EJ. Brill, Alberto Melucci. (1996). Challenging Codes: Collectives Action in the Information Age. New York: Cambridge.

Angelo M. Venardo. (2006). Islamic Banking & Finance in South-East Asia: Its Development & Future. Singapore: World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd. Bachtiar Effendi. (2003). Islam and the State in Indonesia. Singapore: ISEAS. Darul Aqsha, et.al,. (1995). Islam in Indonesia: A Survey of Events and Development From 1988 to March 1993. Jakarta: INIS Dawam Rahardjo. (2002). “Bank Islam” in Ensiklopedi Islam Tematik. Jakarta: PT Ichtiar Baru Van Houve.

Ibid Jeffrey D. Sachs, (New York: Penguin Press, 2005). The End of Poverty: Economic Possibilities for Our Time. 59-60.

Lesmana, Tedy. (2008). The Role of Islamic Microfinance Cooperatives (Baitul Maal wat Tamwil) in Local Development: Case Study of Three Provinces in Indonesia. Journal of Islamic Economic, 02(1).

M. Amin Aziz. (2007). Kegigihan Sang Perintis. Jakarta: MAA Institute.

M. Amin Aziz. (2008). Tata Cara Pendirian BMT. Jakarta: PKES Publishing.

Minako Sakai. (2008), “Community Development through Islamic Micro-finance: Serving the Financial Needs of the Poor in a Viable Way”, in Greg Fealy and Sally White (eds), Expressing Islam: Religious Life and Politics in Indonesia. ISEAS: Singapore.

Muhammad Adnan, et all. (2003). Study on Factors Influencing performance of the Best Baitul Maal wat Tamwils (BMTs) in Indonesia. IQTISAD Journal of Islamic Economics, 04(1).

Muhammad, Djibril. (08 September, 2012).

Citing Internet sources http://www.republika.co.id/berita/breaking-news/ekonomi/10/12/10/151291-2011-bmtdiperkirakan-tumbuh-45-,.

URL

Muhammad Syafii Antonio. (2008). “Islamic Micro-finance Initiatives to Enhance Small and Medium-seized Enterprises”, in Greg Fealy and Sally White (eds), Expressing Islam: Religious Life and Politics in Indonesia. ISEAS, Singapore.

Nur Kholis. (2009). The Contribution of Islamic Microfinance Institution in Increasing Social Welfare in Indonesia. Paper was presented in The 9th Annual Conference on Islamic Studies (ACIS), 2-9 November 2009 in Surakarta.

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Raharjo, Budi. (08 September, 2012). Citing Internet sources URL http://www.republika.co.id/berita/bisnis-syariah/berita/10/07/13/124332-baitul-maal-wattamwil-mulai-interkoneksi.

Robert, W. Hefner. (2003). “Islamizing Capitalism: On the Founding of Indonesia’s First Islamic Bank” in Arskal Amin and Azyumardi Azra (eds.) Shari and Politics in Modern Indonesia.

Singapore: ISEAS. Thomas B. Pepinsky. (8 September, 2012). Islamic Finance in Multicultural Indonesia. Citing Internet sources URL https://courses.cit.cornell.edu/tp253/docs/islamic_banking.pdf.

Robert, W. Hefner. (2003). “Islamizing Capitalism: On the Founding of Indonesia’s First Islamic Bank” in Arskal Amin and Azyumardi Azra (eds.) Shari and Politics in Modern Indonesia.

Singapore: ISEAS. Robert, W. Hefner. (2000). Islam Pasar Keadilan: Artikulasi Lokal, Kapitalisme dan Demokrasi .

Yogyakarta: LkiS. Richard Robison. (1986). Indonesia: The Rise of Capital. Sydney: Allen & Unwin.

Robert, W. Hefner. (2000). Civil Islam: Muslim and Democratization in Indonesia. Princeton NJ: Princeton University Press.

James B. Hoesterey. (2008). “Marketing Morality: The Rise, Fall and Rebranding of Aa Gym” in Greg Fealy and Sally White (eds), Expressing Islam: Religious Life and Politics in Indonesia.Singapore: ISEAS. Nur

Kholis, Arif.

(02 May 2011).

Citing Internet sources http://pdm1912.wordpress.com/2010/02/10/kisah-sukses-pemberdayaan-ekonomi-alamuhammadiyah-pekalongan/, accessed on May 02, 2011.

http://pusatbtm.wordpress.com/2010/02/11/pemberdayaan-masyarakat-berbasis-ranting-danmasjid/, accessed on May 02, 2011. http://www.kopontrendt.com/divisiusaha/detail/1, accessed on June 10, 2012.

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Islamic Nuance in Decorative-Ornament Architecture Art in Nusantara

Islamic Nuance in Decorative-Ornament Architecture Art in Nusantara Abdullah Yusof1* Aizan Hj. Ali @ Mat Zin1 Faisal @ Ahmad Faisal Abd Hamid1 1Department

of Islamic History and Civilization Academic of Islamic Studies Department of Islamic History and Civilization, Academy of Islamic Studies Building, University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia *Corresponding Author, Email Address: abdy@um.edu.my Abstract The advent of Islam in Nusantara sparked new phenomena or changing not only in structure of building construction of religious places, residency and houses but also ornaments and decoration expressing value of beauty of that building. The result of this research tries to reveal how far Islamic influence is working without undermining local aspects of architecture and how Islamic architecture was influenced by other characters in ornament and decorative-ornament artwith various design and sense. Islamic nuances are substantially showed in traditional and contemporary mosque architecture, graveyard, residencies, palaces, historical building and soon and so forth. Although local elementsare clear, and so with Hinduism and Buddhism, animism, colonial influence and other foreign influences including Middle East, Africa, India and China, Islam shows its prominence in interior and exterior ornament as well as its tools.

Keywords: Mosque architecture, Islamic art decoration, Malay world.

A. INTRODUCTION Among the relic of Islamic civilization as a manifestation of its artistic character in adornment or decoration art is Alhambra in Spain. The palace was first built by Muhammad Yusuf Ibn Nasr or Ibn al-Ahmar. He made Granada as a center of government and built Alhambra palace (hamr), a florid building as its red stone material appeared to be red during twilight (Grabar, 1978). It has popular motto The Is No Conquer but God that is inscribed in the whole wall of Alhambra (Jacobs, 2000). In the reign of Muhammad V, the palace is furnished with carved wood as ceiling decoration (Fernandez-puertas , 1997). The ornament of flower-like in Alhambra developed during the tenure of Muhammad VII and Yusuf III (lbid). Alhambra is among the greatest art work in architecture for its ratio balancing orientation and gains a momentous respect from architects in Spain. Among the important elements of Islamic architecture are: 1. Huge wall, solid, large, has two main doors as a switch element to other rooms.

Decoration and wall ornament are mostly arabesque, plant design, calligraphy, geometric shapes, and color motif reflecting sunlight as the feature of Islamic art (Hanafi, 1985). Still in wall is poetry as an adornment and uncontested emblem for every building ever.

2. Pole is usually coated by cubic ceramic and painted wall paper and dotted with arabesque decoration and calligraphy. The pole is round in shape as in Cardova mosque.

3. Room in palace has carved door made from wood and marble with key hole both in its upper and beneath. Window has a cross-cutting long wood between the two sides and has carved wood in the edge and installed trellis in between.

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4. Banel is a half circle or slice of union in shape, furnished by wooded ceiling as good as hanging see hive (Shabbas, 1993).

5. There are four carved in calligraphy or carved stone fences which connecting from one room to the others.

6. Minaret, as an important element, made for defensive fortification; consisting of 30 different size and height.

7. Irrigation system within the palace, public bath room, other tamandan use water following its decoration and ornament.

8. Garden is made perfect with fountains, and hand-made river resembling heaven garden copying Quran model for its flower, fruit and flow hand-made rivers and fountains (Irwin, 2004).

B. METHODOLOGY This paper will discuss Islamic decorative-ornament element and substance in architecture, notably Nusantara. Some of this Islamic civilization contribution may be impressed as continuation of styles and creative form in some historical building and Malay traditional houses assimilated with local elements. The influence of Islam appears also in both traditional and modern mosques.

It also takes the graveyard and tombs in its influence. Al-Hambra palace is a brilliant summit of decorative-ornament art inspiring architect and constructor in Islamic world. Next observation is directed toward the only complex high study in Malaysia that represents the astonishing Islamic decoration namely ISTAC C. Results and Discussion 1. Decorative-Ornament Art and its Influence a. Old and Historical Building Among the main character of Islamic art is its totality and harmony. Islam spreads across different geographic, politics, ethnics and cultures and Islamic art contributes to the life of Muslim. Islamic ideas are expressed in motifs in various Islamic arts such as architecture, calligraphy, metal-work, pottery, textile and so forth, although come from different factors and historical backgrounds (Yahaya, 1988). Decorative–ornament styles are important unite in mosque architecture and it can be seen in cultural background in recent Muslim daily life (Ludin & Nor, 1995).

In Kuala Lumpur federation, there are old buildings such as Tanah Melayu train station, old Great Pos and great mosque with minarets, doom, statue and calligraphy. Mosque’s architecture in Malay world is following traditional architecture as reflected in traditional Malay houses. But since the adoption of Middle East architecture, it is adopted by architecture of those old mosques (lbid).

Kampung Laut mosque is clearly an assimilation of Islam and Malay art. Wood made construction resembles Malay vision and multiple banel reflects spiritual journey in tasawuf concepts (Yatim, 1989). The combination or adoption of architecture from countries such as Turkish, Arab, Persia, India, and china created a foundation for part of Islamic architecture in Malaysia either for mosque or commercial building. The influence of Islamic architecture can be seen as follow: 1) Great Mosque of Kuala Lumpur The oldest mosque locates in lot 86 Tun Perak street, a meeting point of Gombak and Kelang Rivers (DBKL, 1991). Its construction is inspired by India Muslim community hadil ilham

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A.B.Hubback for its union doom model built in 1909 made of red brick. He gains an inspiration from architecture of India mosque. The building was diwartakan on antique certificate Akta Benda Purba 1976, 13th October 1983 (Chay, 1989).

