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Nahdlatul Ulama’s green agenda
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Marine plastic debris has moved up high on the international environmental agenda — and for good reason. (Shutterstock/File)
N
ahdlatul Ulama (NU), the country’s largest Muslim organization, will hold its consultation meeting and grand conference with the theme “Strengthening Ukhuwah Wathaniyah [national brotherhood] for the People’s Sovereignty” from Feb. 27 to March 1 in Miftahul Huda Al-Azhar Islamic boarding school in the West Java town of Banjar.
These two important events will deliberate and produce a number of fatwas and recommendations regarding, among other things, matters of ritual, as well as state and community issues such as popular sovereignty and plastic waste.
Through the gathering, the NU aims to offer solutions to challenges the Indonesian people and particularly nahdliyin (NU members) face on a daily basis. The fatwas and recommendations may serve as guidelines to help them deal with not only Islamic law but also specific problems affecting people on a day-to-day basis.
Both events are relevant and timely as the presidential election is approaching and the problem of marine plastic waste needs urgent attention and action.
NU founding fathers had a farsighted and remarkable vision when deliberating the concept of the NU.
Before securing the approval of Hasyim Asy’ari, Kyai (Muslim cleric) Ridlwan Abdullah sketched the globe as the central NU symbol. Neither Java nor Indonesia was in his mind, Ridlwan envisioned the NU as a group that would embrace global unity.
The rise of environmental issues through the discussion of marine plastic waste in the upcoming NU gathering conveys the message that the NU is a modern organization with a global vision.
