Terrorism exposes ugly truths

What hurts Muslims most is the fact that militants have begun to target predominantly Muslim countries. The bombings in Jordan are not likely to be the last ones that kill Muslims. As long as sections of the Muslim community continue to support suicide bombings in other countries like Israel, terrorists are not going to stop strapping bombs to themselves, not for the convenience of Muslim bystanders.

Most Muslims don’t get it.

In the wake of the Bali bombings, Indonesian Indonesian Vice President Yusuf Kalla famously remarked:

"Suicide bombings in Afghanistan and Iraq are perhaps understandable because there is an ‘opponent’ there…"

But suicide is clearly forbidden by Islamic law. No matter who the opponent is, suicide bombings can never be placed in the realm of ‘understanding’. The same Muslims who express ‘understanding’ on a violent and religiously-objectionable tactic are the same ones who remain silent when Israeli civilians are snuffed by a Hamas bomber. The moral high ground from which they reject suicide bombing Muslim civilians is hence merely an euphemism for tribalism.

Just last week, Yusuf Kalla gathered 18 prominent Muslim leaders and scholars to show them footage of threats allegedly made by Noordin Top against the United States, Australia, Britain and Italy. Naturally, the scholars expressed outrage and dismay. The chairman of the prominent Muhammadiyah Islamic organization, Din Syamsuddin, exhorted the police:

"If possible, he (Noordin Top) must be caught alive and hopefully he can explain what exactly are the motives behind his actions here…,"

Chances are, these religionists are demanding answers to stock questions like: "How can Muslims do this to Muslims?" It’s the identity of the victims that bothers them, not the tactic.

Despite annoying lapses, the Indonesian authorities and religious leaders do recognize the danger of ideological Islam. Scholar Komaruddin Hidayat of the Paramadina Foundation isolates the ingredients that ideologues are constantly on the lookout for:

"The combination of hard life and partial understanding of the concept of Islam and jihad…"

It helps that Indonesia has a rich intellectual aversion to forcing Islam down the ideological chute. Abdurrahman Wahid is perhaps the strongest example of this. In many respects, he is a giant on the Islamic stage in modern Indonesia and his election as fourth president in 1999 only enhances his already substantial profile.

Better known as Gus Dur, he was born into a famous family; his grandfather being Kai Haji Hasyim Asy’ari who studied Jurisprudence, Tradition and Sufism with both Shaykh Ahmad Khatib and Muhammad al-Nawawi during a period of seven years in Mecca in the 1890s, before returning to become famous as the kyai at the Pondok Pesantren Tebuireng. His greatest legacy lies in the foundational role in establishing Nahdatul Ulama (NU) in 1926. [1]

Gus Dur attained NU’s supreme position as Chairman in 1984. In 1994, he opposed the late President Suharto’s creation of ICMI (the Indonesian Association of Muslim Intellectuals), saying that it could become the ‘thin end of the wedge‘ as far as political Islam was concerned, leading to a threat from Islamist thinking to Indonesian democracy.

"As long as they think Islam is an ideology, then I will not participate. Islam is a way of life. Its adherents should follow it voluntarily, not needing any legislation from the state."

He was joined by eight other prominent scholars, one of whom was the late Nurcholis Madjid, who famously proclaimed in 1972: "Islam, yes; Islamic parties, no." The dictum that these Indonesian intellectuals held from very early on was critical in curbing the proliferation of Muslim extremism.

Singapore’s Defence Minister Teo Chee Hean acknowledges that Southeast Asia is a "key battleground", simply because the war so far has been waged between secular Muslim states like Indonesia and extremists who want to replace them with an ideological, intolerant alternative. Fortunately, Muslim leaders in the region remain cognizant of the roots of the danger. In a speech during Eid celebrations, Singapore’s Minister for Muslim Affairs, Dr Yaacob Ibrahim warned religious leaders to guard against "the influence of seemingly fashionable and even seemingly ‘Islamically-correct’ ideas from abroad". He added:

"The promise of an idealized past is in fact a response of a mind unable to grapple with current realities and a complex future."

It is important to note that Dr Yaacob drops several hints as to what this pernicious influence really is.

Hint 1: It comes "from abroad"
Hint 2: Its ideology is based on an "idealized past".

It’s not too difficult to connect the dots, is it?

It is a testament to Islam’s genuine cultural and spiritual power- and actually the ideologue’s own poverty in these respects- that ideology and extremism has not reached more Muslims, despite traditional Islam’s sometimes bizarre meekness before them. The recent bombings in Bali, Indonesia and the daily slaughter of Shia Muslims in Iraq show that ideological Islam is making dangerous gains, and will continue to do so unless an international, concerted effort is made to thwart it.

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[1] Islam and the Malay-Indonesian World, Peter Riddel

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