2) Sultan Abdul Samad Building Architecture of the Sultan Abdul Samad Building is designed by A.C.Norman (Mansor, 2002) in Saransenic architecture, a combination of Islam Moorish architecture from India as an appropriate model for Malay world, and is ready to be built in 1897. Its distinct features are three dooms, forecastle and wide gate, a sharp horseshoe model with watch tower hemmed by two small dooms with a round down stairs showing how assertion is important in Islam. The application of the horse shoe arch reputed as one of unique characters of Islamic architecture.

3) Tanah Melayu Train station The building was constructed in 1886 and was ready to use in 1900. As Islamic architecture, at the time, was partaken, A.B.Hubback tried to apply Normayang creation in Sultan Abdil Samad to be its decoration. b. Traditional Malay Houses Islam shows its creed with symbol. However, what make islam different is on its prohibition to use sign and statue resembling human figure and animal as it contradicts to Islamic law. Contrasting to Malaysia engravers, Indonesia carver produces a Bali element, god-goddess carved object, peacock etc. Islam uses calligraphic motifs, flora motifs and geometry (Hanafi, 2000) that requires high quality of thought to invent and understand. It is from those concepts Muslims capture all implicit and explicit meanings (Nasir, 1986).

Instead of calligraphy, the carver is inspired by environment in wood carved, values and Islamic elements frequently applied harmonically (Saad, 2001).

1) Floral Motifs Malay sculpture touches upon floral element as basic foundation to express beauty and brings symbolic understanding of Malay worldview. The art products, sometimes, are combined with calligraphy to finally become a common wall decoration in Malay houses (Ahmad, 1996). In floral motifs, there is lamp skies motif, giving an illustration on how Islam grows from one place to the other place (Yahya, 1995). Flower motif, such as lotus, epitomizes men’s life support. The support in life is Allah and its leaf means for creatures (lbid).

2) Geometric Motif This motif is a close set square, sided and round. This carving can be found in traditional Malay houses, culprit and interior adornment of mosque (Ahmad), as the motif was so popular since the advance of Islam. Beside its beauty essence, it has itself symbolic meaning: three sides express atonement and six sides is a heaven figurative (lbid).

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3) Calligraphy Motif Calligraphic motif appeared soon after the advance of Islam in Malay World for it related to Qur’an and Islamic development. The motif is commonly adopted in Malay art, especially in sculpture with copying Qur’an letters, prophet Sunnah, wise word from the companion and classical ulama.

Carving with calligraphy is confession of Allah swt, exalting His greatness and strengthening community belief as well as giving composure and soul health (lbid).

4) Cosmos Motif Although space motifs such as sun, moon, and star, moving cloud, mountain and hill are practically not popular, however, they are frequently combined with carving art including calligraphy of the names of Allah (Asma’ al-Husna). Those motifs illustrate a deep meaning nature as creature of God, religious philosophical, exorcist, amulet etc.

5) Figural Motif Figural motifs are rooted to Hinduism and Buddhism before the coming of Islam. Considering that Islam develops no figural motif, carver use calligraphic principles of prayer, birds, and aquatic animal with deep specific religious lessons. c. Old/Traditional Mosque The first mosque in Islamic history was built July 28 622 AD in Quba. Afterward, many mosques are built ubiquitous in each region including Nusantara. Among traditional mosques in Malay World are Kg Laut mosques, a 250 years old mosque built by a Javanese preacher visiting Kg laut in his journey to Indochina. It has typically born a resemblance type with great mosque in Demak and other traditional mosques in Melaka with three stages banel called bumbung bertengek(roof). The mosque was constructed using no single brad. It was moved to Nilam Puri in 1976. The next oldest mosque is Ubudiah mosque beside Sultan Perak palace in Bukit Chandan, Kuala Kangsar, and a combination of Islamic architecture from West Asia, North Africa and India-muslim architectures. State sponsored mosque is still traditional in concepts for its main praying room is covered by an umbrella-like concrete. In its wall, there are geometric patterns making possible ventilation work well. It also has bud-like umbrella minarets.

The most beautiful decoration mosque is Ubudiah mosque as it is a mixture of colonial, Moors and India element in its construction. There are 22 minarets (4 huge, 8 simple and 10 small). Its wall is furnished with marble and has terfoil small gate in each minaret. India-Islam influences are best shown in its chatrisand dooms in each minaret. The minaret is actagon for its length decorated octagonal in every four peaks and has pointed roof. It is also famous for its one big doom and other five small dooms. The big doom in main building is made from aluminum. The other two dooms are in women room and the third is in separation room separating women room and main room. The last doom is right above the mihrab (chamber). The other two are in each side of mosque. If we count every doom in each minaret, the mosque has at least approximately 30 dooms. All of the dooms are union-like motif as representation of Mughal influence and has gold color equal to king mosque in Perak. It has many gates and connected pole with horseshoe model expressing Moorish style duplicating Cordova mosque.

Praying room is octagonal and the octagonal plat is facing kiblah and is functioned as mihrab, a precisely copying the grave of Isa Khan, one of Sur dynasty leader in Mughal, in New Delhi (John,

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1977). It also well decorated in wall, floor and ceiling. In its ceiling there are a carved calligraphy of 99 names of Allah, flowers and geometric motifs. The calligraphy combines gold for the letters, blue and white for each side. Ceiling sculptures are the work of an Uzbek carver in 2003. In the font of mihrab, a frame is inscribed with gold calligraphy where a pulpit is a geometric adornment wood. They agree with pond shape, structure of marble floor and similar ornament rugs in the main prayer room. It has also a horseshoe model of window and door with geometric blue and red glass adopting the residence of Gamal al-Din al-Dhazabi (1637) king of Mamluk in Kaherah (Danby, 1955). In the upper part of wall there is a half round shade with red and green geometric glass panel inspired form Ottoman architecture of blue mosque Ahmadiye and Sulaymaniye mosque, in Istanbul.

Kapitan Kling mosque is the oldest mosque in Pinang Island. It derived from India merchant Chauder Mydin Merican or Chauder Mohuddeen Merican or Kader Moh uddeen, known as Kapitan Kling. There are eight round main poles in praying room surrounded by teen other poles. In the middle of the pole is decorated with geometric and floral motifs. There are one great doom and two moderate dooms and some undersize dooms with brass color and star and crescent moon in the peak as symbol of Islamic greatness. It has a floral, cosmos and calligraphic decorated wood pulpit (Nasir, 1995). The wall is carved geometrically and painted in gray and soft yellow contrast white background. Those carving are worked by Uzbek’s carver. In the upper part of pulpit, there is a tulip-like decoration as if it school roof (pengakap).

The minaret is built differently from that in 1910’s and uses Mughal architecture and indosaracenic as that in India. In the praying room, leaves decorated rugs are spread as beauty as mosques in KL federation. What is different is that from generation to generation none is allowed to step on the floor as it is also place to perform shalat. Wall interior decoration has floral motifs, geometry and calligraphy of holly verse from Qur’an, names of Allah and syahadah (the confession of faith).

The following mosque is Kampung Keling mosque. Architecture of the mosque (Hamid, 1998) is combination between traditional, Middle East and India architecture. The early mosque in Melaka is inspired from palace and residencies of aristocracy as mosque in Kg. Peringit in Tukang Emas street, built 15 century and contributed to architecture of Kg Kling mosque in early of 18 century.

Kg Kling mosque initially was building in cooperation between Malayan and India-Muslim in 1748 AD (1152 H). It made from wood and gets several adaptations with still keeping authenticity of its structure of building and banel. The pulpit is semi-rounded shape that built bended inward into the wall; a combination of cube and circle. The pulpit (Ludin) made from berlian wood with lamp skiesornament and flower using sequel and embossed silat perforation technic of carving.

The early mosque is impressed for its no minaret and in Nusantara the first mosque with minaret is Kudus mosque (Yusuf, 1995) inheriting Hinduism architecture. It is so to speak that constructing minaret is inspired from fire tower in Greece. Mosque minaret is a separation building from the main building and has pagoda style for its pointed upward and covered by ridge quartered banel, as an indication of Islamic elements, Hinduism and China. This mosque made from stages banels with intersect roof. Al-Azim mosque (state sponsored mosque) is also uses stage banels despite made from different materials.

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d. Modern and Contemporary Mosque One of modern mosque is Putramosque with Persian-Safavid style and architecture. It follows the combination of geometric design, arabesque, calligraphy, lamps, wall adornment and landscape.

Geometric design is seen in cengal wood wall, the wall in women praying room, main imam building, windows and also pulpit. Arabesque motif is clearly interior decoration of doom. Motif decorative calligraphic is plated in mihrab wall and upper part of gates as combination of various Arabic handwritings such as nasakh, thuluth and raihani. The verses about the calling for prayer – Al-Jumu`at verse 9-10 – are well-carved in door gate and calling for faith and god-fearing – Ali `Imran verse 193-194 as well as al-Baqarah verse 19– are carved in wall of pulpit.

Lamps are set to take after similar model in that of mosque in Iran. The local element in cengal wood interior is a Malay traditional carving. Floral motif in the exterior of main payer room is local component and derives from Sufism aspiration of past Malay people. Each marble ladder has an image of a sunflower figure. Foreign aspect such as Persian style is adopted in all architecture concepts of mosque in Safavid kingdom. The India influence abides in the onion model. Its carving is taken from arabesque model of Egypt.

