By: Abdul Karim )*
One of the essences of fasting is to increase solidarity and empathy, especially among the nation’s children. Therefore, Ramadan is the right momentum to increase the spirit of unity in the midst of Indonesia’s pluralism.
Indonesia is a country that has a lot of diversity in it, ranging from language, ethnicity, race, class to religion. In fact, this diversity has existed for a long time and has become one of the characteristics of our nation. Therefore, the founding fathers of the nation had a motto of Bhinneka Tunggal Ika who wanted to invite all people to be able to remain united in the midst of their differences.
It would be wonderful if the whole community could maintain diversity in the spirit of unity or harmony. Especially in the holy month of Ramadan as it is today, which is one of the most appropriate moments for us to continue to increase unity between people. Do not let certain parties destroy this harmony for any reason.
As the important meaning contained in the month of Ramadan itself, according to H Muharram Marzuki as Secretary of the Research Development and Training Education Agency (Sesbalitbangdiklat) of the Ministry of Religion that preventing or refraining from anything bad is the meaning contained in this holy month.
One thing that needs to be underlined in the context of diversity in citizens is that we must be able to refrain from things that can threaten or damage the existing social harmonization and become the noble ideals of the founding fathers of the nation. Therefore, especially for Muslims themselves, Ramadan is a very appropriate moment to be able to discipline yourself.
As religious people, our demands are not just good behavior to get closer to God alone, but we are also required to be able to maintain harmony between fellow human beings, become more polite, tolerant individuals and be able to maintain peace among fellow believers. And also we have to create a good relationship with the environment around us.
Thus, we are able to become a complete person, who can maintain harmony between the vertical relationship with God and the horizontal relationship that includes between human beings and the environment. Don’t let something unwanted happen, such as acts of intolerance, let alone acts of violence. Therefore self-prevention and self-discipline in this month of Ramadan is very important to do.
Not only good deeds in the context of maintaining the harmony of brotherhood among Muslims, but we must also be able to establish good relations in a social harmony even to those of different religions. It is very important to create such a thing as tranquility and peace in the midst of a society that has a very large diversity like Indonesia.
Some of the people may still think of ambiguous understanding of tolerance between fellow religious people. Some think that it is as if we have to pawn our aqidah and faith, so that this is an excuse for them not to be able to live tolerantly with friends of different religions. However, this opinion is clearly wrong.
The tolerance referred to here is purely in social relations between fellow human beings and also between fellow citizens. Thus, tolerance should be easily practiced so that fellow citizens can live in harmony side by side to help each other if someone else gets into trouble regardless of their background.
It would be nice to live in a social harmony that can be maintained in the midst of a country that has extraordinary diversity like Indonesia. Let’s continue to strive for a much better social harmony, and this month of Ramadan is the best momentum to improve each other in order to increase national unity within the framework of the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia.
)* The author is a contributor to the Press Circle and Cikini Students