Indonesian Muslims are currently facing major challenges in terms of religious understanding. The emergence of extreme thoughts that aggressively spread certain denominational groups is suspected to be the cause of the rise of radicalism among the society.
Based on that, the speaker from Jamiyyah Al-Masyari of Lebanon, Fahdi Alamuddin said that Pesantren as an institution of Islamic education and as a bastion of the state must be present as the solution of this problem. One of them is by teaching Islam Ahlus Sunnah wal Jamaah (Aswaja) to the students.
However, he argues, some Pesantren education institutions today do not teach Aswaja teachings that are known to be moderate and tolerant, and instead teaching of certain groups that indicated extreme. We are facing groups like Wahabi who are vigorously propagating extreme thought, which is fond of cultivating practices such as the Prophet’s Mawlid, and so on. Pesantren should be aware of the thinking of groups like this, he said in his presentation.
According to Fahdi, Pesantren should equip their students specifically to stem these extreme thoughts. Because, if you do not have provisions in the community, santri that will be affected by the extreme. For example, Pesantren can send their santri to villages to confront heretical claims addressed to community religious practices.
For example in the case of the Prophet’s Mawlid. The mawlid of the Prophet is clearly according to the Shari’a, because in it there is praise for the Prophet. In this case, even God praised the Prophet in the Koran, he said.
The same thing also expressed a speaker from Global University, Lebanon, Sheikh Saad Al Ajuz. According to him, Pesantren in Indonesia represents a distinct Indonesian Islam, a tolerant, moderate, and anti-extremist Islam. According to him, the condition has been going on since the first Islamic mass organizations appeared.
Now I ask, why did NU appear at that time? The answer is that NU was founded by Sheikh Hashim Ayari in response to extreme thoughts that were beginning to spread among Muslims, he told seminar participants.
As a religious responsibility and national commitment, it is time for Pesantren to appear at the forefront of saving the nation and nation from the threats and actions of the radical movement. The abandonment of ideology and radicalism movement in the name of Islam will undoubtedly undermine the nation-state building and destroy the unity of the Indonesia which has already agreed with it. Attitudes and actions of Pesantren is now being eagerly awaited by the people of the nation.
By: Ajeng Mufadillah*)