BesiMosque is decorated in calligraphy, square geometry side, pentagon, hexagon and so forth. In its floral motif, the form is equal to arabesque, a popular decoration in Iran. Besi mosque is named as mosque in garden (Mohyin, 2005). It is then given formal name as Tuanku Mizan Zaenal Abidin mosque. To construct the mosque, all materials cost are RM 200 millions and use 6000 ton of stone and concrete. With modern architecture concept, it loads 20 thousand people and is regarded as the biggest mosque in Southeast Asia. Its interior is decorated with Qur’anic phrase plated in 13 meters high glass. In the right part, a fancy verse of 40-47 of surah Ibrahim is inscribed and in the left verse 148-153 of al Baqarah is plated. The main door which directly connected to main prayer room is carved with verse 80 of al-Isra and the main gate door made from a white concrete with 99 name of Allah relief. Although it is a combination between Germanic and china architecture, the name of Allah appears and clearly visible beyond the doom. Its modern feature can be seen in that the mosque has no minaret.

Construction component of the mosque is a white marble pulpit with Qu’ranic phrase ornaments plated on anti-reflected light pieces of glass or mirror to give an impression as if the verse is floating. Its chamber is also made of the same component. In its doom there is a carved stainless steel with Allah in the middle of the doom with 45 meters in its diameter to reflect seven layers of sky with its different function for each layer. The main room let to be opened to make good ventilation with plain and huge air-gap banel. It makes possible to let the room full with positive, clean and fresh ions. It is light as it has no concrete structure for its steel is fabricated and is constructed before functioning in construction. Sincerity to express the only temporary life is bold on no-wall construction and covered by imported mashrabiyah, a combination of steel matticework and plait of Architectural woven wire mesh, from Germany. Modern aspect appears in ceiling, wall and glazed poles as well as lamps to reflect a commensuration of Islam with progressive modern time.

The gate is so called Imam Malik door, a unique and appealing door carved with 99 name of Allah in each right and left poles as if they fall from heaven for its position is up-down. The five right and left poles epitomizes five prayers as a religious foundation. Its construction is modern in principle, however, it still clearly express character of Islamic architecture.

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e. King Tomb Ornaments Installing value to symbol is hard in Islamic art (Allen, 1982) for Islam forbids using symbol or human figure (Yunus) to every human product including artisan work, with exception of calligraphy.

It is asserted by Lamya Lois al-Faruqi (al-Faruqi, 1986) that Islam is never tolerant to human figure to avoid falling to polytheism. The carved written in king gravestone (in Jugra, Klang and Shah Alam) is following Arabic and Java letters with adorable patterns (Yatim). For example the repeating sentence (Bamborough, 1976) of la ilaha illallah in king tombs in Slangor set to teach to always remember to Allah for all of visitor when reading it (Bougas, 1988).

A creep plant motif in the form of arabesque can be seen in the gravestone of king graveyard in Selangor, especially in the Jugra hill. The motif is a common ornament in every Persian rug, wall and doom in Sheikh Lutf Allah mosque in Isfahan, Iran. It is clear that the gravestone is religious and expresses Islamic religious symbolism. In Islamic symbolism there are three different patterns to be used that are square to express earth and other natural objects, triangular for human awareness and hexagonal or round for heaven (Critchlow, 1976). f. Institute of Islamic Thought and Civilization (ISTAC) Among the unique building of ISTAC is library, which has rounded ladder. Needham (1969-3) defines that symbol is something that stands for other objects (Yatim, 1989). When round has different meaning for Sufism, it frequently suggests heaven and after life. Critehlow (1983) suggests that round is symbol of main cosmos, unity and harmony (lbid).

Besides, there is a fountain to draw continuity of nature with elements and power such as water, air and light to throw heat and hold cool air at noon (Rahman, 1993). An ornamented replica or lamp skies illustration or arabesque is complex designs consist of different form such as geometry, floral motif and calligraphy. This motif reflects continuity expressing that Allah has no begin and no end attributes (Yatim). Geometric culture, for example, is a cultural heritage allowing artists to develop harmonically specific forms from geometry basis (Nasr, 1989).

Carved object in front of pole wedged in two soft color colonnades, a pale white kalsomine, giving symbolic elements on modesty of Islam and idea of Allah that prefers no pompous and extravagance. Poles are carved with a recursive tulip-like. al-Attas gains inspiration to decorate interior and exterior from al-Hambra, Granada, beautiful mosques in Cordova and Seville, Dome Rock in Jerusalem, Istanbul, Ibn Tulun mosque in Kaherah, Taj Mahal in Agra, ancient building in Spain, North Africa, India, Turkistan and Iran. Surrounding (Persekitaran) that emphasize harmony and beauty is illustrated as the city of Baghdad (Ali, 1992) built by Khalifah al-Mansur in 1454 H or City of Qurtubah (Cardova) constructed under Abd Rahman III (912-963). It was the only beautiful city in the world on its contemporary with half million inhabitant, 600 mosques, 900 public bath (hammam), 50 hospitals, more than 800 schools, and library with 600.000 books’ collection as well as 70 private libraries (Ishak, 1980).

For ISTAC, Al-Attas inspires ponds and fountain in the facade of mosque, a typically blue water pond as symbol of luxury, prosperous and cold, a critical element of Islamic garden. The mosque chamber is octagonal made from sturdy timber and cengal trees. It is so with doom (Safarwan), a gleaming floor tile decorated by aquamarine jewelry with Qur’an and Prophet traditon phrases. In addition to minaret (Hamid), there is a meeting room ornamented by geometric forms and flagging horn wood as canopy (muqarnas), a stalactite forms with carrying cloth hanging in the ceiling. The Muqarnas is used as canopy for almost every building in Islamic architecture (al-Attas, 1998). The

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best form of muqarnas ever constructed by Two Sisters council is Alhambra palace, Granada, Spain (Hamid).

D. CONCLUSION Islamic nuance building especially decorative-ornament art is applied in many old and modern building. Those show the prominence of Islamic art adopting variety of ideas to produce beautiful and attractive decoration as the form of love and belief in Allah swt. The inclusive of Islam and ummah appear obviously in preserving beautiful motifs through combination of various elements in the world across culture, ethnic, geography and politics. It creates a foundation of worldwide respect onIslamic art from East to West. Decorative-ornament motifs finally bring human as creature to close to their creator, Allah swt.

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Al-Attas, Sharifah Shifa. (1998). ISTAC Illuminated. KL: International Institute of Islamic thought and civilization., p. 83.

Al-Faruqi, Lamya Lois. (1986). The Quranic Arts of Islamic Civilization. p. 40-44.

Ali, Syed Ameer. (1992). Sejarah Evolusi Dan Keunggulan Islam. KL: DBP. p. 462.

Allen, James, W. (1982). Islamic Metalwork. The Es-Said Collection. London : Softheby. p. 9.

Chay, Peter. (1989). KL: Minarets of old, visions of new, Foto Technik Sdn Bhd. p. 36.

Critchlow, Keith. (1976). Islamic Patterns-An Analytical and Cosmological Approach.London: Thames and Hudson. p. 8.

Bamborough, Philip. (1976). Treasures of Islam. Blandford Press, Dorset. , p. 26 Danby, Miles.Moorish Style. (1955). London: Phaidon Press. p. 110.

Fernandez-puertas, Antonio. (1997). The Alhambra From The Ninth Century To Yusuf 1 (1354).

London: Saqi Books. p. 3.

Grabar, Oleg. (1978). The Alhambra. London: Penguin Book Ltd. p. 35.

Hanafi, Zulkifli. (1985). Kompendium Sejarah Seni Bina Timur. Pulau Pinang: Penerbit USM. op.cit. p.170.

Hamid, Datuk Rizuan Abd.Masjid, Sejarah, Ciri-Ciri Pembangunan Dan Pembinaan Masjid-Masjid Dunia, Malaysia Dan Kuala Lumpur. KL: puncak awal (M) sdn. Bhd., p. 16.

Hamid, Rizuan Abdul. (1998). Masjid: Sejarah, Ciri-Ciri Pembentukan Dan Pembinaan Masjid Di Dunia. Malaysia dan Kuala Lumpur. KL: Puncak Awal Sdn. Bhd. p. 244.

Hanafi, Zuklifli. (2000). Pola-Pola Hiasan Dalam Bagunan Tradisional Melayu. KL: DBP. p. 19.

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Jacobs, Michael. (2000). Alhambra. London: Frances Lincoln Ltd. op.cit. p 26.

John, D.H. (1977). Islamic Architecture. New York: Harry N Abrans Ins. Publisher, p 304. This building is known as The Octagonal.

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Perpustakaan KL. p. 54.

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Nasir, Abdul Halim. (1986).Ukiran Kayu Melayu Tradisi. KL: DBP. p. 93.

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Nasr, S.H. (1989). Falsafah Kesusasteraan Dan Seni Halus. KL: DBP. p. 80.

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Saad, Ismail, et. Al. (2001). Spesis-Spesis Kayu Dalam Seni Ukiran Melayu Johor.Penerbit UTM Skudai. p. 13-15.

Safarwan, Zainal Abidin. Kamus Besar Bahasa Melayu Utusan. KL: utusan publication & distributors sdn. Bhd. p. 943.

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Yatim,Othman Mohd. (1989). Warisan Kesenian Dalam Tamadun Islam. KL:DBP. , p 75.

