End to religious violence begins in Islamic schools, say scholars

Erwida Maulia ,  The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Tue, 03/25/2008 11:20 AM

To help mend the image of Islam, Islamic boarding schools (pesantren) should play a proactive role in fighting violence committed in the name of religion, Muslim scholars said Monday.

Speaking at a three-day seminar, they also called on the traditional Islamic schools and their leaders to revitalize their function as "the liberator of marginalized people".

Wahid Institute director Yenny Zannuba Wahid said religious-based violence by Muslim hard-liners had tainted the image of Islam and pesantren.

"Islam was once renowned as a liberation movement. But now it's sort of stuck with negative images related to acts of violence, such as by forcing one's faith on others," she said.

Yenny, daughter of former president Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid, said clerics and their pesantren should reinvigorate their roles in actively putting an end to religious attacks by "bringing back the liberation function of Islam".

The seminar, which will end Tuesday, is being attended by dozens of pesantren leaders and other clerics as well as Muslim scholars.

Titled "The Role of Pesantren and Ulema in Preventing Religious-Based Violence", the forum is jointly hosted by the Wahid Institute, founded by Gus Dur, and the Spring Foundation.

One aim of the event is to discuss violence blamed on people claiming to be Muslims.

Discussion will also focus on such questions as how to rightly interpret some Koran verses and hadith (Prophet Muhammad's conducts and sayings, used as another source of rules in Islam) that have been used to justify acts of violence by certain Islamic groups.

Also on the agenda are the questions of Islamic tolerance of violence and how jihad fi sabilillah (Islamic holy war) is implemented.

Prominent cleric, poet and senior leader of Nahdlatul Ulama, Ahmad Mustofa Bisri said violence perpetrated in the name of Islam did not come from traditional Islamic boarding schools mostly located in rural areas.

Instead, he said, such acts were conducted by Islamic movements based in big cities like Jakarta, Bandung, Surakarta and Yogyakarta.

"The perpetrators are usually those having high spirits of religiosity but also lacking Islamic understanding," he told the seminar.

"Pesantren can improve this situation. It knows no limitation in learning; it has a culture of 'never stop learning'," said Mustofa, better known as Gus Mus.

He urged pesantren to take a side and become more vocal in calling for an end to any violence in the name of Islam.

Gus Mus said pesantren were a "community's hope" to stop religious violence and should be able to show its usefulness for people at large.

"People are interested in pesantren because they can sense their benefits. If people couldn't see the benefits, pesantren would not be of interest anymore," he said.

Seminar coordinator Abdul Moqsith Ghazali said the event was being held as interreligious harmony and tolerance was under threat by certain Muslim groups themselves.

For example, he cited cases of attacks and violence against churches and mosques belonging to Muslim groups branded as "heretic".

"Amid the increasing violence under the pretext of Islam, the people are waiting for moderate, righteous and consistent views from pesantren leaders," Moqsith said.

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