Issues: `The Illusion of an Islamic State'

Thu, 06/04/2009 12:50 PM  |  Reader's Forum

The book The Illusion of an Islamic State: Expansion of Transnational Islamist Movements to Indonesia by the LibFor All Foundation, edited by former president and former chairman of the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), Abdurrahman Wahid, places the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia (HTI), the Council of Indonesian Jihad Fighters (MMI) and Islam Defenders Front (FPI) in a single box called "hard-line Islam".

This hard-line Islam is a manifestation of Wahabism that is opposed to the "Moderate Islam", which the authors of this book claim to profess.

This kind of categorization is simplistic, unfocused and runs counter to historical fact. As streams of Islamic thought, Wahabism and Salafism have obviously evolved over time, negotiating within their own places and times.

Your comments:

I like the way Munandar articulates his opinion about Islamic institutions, the comparable variance between Indonesia's PKS, the HTI and so forth to Wahabism, which I think of as internationalism.

I would be happier if the true (the grassroots) cadres of the so-called Ikhwanul Muslimin, which are mostly affiliated to the PKS, would admit that they are a political unit. Unfortunately, this issue made me eventually lose my enthusiasm to vote for the PKS; its grassroots cadres never explained the distinction between "politics time" and "religion time".

Cemp

This comment is one of the most manipulative ones I have ever read.

It is simply unbelievable how the author tries to defend such misanthropic and misogynistic ideologies like Wahabism and Salafism, even giving them the label of "evolving" ideologies, when the only thing evolving is the art of taqiya and infiltration used by their supporters.

The most appalling thing is the fact that the author treats these ideologies and their followers as being "Islamic thought" and "Muslim" respectively. Worse, Munandar puts organizations like the NU and the Muhammadiyah in the same sentence as fanatics.

It is very sad to watch the spread of these fanatics and their ideologies in the name of a donor country in the Middle East, where Indonesian women are treated like sex slaves and hate is a way of life.

Edo

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