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Improving Islamich Higher Education: Lessons From John Dewey and Ivan Illich

Improving Islamich Higher Education: Lessons From John Dewey and Ivan Illich Muhammad Adib Abdushomad1* 1Ph.D

Candidate at Flinders University-Australia Email: adib_gja@yahoo.com Abstract

Apart from these research are trying to understand, economic and political philosophy, or ideology, underlies approaches that undertaken by government to deliver their services. In relation to the above discussion, this paper aims to elaborate the two thinkers; John Dewey and Ivan Illich to see how Islamic education could meet human needs, particularly to enhance the institutions that enable people to develop their full potentiality. This paper will elaborate the two thinkers’ perspectives and bring it into real situation in my department. The first section will capture the debate on education and schooling, includes the aims of education, and also approach to educational policy. Following this, the second section is going to analyses John Dewey and Ivan Illich perspectives on education. Thirdly, reconstruct a new way of thinking based on ideological approaches for the directorate of Islamic Higher education (DOIHE) to find out a better way to address some problems occurs recently.

Keywords: Islamic Higher Education, Education and Schooling, Ideological Approaches, Directorate of Islamic Higher Education A. INTRODUCTION One of the key viewpoints of the enlightenment was the belief that all people were equal and had the capacity for reason to pursue their own happiness and life choices. According to Boyd, et.al (2007) “if people were freed from ignorance and dominance by others, and were given equal access to resources such as education, they could better themselves and thus better society” (p.73).

The enlightenment led to the catch-cry of “Liberty, Equality, Fraternity” which became the basis of new belief in the importance of education as the mean to developing thinking, free individuals, which would create greater equality in society. Since, education and reason were considered as importance aspects of an individual’s life and also the betterment of society as whole, a lot of research has been conducted to construct a good society through the education (Bell & Stub, 1968). Apart from these research are trying to understand, economic and political philosophy, or ideology, underlies approaches that undertaken by government to deliver their services (Haralambos, 1996).

B. METHODOLOGY This paper aims to elaborate the two thinkers; John Dewey and Ivan Illich to see how Islamic education could meet human needs, particularly to enhance the institutions that enable people to develop their full potentiality.

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Therefore, divided into three sections, this paper will elaborate the two thinkers’ perspectives and bring it into real situation in my department. The first section will capture the debate on education and schooling, includes the aims of education, and also approach to educational policy. Following this, the second section is going to analyses John Dewey and Ivan Illich perspectives on education. Thirdly, reconstruct a new way of thinking based on ideological approaches for the directorate of Islamic Higher education (DOIHE) to find out a better way to address some problems occurs recently.

C. RESULT AND DISCUSSION 1. Education and Schooling Since the paper will elaborate about educational issue, it is useful to distinguish between education and schooling. Stromquist as cited in William (2004) poses a useful characterization. He argues that education is the transmission of broad and specific knowledge that includes but also goes beyond that imparted by national school system. Education may occur in formal situations, non-formal situations and informal situations. On the other hand, schooling relates specially to the structured and institutionalized type of knowledge transmitted through formal educational institutions, mainly schools and universities. In contrast, non-formal education represents less institutionalized forms of instruction, often program or project-specific, that seeks to impart knowledge, skills, attitude, and behaviours, as well as empowering learners.

Given these explanations, there is different view on education between educator and sociologist.

The sociologist perceives the institution of education in a broader sense than the educators.

According to Bell and Stub (1968), the educator often places the major emphasis on the formal and structured aspect of education. In contrast, the sociologist defines education to include the formal and informal as well as the structured and unstructured elements. In other word, the sociologist sees education as being almost synonymous with socialisation (p.1). In this respect, sociologist is interested in more than just the formal school system.

Having said that, in my opinion, this framework can be used as a tool to differentiate the way Dewey sees the education and what Illich defines education as the condition for true learning. As a historian with theologian intuition, according to Illich (1971) schooling was so structured as an endless process of escalating ritual that had replaced the true sense of education. Illich’s critique of schooling addressed the impact on compulsory education. For him, not only education but social reality itself has become schooled. School has become the world religion of modernized proletariat, and makes futile promises of salvation to the poor of technological age (p.14) On the other hand, American educationalist, John Dewey, says that school still as democratic places to create a good society in the future. He believes that it was the task of educator and school system to encourage individual to develop their full potential as human beings.

(Haralambos, 1996). I will elaborate and give more explanation the tension between the two thinkers in the second section.

2. Critique the aims of Education The power of global economy which emphasis efficiency, market orientation, and direct state control has impact on the design of education (Apple, 2003). Education, --to some extent—has been implemented to meet the need of a restructured economy, rapidly changing labour market and the exponential development of technology and of knowledge. Therefore, it is likely that those

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who can afford to go to schools with the equipment and expertise will be a good deal better off. In such a world, education faces the challenge of being transformed from a system based on industrial model. As the result, getting a degree has now become commonplace. This simply means that education is being increasingly seen as a commodity, as something esteemed because of its ‘exchange value’ on the market, rather than its ‘use-value’ as something good in its own right and for its own sake (Boyd, 2007).

With the social changes and challenges to traditions that came in the 1960s (such as peace the peace movement, the civil right movement, etc) many began to question the aim and methods of education. Many social and educational reformers came to believe that far from freeing up individual from their social background (class, gender, ethnic and sexuality), they are questioning ‘What is education for’? Particularly in today globalised world. In relation to this, Noddings (2003) challenges his view; It is as though our society has simply decided that the purposes of schooling is -economic-to improve the financial condition of individuals and to advance prosperity of the nation. Hence student should do well on standardized test, get into good colleges, obtain well paying jobs, and buy a lot of things. Surely there is more education than this (p.4) Nodding’s reflection also supported by American Sociologist Talcott Parsons. As modern industrial society is increasingly based on achievement rather than ascription, Parson saw that the education has become an important mechanism for the selection of individuals for their future role in society. Therefore, he argues that the school represent “society in miniature” (Haralambos, 1996, p.210). As it can be seen on the nature of schools which emphasize on testing and evaluating student, match their talents, skills and capacities to the jobs for which they are best suited.

Like Parson, David and Moore (as cited in Haralmbos, 1996) saw education as a mean of role allocation, but they linked the education system more directly with the system of social stratification. High reward which act as incentives are attached to those positions and this means, in theory, that all will compete for them and the most talented will win through.

Another challenges faces in the field of education are the idea that the education should aim at creating a more equal and just society. Willis (1977) discovered how poorer children often grow up in environments where people see little hope of upward mobility and rebel against the system rather than trying to conform to it. Therefore, the aim of education according to him should be to counter social inequality and build more just society by educating everyone according to what knowledge they needed to succeed, rather than through some blanket universal program.

While it is true that behind all educational proposals are visions of a just society and a good student, it is interesting to note that the tensions among ideology still occur in the current educational policy. According Apple (2003) states that the most powerful group within the new alliance are neoliberals and neoconservatives, and the reform they tend to propose the just society and the good student in particular way.

For the purpose of this paper I would like to limit my paper on liberal point of view particularly to elaborate John Dewey and Illich.

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3. Liberal perspectives: a. John Dewey and Ivan Illich According to Heywood (1992), the main characteristic themes of liberalism ideology are the belief on individualism. Liberal is united in their desire to create a society in which each individual is capable of the developing their full potentiality. Historically, liberal ideas resulted from the breakdown of feudalism in Europe and the growth of a market or capitalist society.

There are many categories of liberal worldview. Firstly, classic liberal is based upon the idea of sovereignty; it assumes an autonomous, we know the best, self-ruling and self-fulfilling entity.

Secondly, modern liberal is based upon assumption that individual freedom needs government to enable individual to pursue their own freedom (Heywood, 1992). However, in the reality there is always tension between the two approaches. Nowadays, with the movement toward economic rationalism, there was the focus more back to the individual. Therefore, the individual will get an extra reward, salaries and other attentions. So the focus became on the individual, and also the movement backs in forward, in term of collective and individual. So in this regard, there is continuity and change, particularly to think about individual and collective back in forward.

Heywood called this phenomenon as neo liberalism or economic rationalism and Haralambos categorized as new economist. Just puts the same thing, because this is only a description of the same historical phenomena.

According to liberal viewpoint the main purpose of education is held to be the promotion of wellbeing of the individual, and only indirectly the improvement of the society. Generally, liberal hopes that education will help to reduce inequality. Although, liberal acknowledge that there is a need for reform, they believe that with relatively minor modifications education can come to play a full and successful role in industrial societies (Haralambos, 1996).

One of the most influential proponents of liberal view in education was the American educationalist John Dewey. Dewey was born on October 20, 1859 in Burlington, Vermont. His father, Archibald Sprague, a North Grocer and later a tobacconists, was a handsome, outgoing, and witty man (Neil 1973). He argues that it was the job of education to encourage individual to develop their full potential as human beings. He particularly stressed the development of intellectual potential.

Schooling for all would help to foster the physical, emotional and spiritual talents of everyone, as well as their intellectual abilities (Haralambos, 1996).

According to George (1958), Dewey influence in education is seen as something like; learning by doing, the child-cantered school; interest and effort, permissiveness. In this regards, Dewey propose to consider the context and the function of philosophy as a living culture, and it is the task for philosophy to criticize, clarify, test the internal coherence, and make explicit the consequences of the beliefs, custom and social institution, such as education.

Dewey has made a complete integration of his work in philosophy, psychology, and practical pedagogy as chairman of the philosophy and education department at the University of Chicago (Dykhuizen, 1973). Bertrand Russel (1945) in his book ‘History of Western Philosophy’ give further comment about Dewey; He is a man of a highest character, liberal in outlook, generous and kind in personal relations, indefatigable in work. With most of his opinions I am almost complete agreement. Owing to my respect and admiration for him, as well as to personal experience of his kindness, I should wish to

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agree completely, but my regret I am compelled to dissent from his most distinctive philosophical doctrine, namely the substitution of ‘inquiry’ for truth as the fundamental concept of logic and theory of knowledge (p.819).

