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Fatwa and reviving literacy

This fatwa or edict came in response to the increasing amount of hoaxes and hate speech that are mostly distributed through social media. 

Muhammad Nazil Iqdami (The Jakarta Post)
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Melbourne
Fri, June 16, 2017

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Fatwa and reviving literacy MUI chairman Ma’ruf Amin officially handed over the social media fatwa to Communications and Information Minister Rudiantara in a ceremony on June 5 2016. (JP/Dhoni Setiawan)

I

was enjoying the pre-dawn meal before fasting when I read that the Indonesia Ulema Council (MUI) had just released a fatwa guiding the use of social media in Indonesia.

This fatwa or edict came in response to the increasing amount of hoaxes and hate speech that are mostly distributed through social media. As a Muslim and an educator, I am excited but cannot help questioning, why now? What’s next?

Problems with social media have been escalating since the public became familiar with Facebook, Twitter, etc.

So, if the month of Ramadhan was thought to be the perfect moment to announce this fatwa, why did MUI wait until this year? Well, better late than never.

Nonetheless, hopefully this fatwa will be noticed by Muslims and all Indonesians in general, who are active social media users, as a reminder to stop using social media to bully, insult, spread hoaxes, and spread hatred.

Indeed fasting in Ramadhan means “self-control.”

Yet as an educator I am more intrigued to think of ways to help my students become aware of information circulated through social media that might be hoaxes. One practical solution might be to revisit the concept of literacy.

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