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reacher Sulianto, who is affectionately known as Suli, told around 300 hundred Muslims during Friday prayers at Uswatun Hasanah Mosque in Palmerah, West Jakarta, about the importance for Muslims to pursue knowledge, as ordered by the religion. He said that developing knowledge was central to Islam, and thus urged believers to deepen their knowledge, particularly through the Quran.

“Showing courage is not enough to defend Islam. We all need to be knowledgeable. Prophet Muhammad always encouraged his followers to pursue knowledge and in Islam, the person who has more knowledge will have a better standing in front of Allah,” Suli said during the Friday sermon.

Suli, who was born in Malang, East Java, 42 years ago, said that such a pursuit was important for Muslims as a guide to help them strengthen their religious values. He himself revealed that he started to get closer to Islam and practice Islamic teachings around a decade ago.

Unlike many other preachers in the city, Suli is perhaps among the few that has refrained from using the minbar to deliver political messages or radical views.

The Religious Affairs Ministry has recently looked into ways to discourage Islamic preachers from propagating hatred against certain groups or ethnicities in an effort to maintain the country’s unity in diversity.

In order to better monitor and standardize views among Islamic preachers in Jakarta with regard to providing the public with peaceful messages that also discourages civil unrest, the Jakarta chapter of the Indonesian Mosque Council (DMI) has established a union for Islamic preachers.

“There have been 100 preachers who have joined the organization since last year. However, the figure was dwarfed by the presence of around 3,000 mosques across the capital,” head of the DMI’s Jakarta chapter Makmun Al Ayyub told The Jakarta Post.

He acknowledged that particularly ahead of voting day, the election was among the preferred issues brought up by preachers in their sermons, thus advocating religious values itself was not prioritized.

“It’s OK to deliver a sermon with passion as long as it aims to encourage people to do good. But it’s wrong and unethical when they start name-calling,” he said.

It has been speculated that preachers have often urged Jakartans to not cast their vote for Jakarta Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama, a Christian and Chinese-Indonesian who is currently seeking reelection.

The Mosque Welfare Council’s (DKM) head of Baiturrahman Mosque at the House of Representatives building complex, Munawir, told the Post that given the diverse backgrounds and political affiliations of people attending Friday prayers at the mosque, the delivery by preachers of political issues was strictly prohibited.

“It’s the people’s right to express their political stance, but not here. Please do that somewhere else,” said Munawir, who has been part of the organization since 2007, or 10 years after the mosque was inaugurated in 1997.

“In the past, I often received complaints from house members once the preachers brought up political issues during their sermons. However, such a case does not occur often because most preachers already understand it [should not be brought up],” he said, adding that for every sermon delivered, a preacher can earn around Rp 1 million (US$75).

Lukman Hakim, a preacher with the Jami Annur Mosque in Slipi, West Jakarta, told the Post that in order to better monitor the material given, he along with the DKM would often evaluate the performances of each preacher.

“We cannot order each preacher to deliver a certain theme before they take to the minbar, as it is largely their authority. However, if we think that the material delivered is not in line with Islamic core values, such as spreading hatred, we reprimand them after the prayer,” said Lukman, who graduated from the State Islamic University in Jakarta almost thirty years ago.