Education is to be defined in Dewey’s term as philosophy in action, therefore, the study of philosophical questions must arise naturally from the experience of students and teachers with their own education. In line with this statement, according to Dewey (Dykhuizen, 1973) the aim of all education was to develop a body of knowledge and a philosophy with which to deal with whatever comes up in one’s life, to make oneself an instrument of continuous learning. In other words, education is “a living laboratory” in which philosophic distinction become concrete and is tested (Ann, 1970). Dewey also suggest that there must be complete freedom of scientific inquiry into social problems, the resulting knowledge must be disseminated among the people, full publicity must be given to plan and policies currently in operation (p.19).

Dewey often used the term “education” in a normative sense. For Dewey, not every modification of experience or behaviour is to be considered educative, infact, it can be said as miss-educative. In his most reprinted article “My pedagogic Creed” (1897 as cited in Ann, 1970) the school he says is primarily a social institution. Education being a social process, the school is simply that form of community life in which all those agencies are concentrated that will be most effective in bringing the child to share in the inherited resources of the race and to use his own powers for social ends.

This is again, is a normative statement; Dewey is manifestly that the school should be such institution.

The school is for Dewey one of the main engines of progress, democracy, and growth (p.263).

Therefore the school must help the individual in a multitude of ways, by developing intellectual power, moral responsibility, aesthetic sensitivity, practical day-to-day competence.

It is true that Dewey has intense focus on the individual, but he also has an interest about social as well and says that school as democratic place to develop human well being and moral knowledge (Hansen, 2007). Therefore, Dewey called himself as social democrats, not as liberal (Banfield, 2008). In contrast, Illich argue that the education system as the root of the problems of modern industrial society. Schools are the first, most vital and important stage in the creation of mindless, conforming and easily manipulated citizen. He further advocates de-schooling society (Illich, 1971). He points out that there is no reason why it should be accepted as somehow inevitable.

Since schools do not promote equality or the development of individual creative abilities, why not do away with them in their current form? More explanation about Illich can be seen on the next section. b. Ivan Illich One of the most controversial recent writers on educational theory is Ivan Illich (Wright, 2003). In his book ‘Celeberation of Awareness’ Illich noted for his criticism of modern economic development, which he describes as a process whereby previously self-sufficient peoples are dispossessed of their traditional skills, and made to rely on doctors for their health, teacher for their schooling, television for their entertainment (1977).

Ivan Illich differed from the convention liberal. According to him formal schooling is unnecessary, and ideed harmful to society (Haralambos, 1996). Illich begun with his views on what education should be (Aquilera, 2008). First, there is the learning of specific skills, such as typing, woodwork and speaking a foreign language. Next, there is education itself, which is not concerned with the

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acquisition of particular skills. Education should be liberating experience in which individual explore, create, use their initiative and judgement and freely develop their faculties and talent to the full.

Illich main attack was on the failure of schools to match his educational ideals. He regarded schools as repressive institutions, which indoctrinate pupils, smother creativity and imagination, induce conformity and stultify student into accepting the interests of the powerful (Haralambos, 1996).

Students become dependent on the directives of governments, bureaucratic organisations and professional bodies. Illich proposed a simple yet radical solution. As the title of his book ‘deschooling society’ suggest the answer lies in the abolition of the present system of education.

What school should do according to Illich is skill exchanges, in which instructors teach to others the skills they use in daily life. Illich argued that skills could best learned by drills involving systemic instruction. More importantly Illich proposed ‘learning web’ which consist of individuals with similar interest who meet around a problem chosen and defined by their own initiative and proceed on a basis of creative and exploratory learning (Illich, 1971).

Schools are even less efficient in the arrangement of the circumstances, which encourage the open-ended, exploratory use of acquired skills, for which I will reserve the term “liberal education”.

The main reason for this is that school obligatory and becomes schooling for schooling sake: an enforced stay in the company of teachers, which pays off in the doubtful privilege (Haralambos, 1996).

Just as skills instruction must be freed from curricular restraints, so must liberal education be dissociated from obligatory attendance? Both skill-learning and education for inventive and creative behaviour can be aided by institutional arrangement, but they are of a different, frequently opposed nature. (Illich, 1971, p.25) Based on the above explanation, to improve the aims of education lllich suggest something to choose, either we continue to believe that institutionalized learning is a product which justifies unlimited investment or we rediscover that legislation and planning and investment, if they have any place in formal education, should be use mostly to tear down that barriers that now impede opportunities for learning, which can only be a personal activity not only to seek for certificate (p.72). This is dominant type in which Illich propose as the “manipulative institution” (p.76).

To be a good educational system according to Illich (1971), system should have three purposes: it should provide all who want to learn with access to available resources at any time in their lives.

Secondly, empower all who want to share what they know to find those who want to learn it from them, and lastly furnish all who want to present an issue to the public with the opportunity to make their challenge known. Schools are not the only institution, which distorts profession by packaging roles.

Erich Fomm classified Illich as Humanistic radicalism which means capacity for critical questioning of all assumptions and institutions which have become ‘idol’ under the name of common sense, logic, and what is supposed to be natural (Calder & Boyar 1972).

Humanistic radicalism according Fromm as cited in Calder & Boyar 1972), is radical questioning guided by insight into dynamics of man’s nature; and by concern for man’s growth and full

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unfolding. In this regards, Illich papers deal precisely with such examples as the usefulness of compulsive schooling with imaginative aspect. Erich Fromm comment about Illich: “The author is man of rare courage, great aliveness, extraordinary erudition and brilliance, and fertile imaginativeness. The importance of his thought in this as well as his other writings lies in the fact that they have a liberating effect on the mind by showing entirely new possibilities, they make the reader more alive because they open the door that leads out of the prison of routinised, sterile, preconceived notions. By the creative shock they communicate, they help to stimulate energy and hope for a new beginning (p.10).

Illich further suggest that we can escape from dehumanizing system. Our freedom and power are determined by our willingness to accept responsibility for the future. We must abandon our attempt to solve our problem through shifting power balances or attempting to create more efficient bureaucratic machine.

Schooling also involves a process of accepted “ritual certificate” for all members of a school society. Schools select those who are bound to succeed and send them on their way with badge marking them fit. Once universal schooling has been accepted as the hallmark for the in member of society.

We must not exclude the possibility that the emerging nations cannot be schooled, that schooling is not viable answer to their need for universal education. For some generations, education has been based on massive schooling just as security was based on massive retaliation and school become untouchable because they are vital to the status-quo. (p.112) According to Illich, people at the moment has adopted “a new religion”. Its doctrine is that education is a product of school, a product that can be defined by numbers. There are the numbers which indicate how many years a student has spent under the tutelage of teachers, and others which represent the proportion of his correct answer. Furthermore, as the impact of schooling process, the power of certification has grown so rapidly (Illich, 1971).

The school has become the established church of secular times. The modern school had its origin in the impulse toward universal schooling, as attempt to incorporate everyone into the industrial state. In the industrial metropolis the school was the integrating institution (Wright, 2003).

John Dewey who concern on philosophy and education claims that the true centre of learning was not the realm traditional subject (classical), but in child own social (useful) activities (Hansen, 2007). As the father of progressive education, Dewey argues that both elementary and high schools must move closer to the learner’s life experience and away from accepted dogma and absolute knowledge. Learning Dewey wrote, is active it, involves reaching out of the mind (Hodges, 1974).

School, according Hodges, ironically have defaulted on one of the more valid if rarely practiced of John Dewey ideals: “Children should have voice in determining both the curriculum and the rules of their school. Democracy is best learned by living it”(p.401).

As the result school tend to be passive rather than active partners, guardian of tradition rather than initiator of change, dependent rather than independent variables. The school is subsystem of the larger social system. Most of the processes and structures of the school are simply mirrors

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reflecting, imperfecting, present or past images of the larger society. (Cayo Sexton, p.2 as cited in Hodges 1974) According to Dewey, for education aim to be concrete it must meet a number of criteria. First, it must be relevant to the individual’s particular experience; that is to say it must be an aim in the individual’s experience and education. Secondly, the aim must be flexible, able to guide activity but also able to be modified by activity. Thirdly, the aim must function to liberate or free action in planned sequence, (Dewey, 1916) On the other hand, Ivan Illich questioning ‘How autonomous is the school, particularly in today post industrial society? The reality is that, the very closeness of fit between the school and the allocation of occupational rules means that it is virtually impossible for the school to act independently. Therefore, Illich advocates de-schooling society (Illich, 1971).

Offcourse Illich does not mean by this that all form of educational organisation should be abolished (Giddens, 1989). This view is supported by Aguielera (2003), He said that Illich do not object the existence of school as such, as long as they were recognized as privileged enclave and do not monopolize public choices. In line with this, Illich argues that education, should provide everyone who wants to learn with access to available resources—at any time in their lives, not just in their childhood or adolescent years. Such a system should make it possible for knowledge to be widely diffused and share, not confined to specialist. Learners should not have to submit to a standard curriculum, and they should have personal choice over what they study (Illich, 1971, p.108).

In place of school however, illich suggest several types of educational framework. Material resources for formal learning would be stored in libraries, rental agencies, laboratories and information, storage bank available to any student. Communication network would be set up providing data about the skills possessed by different individuals and whether they would be willing to train others, or engage in mutual learning.

Although both Dewey and Illich can be described as liberal in the way much more emphasizes on individual; they are completely different in their thinking about schooling. Ivan Illich for instance says that the big problem is the structures of schooling. He further argues that we need to change the character of school as “liberal education” (p.25). He really believes that people will learn as they need to learn through experience, instead learning through the book and school systems.

As I explained earlier that John Dewey still believe that institution of education is an important place to promote democracy, intellectual development, and also individual well beings. As a philosophy in education, he is aware about the limitation of institution (education) if it is not delivered properly. Therefore, to some extent, Dewey can be classified as social-democrat, saying that a good society is where we looking after each other to share area of concern, such as democracy, intellectuality and also social justice. Illich, on the other hand, want to give ‘early warning system’ the negative effect of education that has been schooled and structured. However, it does not mean that he want to abolish all the education system. Probably its only his choice of word in which sometimes hyperbolic and provocative (Cox, 2002).

4. A Reflection for the Directorate of Islamic Higher Education (DOIHE) Nowadays, the Directorate of Islamic Higher Education (DOIHE) is confronting with some private and public universities who give an opportunity to offer a degree without formal meeting in class, appropriately. As the result, people tend to have certificate oriented, rather than considering the

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quality of education itself (Mas’ud, 2007). This is because; the degree (certificate) has become bargaining position to increase their status in society and also in their office to get a certain job. In this respect, the mission of Islamic university or schooling has failed to create the qualified graduates.

In relation to the above explanation between the two thinkers John Dewey and Ivan Illich, I would like to elaborate some key points. Firstly, the early warning given by Ivan Illich, saying that we need to avoid education with emphasis on packaging instruction with certification too much (Illich, 1971). According to Azizy (2004) Islamic education should build body of knowledge within its education system. Citing Whithead (1957), Azizy, the former director general of Islamic education, agued that “a progressive society depend upon its inclusion of three groups; scholar, discovers, and inventors” (p.109). In relation to this, Islamic education needs to liberate the institution becoming ‘enlightening institution’ not as manipulative institution which only gives a grade and certificate. The certificate should reflect at least basic competence of what they have learnt. To do so, the content or the curriculum should be designed to promote problem solving in real life and continuous learning. This view is supported by Bok (1986), the former president of Harvard University. He said that “education no longer be content with teaching students to remember fixed body of knowledge; instead we must help them to master techniques of problem-solving and habits of life long learning” (p.5) .

Secondly, it is the responsibility of Islamic higher education to give support for Islamic institution to raise their quality, particularly to promote equality access of education. Citing Bernard Bailiyn (1972), I believe that no educational activity could be entirely “private’ for none was legitimately independent of the state.

D. CONCLUSION Both Dewey and Illich are concerned with reform within the framework of existing social institutions. Illich advocates radical change with his idea ‘de-schooling society’. In contrast Dewey, suggest a reform of existing institutions rather than saying that the system is completely wrong.

This because, many sociologists appeared to viewpoint that education was good thing and that reforms in the education system would lead to progressive social change in society as well, even though far from perfect.

The directorate of Islamic Higher Education need to consider their policy particularly to promote two things at the same time. To give student a good education facilities to develop their own potentiality and try to understand what happen inside and outside of in Islamic education, in term of teachers, students, etc.

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References Ann (1970). Guide to the works of John Dewey, Southern Illinios University Press, USA. Apple M.W., (2001). The Rhetoric and Reality of Standard-Based School Reform, Educational Policy, Vol. 15 No. 4, September. Retrieved November 26, 2008, from http://epx.sagepub.com Azizy Qodry (2004). Pengembangan Ilmu-Ilmu KeIslaman, Aneka Ilmu Semarang, Indonesia Bailyn Bernard (1972). Education in the forming of American society, W.W. Norton Company, Inc., New York.

Banfield Grant (2008). Construction of Education and Social Justice, Personal recorded material, The School of education, Flinders University. SA Bell & Stub (1968). The sociology of education; A source book, The Dorsey Press, Irwin-Dorsey Limited, Illinois, USA. Bernstein R. (1960). Dewey; on experience, Nature and Freedom,The Library of liberal art, The Boss Merril, Company Inc. New York.

Box Derek (1986). Higher learning, Harvard University Press, Cambridge.

Boyd, Wadham, Pudsey & (2007). Culture and Education, Pearson, Education Australia.

Boyars & Calder (1972). Celebration of Awareness, Latimer Trend Co.Ltd, Great Britain.

Coughlan Neil (1973). Young John Dewey; An essay in American Intellectual History, The university of Chicago Press.

Cox Halsey (2002). A Prophet, A teacher, A Realistic Dream, National Catholic Reporter, (20).

Dykhuizen, G (1973). The life and mind of John Dewey, Southern Illinois University Press, Feffer & Simons, Inc, USA. George (1958). John Dewey in perspective, New York Oxford Press University.

Giddens Anthony (1990). Sociology, Polity Press, Cambridge, UK Hansen (2007). John Dewey and Curriculum of Moral Knowledge, Curricullum and Teaching Dialogue, No I72, p.173-181 Haralambos, Krieken, Smith, Horborn (1996). Sociology; themes and perspectives Australian edition, Longman, Australia.

Heywood, A. (1992). Political Ideologies; An Introduction. Houndmillis, Mcmillan.

Hodges, Jr. ( 1974). Conflict and consensus : An introduction to sociology, second edition, Harper & Row, Publisher, New York, USA.

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Illich (1970). Deschooling Society, Harrow Books, Harper and Row, New York, USA Illich (1972). Celebration of Awareness, A call for institutional revolution, Great Brittain.

Illich (1977). Disabling Professions, Marion Boyars Publishers Ltd. 18 Brewer Street London.

Mas’ud (2007). Pendidikan Non-dikotomik, Gama Media Press, Yogyakarta.

Noddings (2003). Happiness and education, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

Reimer Everett (1972). School is dead, Double Day Garden City, New York.

Russel (1945). History of Western Philosophy, New York Whithead (1957). The aims of education and other essays, The Free Press, New York.

William, J (2004). Civil Conflict, Education, and the Work of Schools: Twelve Prpopositions, Wiley Periodicals Inc. Willis (1977) Learning to Labour. Saxon House, Farnbourough Wright (2003). Obituary of Illich, Lancet, Vol. 361.

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Psychological Analysis on Autogenesis as Preface to God Cognition (A Comparative Analysis of View Point of Imam Ali ibn Abu Talib --peace be upon him-and Scholars of Education and Pedagogy)

Psychological Analysis on Autogenesis as Preface to God Cognition (A Comparative Analysis of View Point of Imam Ali ibn Abu Talib --peace be upon him-and Scholars of Education and Pedagogy) Seyed Eshaq Hoseini Kuhsari1* Ali Redha Mohammad Redhaei1 1Tehran

University

Email: amredhaei@ut.ac.ir Abstract One of the questions which has engaged the mind and soul of many people is: how can fifteen century old teachings of Islam and its guide lines given by Prophet Mohammad (peace be upon him) and infallible Imams (peace be upon them) can answer the needs of today and how can it lead the way of today’s people to perfection? Is the teaching of Islam compatible with science of today?

The present papertries to emphasize on teachings of Islam not belonging to people of specific time period, and have static and variable laws and comprehensive view on every aspect of life. It also performs an analytic and comparative study on viewpoint of psychologists and sayings of Imam Ali's concerning the most fundamental need of humanity; Autogenesis and perfectionism. Probably it may help us answer the above questions and will also help us in manifesting some part of that infallible Imam's endless knowledge.

Keywords: Autogenesis, God Cognistion, Imam Ali (peace be upon him), Education and Pedagogy.

A. INTRODUCTION When the crier of the truth with his beautiful voice, settled the echo of love, zeal and hope in his enlightened heart and hummed the call “Read in the Name of your Lord who created” on the mountain of light, and sent it as a gift with the caller of mercy towards the humanity, and the very first person who drank from the Prophetic spring and quenched his life taking thirst and plunged into its life saving waves of wisdom, was none other than the cousin of Prophet, a highborn person from the progeny of BaniHashim, the very person who grew up in the arms of Prophet (pbuh) and whose words and speech, and actions and behaviors were like Prophet himself, because he was the essence and the soul of Prophet.

Finishing the chain of sending the Prophets and completing the religion of Islam can be proved by the following verses “Indeed, with Allah religion is Islam” and “Today I have perfected your religion for you, and I have completed My blessing upon you, and I have approved Islam as your religion” and “Muhammad is not the father of any man among you, but he is the Apostle of Allah and the Seal of the Prophets”. So now it (Islam) should be able to answer the questions of people in every aspect of their life and in every time period. In a tradition it has been mentioned: “Indeed, God has not sent it for a specific time period or for a group of people, hence it will remain new and fruitful for every nation till the day of resurrection” regarding the element of synchronization between the laws and rules of Islam and the changes occurring day by day Dr. Walger writes: “we are becoming more and more surprised by the religion whose fundamental principles of ethics is

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based on discipline and incumbency, and moulds its laws so accurately concerning the duty of a person regarding himself and others that it accepts all kinds of transitions and evolution, and which is compatible with all types of intellectual advancement”. About Holy Qur’an being comprehensive and taking all aspect of human's life into account and not leaving any area in which man needs divine guidance, Edward Gibbon writes: “Qur’an… contains a collection of religious, social, civil, business, military, judicial, criminal and punitive laws. From day to day problems of life to religious rituals, from self purification to physical health and hygiene, from public rights to personal rights and to social benefits, and from ethical values to crimes, and from punishment of sins to complications of the future, all these are mentioned in the collection of those laws” (Shakirin, Hameed Reza, 2006). Teachings of holy Prophet and precious sayings of Imam Ali (pbuh) and other infallible Imams are not just clarification and interpretation but also a clear exegesis of the entire Holy Qur’an. These teachings are the precious treasure that has scrutinized the Qur’anic facts and has presented it in the best form to the humanity and it has been and will be the light to show the humanity the path of prosperity. Holy Prophet (pbuh) did not say it without any reason that “I am the city of Knowledge and Ali is its gateway”. It is clear that Islamic manifesto The Holy Qur’an is firmly rooted into his soul and he provided them to generations in different occasions to find them at the way of absolute perfection, with the mode of pure divine nature and so that they could distinguish pure from impure.

His precious sayings, advices and wisdoms are the bright lamp of guidance and the life boat for the salvation of humanity. One of bright pearls is his brief words in which Imam Ali indicated about the sequence and order of God- -cognition on auto gnosis and has mentioned the evident effect which sometimes intentionally and sometimes unintentionally occurs regarding self-awareness.

Auto gnosis is one of the basic needs which has grasped the attention of psychologists from the beginning of twentieth century and has become a fundamental principle of personality and behaviour analysis. This article tries to throw some light at the viewpoint of some psychologists such as Sigmund Freud and Kari Hurray on the basis of this saying:"Someone who knows himself knows his God". It is very likely that the spring of divine wisdom, Imam Ali (pbuh), could point out toward the answers of some unanswered questions regarding human nature.

B. METHODOLOGY Paper present to emphasize on teachings of Islam not belonging to people of specific time period, and have static and variable laws and comprehensive view on every aspect of life. It also performs an analytic and comparative study on viewpoint of psychologists and sayings of Imam Ali's concerning the most fundamental need of humanity; Autogenesis and perfectionism. Probably it may help us answer the above questions and will also help us in manifesting some part of that infallible Imam's endless knowledge.

C. RESULT AND DISCUSSION 1. Psychology of Personality The terminology of Personality in psychology has grasped the attention of the behaviourists, more than any other context. The importance of understanding this concept is so much that failure to understand it precisely can lead to the disturbance in psychological research studies. (Alan O. Ross, 1992)

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The theory of Greek philosopher Theophrastus (371-281 BC) is among the oldest theory of behaviour and character – based personalities, he believed that each of us could recognize the other character by using our reasoning and experience.

Gordon Allport, according to most of the scholars is the founder of new studies regarding personality, and views it as a set of internal factors which leads to all the individual activities.

(Saeed Shamlu, 2003).

According to the above-mentioned definitions, we can conclude that the psychology of personality as a combination of actions, thoughts, excitements and personal stimuli, which appears while a person, interacts with us and others.

Attention of holy Qur’an and traditions of infallible Imams towards man’s existential dimensions is not hidden from anyone. As Imam Ali says: “the best cognition is auto gnosis (self-awareness)”; is referring towards the words of the Creator who says: “certainly insights have come to you from your Lord. So whoever sees, it is to the benefit of his own soul, and whoever remains blind, it is to its detriment, and I am not a keeper over you.” (Ch: An’aam: V: 104) Hence, the purpose and the ultimate goal of the Prophets and Apostles of God has been influencing the heart and souls of mankind, because the influence constituted on the self and soul by the slightest action of a man during his life effects man's character, behaviour and personality.

(Ali Reza A’arafi, 1997).

2. Autognosis (Self – Awareness) The skill of self-awareness or "autognosis" is one of the fundamental skills. Autognosis can be defined as man's ability towards understanding individual and social qualities in such a way that he is able to acquire true cognition of his strengths and weaknesses, interests and tendencies, needs and requirements and different aspects of his existence. And in the light of which, one achieves social and individual compatibility. Such cognition can be named as "insight". From Qur’anic point of view man has insight of his soul: “Indeed, man is a witness to himself”. (Ch: Al – Qiyamat; V: 14) In context to the importance of self-awareness and insight to oneself, it is enough that not having religious awareness and knowledge is way too easier than not having insight and self-awareness.

In comparison to all other cognitions, Self-cognition has the highest rank.

When in verses of Qur’an, in traditions and in brief precious sayings of Imam Ali's, autognosis is discussed as the way of reaching the God cognition, probably the reason behind it is that in the process of evolution and scientific advancement of mankind and discovery of new dimensions of man’s personality, for example, can have a vital role in leading the man towards perfection, and can explain some of the meanings of “self” which are hidden beyond the word of "Oneself", and which is divided into two parts "Real self" and "Ideal self".

Karen Horney encourages man towards "Ideal self" in her book "Theories of Personality".

She believes that awareness from the real self, potential talents and the abilities one has, makes the man unable to be succumbing to the environment of the society and can sometime take the initiative and distinguish his personality and make it better from other people who are influenced by the same social and cultural factors.

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Horney believes autogenesis and converting potential natural ability into reality, as an ethical duty and man's spiritual advancement and considers it as the result of ethical evolution.

Sometimes man is not satisfied just with the cognition of Real-Self and flourishing his potential natural abilities, but moves towards the cognition of Ideal-Self; wishing to reach the perfection.

(Same) In the book Peak of Eloquence (Nahjul Balagha), in the saying 149, Imam Ali (pbuh) says: One who does not realize his own value is condemned to utter failure.

The point indicated here is that lack of awareness and ignorance from oneself, can lead to destruction and doom. And one cannot attain cognition of himself unless he understands the philosophy of his creation.

One of the famous contemporary psychologist, Sigmund Freud, believes: “our knowledge of that we exist and where we exist, what are our needs and interests and have emotions and what is happening around us; all these together creates consciousness and apparent intelligence... however, since man cannot understand himself completely, so his personality is constituted only by the partial knowledge he has about himself and the major part of his personality is built up with his inner consciousness or unconsciousness. (Ali Akbar Seyasi, 1991).

He has compared the psyche of a man to an iceberg which is floating in sea and its major part is under the water, which is the centre of instincts, desires and wishes and has great impact on man's behaviour. (The same reference, page 14-15) Also according to Abraham Maslow, a perfect man wants to bloom his personality by correct and constructive ways. (Hess Fist, 2005).

On the other hand, Freud has also divided man's personality into three components; Id, ego and super-ego. (Aryanpour, 1978) Freud views Id as a main component of the system of personality, in which, all the things which a person experienced since the time of his birth constitutes the experience of his inner world. The id is an unorganized part of the personality structure that contains a human’s basic and instinctual drive. The ego acts according to the realityprinciple and seeks to please the drive in realistic ways. The superego reflects the internalization of moral and ethical values, mainly taught by parents applying their guidance and influence. (Rickey L. George, 2002).

Exactly what the holy Prophet said: "Each child is born on a natural instinct, it is the parents who make them (children) Jewish or Christian, or Zorastrian". (Behar Al-Anwar, Volume 2).

Man’s behaviourism or individual behaviours returns back to the tradition and valuable remarks of Imam Ali (pbuh) "I am surprised by someone who doesn't know himself but claims to know his God?!" (Mohammad Dashty, 2007).

Centuries before the theories of psychologists, Imam Ali (pbuh) said: “May God have his mercy on someone who knows from where he has come, where he is and where will he go” (Mohammad Ja’far Pakserisht, 2007).

Freud also considered the three mentioned possibilities in context of autognosis. He said that a man should know:

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1. From where did he come and where was his beginning point?

2. Where he is and what is his current situation?

3. And in the end where he will go?

In this regard, Maulana Jalal-Uddin Balkhi has composed a beautiful couplet: All day I think about it, and then at night I talk about it.

Where did I come from, and what am I supposed to be doing? I have no idea.

My soul is from elsewhere, I’m sure of that, And I intend to end up there (Mustafa Rahimi Niya, 2006).

Therefore, a person who doesn’t know the dos and don’ts suffers the distance from humanitarian principles and moral standards. A contemporary psychologist, Albert Bandura, believes that distancing from these principles and standards causes self-contempt, and self-contempt leads to the feeling of disability.

Bandura says: expected expostulation which one will receive by himself for crossing the moral standards, creates a motivational source, which helps him abide the moral standards in the presence of other stimulatory factors, and there is no worse punishment than self-contempt. (Ali Akbar Saif, 2005) and self-contempt can be seen in the actions of a person in different ways: Imam Ali (pbuh) says: If a person goes to meet a wealthy person and shows him his modesty because of his wealth, he has sold two third of his religion.

According to this wisdom, wealth of a wealthy man is not a privilege, for lack of which a poor man suffers with inferiority complex in front of a rich man.

And if a person goes through that feeling then that is the sign of lack of moral standards. In holy Qur’an Allah almighty says: “Rather, your possessions, and children are a test” (ch: Taghabun, verse: 15) Therefore, ignorance of a man towards his possession becomes a reason for the accession of inferiority complex and becomes eminent in his actions.

Alfred Adler believes that most of the unusual and strange behaviours of a society have its roots in inferiority complex. (Parirukh Dadsetan, journal of Psychology, first year, edition 40) He says: “inferiority complex is a result of not being able to attain your needs and being surrounded by stronger and more capable adults, and at last being forced to be dependent on the conditions of the environment. Feeling incapable means feeling weak.”

Perhaps a man, to compensate his deficiencies bows down in respect to a rich man of a society, or tries to pretend to be despicable and abhorrent in front of the wealthy man.

Similarly holy Prophet said: “there are a lot of people who try making themselves favourites but indeed make themselves despised.” (Amody, 2000).

Imam Ali in the letter number 31 of Nahjul Balagha to his son Imam Hasan says: “Keep your soul great and superior by avoiding any meanness.”

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However, being humble and submissive to others is not always the sign of weakness and incapability; rather it is a sign of generosity and intelligence, and in such conditions, these kinds of behaviours are perfectionist and full of optimization, and it is a process of perfectionism and achieving fulfilment.

Maulana has also not ignored this kind and said: A drop of rain dropped from the clouds It felt ashamed when saw the width of the sea I am nothing in comparison to the sea Indeed only the sea is there and I am nothing And when it saw itself with the eyes of inferiority Pearl fostered it inside itself It gained the height higher than the mountains It remained in inexistence until it existed. (Rahimi Niya, 2006).

So, if man instead of feeling discomfort, unhappiness and humiliation, takes the advantage of his great inner power and get to his wishes in that way he can compensate his lacks.

The Imam of the Shia world says: "O man, you think that you are weak and incapable, while the universe with all its complexity has been created for you, which means your power and energy, is unlimited". (Majid Rashidpour, 1984) .

Adler considers inferiority complex as best motivation for man towards the perfection.

This is while, self-contempt and self humiliation may cause moral and ethical deviation in society.

Defamation and back biting others are the results of moral deviations. Imam Ali (pbuh) considers it as a result of man's inability and says: “Backbiting is the attempt of an incapable man.”

Imam Ali points out towards the backbiters in brief and precious words, as an act of a helpless man, who has found himself helpless in front of reasoning and logic, or he hasn't attained what he wanted and in that case, he got indulged in the act of backbiting, and since he didn't succeed, so he blames others for his failure.

Sigmund Freud regarding a person being helpless in doing his duties believes that being hopeless for attaining a goal, finding excuses for his inappropriate behaviour and blaming others for it, are among the most famous examples of Defence Mechanism, Sublimation and Psychological Projection. (John, 2004).

Contemporary psychologists of personality believe reprehension of a person for his failure is less dangerous than the reprehension of the person himself. (Duane Schultz, 2008).

So, a backbiter has a feeling of inferiority complex regarding that person, since he cannot see the success and advancement of that person, he starts gossiping about him.

One, whose harvest has burnt, doesn’t want someone else’s candle blazing.

In his well-known theory, Martin Seligman says about personal backbiting: when we face a failure, by blaming it to some reasons, we justify our problems and lack of control over ourselves. He

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believes that a pessimist faces failures because of his inner reasons and an optimist, because of his outer reasons. For instance: if you fail in an exam and attribute it to inner reasons, you will tell yourself that there is a problem in you perhaps, you are not bright enough to pass this exam. But if you attribute it to outer reasons, then you will think that the flaw is somewhere else, perhaps your teacher doesn't like you or your job doesn't leave you enough time for studying. (Same reference, page 499) In a precious narration quoted from Imam Ali (pbuh), he says: “O’ people, blessed is the man whose own flaws keep him away from (looking into) the flaws of others” (Mohammad Dashti, 2006).

Hence, a person who does backbiting is either because of inability or weakness, and because of that, he can’t take back his rights, and thinks that the only way to get back his right is through backbiting and gossiping, which eventually increases his weaknesses.

Lack of self-regard and self-respect makes a person feel frustrated and that feeling leads towards aggressiveness.

Stress, anger and aggression, cognitive impairment and depression are a few prevalent psychological reactions to mental stress and tension. Wisdom 746 of Nahjul Balagha confirms the mentioned facts in which Imam Ali (pbuh) says: “madness is the beginning of anger and regret is the end.”

Anger is a psychological condition which causes blood circulation in the body of a man. An angry man loses his contemplation intellectualization, and turns into a wild animal; and so he indulges into unreasonable acts.

Anger is not something which just happens unexpectedly and out of compulsion but it is a state in which man is completely aware, conscious and in control.

According to the famous contemporary psychologist, Albert Ellis, the root of all problems and turmoil lies in irrational thoughts. He says, “It is not the things which disturb a man, but it’s the irrational ideology and his view point towards those things that disturbs him. (David D. Burns, 2001).

Anger and rage annihilates intellect and wisdom, and someone who gets angry, surely lacks patience and tolerance, and cannot take wise and intellectual step, and ties himself up with the chains of anger, hatred and enmity.

It is quoted in the book of Ghurar Al-Hikam and Durar Al-Kalim from Imam Ali (pbuh): “Anger corrupts the mind and carries away from the right path.”

Yusuf Karimi, in his book "Social Psychology" expresses his idea regarding the outcomes of anger and rage as: "this instinct, if possible, tries to destroy and annihilate others and if it fails to target others, the aggression returns to the person himself, which ends up in self-destruction and suicide.

(Karimi, 1994).

Holy Prophet (pbuh) said: "‫"ﺍاﻟﻐﻀﺐ ﻳﯾﻔﺴﺪ ﺍاﻷﻳﯾﻤﺎﻥن ﮐﻤﺎ ﻳﯾﻔﺴﺪ ﺍاﻟﺨ ّﻞ ﺍاﻟﻌﺴﻞ‬. Anger destroys faith as vinegar destroys honey. (Sheikh Koleini, 2002, Vol: 3, page 412)

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However, there are some high self-esteem people who easily face their life’s tension and their spiritual calmness is not affected easily. (Mohammad Naqi Barahini, 2006).

Kobasa, calls such people “men of resistance”. Member of group (B) in contrary to member of group (A) can work without getting confused; they don’t have hasty and compulsive nature, thus they have a lot of patience and don't get angry easily. (Rita L. Atkinson and…, 2005) Saying of Imam Sadiq ( ) is enough to condemn the anger: “‫”ﺍاﻟﻐﻀﺐ ﻣﻔﺘﺎﺡح ﮐﻞ ﺷ ّﺮ‬. Wrath is the key of all wickedness. (Koleini) Among other reactions of a desperate and helpless man is the appearance of jealousy drive. A helpless person, who is breeding hatred and enmity in himself, hopes that the person he hates gets into trouble, and sometimes he persuades the other person to hurt him. Like Cain son of Adam, kills his brother Abel, or like Josef’s brother pushed him into the well. “And (say, I seek protection of the Lord) from the evil of the envious one when he envies” (Ch: Falaq, verse: 5) Narrations and traditions have introduced an envier as unhealthy and sick person. Like in Nahjul Balagha wisdom 256 Imam Ali (pbuh) says: "‫"ﺻﺤّﺔ ﺍاﻟﺠﺴﺪ ﻣﻦ ﻗﻠّﺔ ﺍاﻟﺤﺴﺪ‬. Health of a body lies in avoiding jealousy.

As per the saying of Imam Ali (pbuh), many contemporary psychologists believe, jealousy is the main source of many sicknesses. Thus, it has been proved by science that sickness such as ulcer and many other internal sicknesses occur from mental disturbance and anxiety, and jealousy forms the very basis of all of them. (Mohsen Abbas Nejad, 2005).

A word of Imam Ali (AS), in Nahjul Balagha wisdom 225 consolidates the words of psychologists, he says: "‫ ﻋﻦ ﺳﻼﻣﺔ ﺍاﻷﺟﺴﺎﺩد‬،٬‫"ﺍاﻟﻌﺠﺐ ﻟﻐﻔﻠﺔ ﺍاﻟ ُﺤﺴّﺎﺩد‬. I am surprised by the jealous person's ignorance towards his health.

According to the views of Imam Ali (pbuh) and psychologists of personality, we can say: "a jealous person is usually sensitive, sick, depressed and aggressive and different parts of his body come under the attack of his mental states. Sometimes even the friends of an envier leave him alone.

As Imam Ali (AS) says: “‫"ﻻ ﺭرﺍاﺣﺔ ﻣﻊ ﺣﺴﺪ‬. There is no peace with jealousy.

Rushd Uddin Vatvaat has beautifully composed the words of Imam Ali (pbuh) in couplets: 1.

2.

3.

4.

Avoid jealousy and live happily With jealousy nobody can be happy If you want to marry joy You must divorce jealousy (Rushd Uddin Vatvaat, 1986, page 19)

Since a jealous person, always is in torment from the success and advancement of others, and the inferiority complex has rooted itself in his existence and sometimes can be seen in his words and behaviour of his daily life.

Imam Ali (pbuh) says: “often your utterances and expressions of your face leak out the secrets of your hidden thoughts.”

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It is clear that unconscious mind has role in every aspect of a person’s personal and social life and willingly or unwillingly, it can be seen in his action.

As per the saying of Imam Ali (pbuh), Freud believes, some of the incidents and desires disturb a person emotionally, and unintentionally become out casted, and in those situation they may affect our lives too. Unconscious forces are present even in minor behaviours. Movement of a part of a body, scrawling on a paper, joking and smiling, all these can be the unconscious meaning.

For example, instead of saying “I am happy that you are fine” we say “I am happy that you are not fine”. (Rita L. Atkinson and...)

Thus, a man should be very careful about his behaviour and speech, because a daily behaviour of a person shows his inner personality, which sometimes can be seen with the expression of the faces and slip of tongues. Imam Ali (pbuh) in Nahjul Balagha wisdom 148 says: “Speak to get known, indeed man is hidden under his tongue”.

Maulana Jalal-Uddin Balkhi has composed a beautiful couplet to support the saying of Imam Ali (pbuh): 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

Each phrase itself is a sign of a position Position, like hand and phrase is like tool Man is hidden under his tongue This tongue is like a veil on the shrine of soul Since God called the face as the representative Eyes of a mystic is gazed on the face

Given the above content we can understand, that slip of tongue gives us a glimpse from deep inside of a man, which sometimes unconsciously and unwillingly appears in ones speech and action.

Imam Ali (pbuh) has mentioned these facts centuries ago in his wisdoms and today after few centuries have psychologists have reached to this fact.

Sigmund Freud, a contemporary psychologist, also believes that mind of a human is like iceberg which is floating in the middle of an ocean; if we divide this iceberg in three parts, the conscious mind will be considered as peak of iceberg and sub-conscious mind will be considered as the middle section, and the biggest section of that iceberg which is under that deep ocean, and is hidden from our sight is unconscious mind, and sometimes the content of unconscious mind exchanges place with the conscious mind and can be seen in our behaviour and action. (Ali Akbar Seyasi, 1991).

Regarding the slip of tongue Sa’di has composed a beautiful couplet: 1.

2.

3.

4.

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Until man doesn't speak His strengths and weaknesses are hidden Don't think each grove is a sapling It can be a leopard is sleeping there. (Gulestan Saadi, 1984).

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D. CONCLUSIONS Even though view point of Imam Ali (pbuh) regarding pedagogy and psychological issues are fourteen centuries old, but have been described as precise and deep. However, after centuries of research and study scientists and researchers have decoded or are decoding many conceptual and semantic perspectives.

This research shows wherever Imam Ali (pbuh) has spoken about autognosis, he has considered God cognition as its result, while psychologists have just used the word of “reaching perfection�.

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