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Mosques Are Places of Worship, Not Political Stage Events

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By: Agung Suwandaru) *

Places of worship such as mosques should be a place to fulfill the spiritual needs of society, not as a place of practical politics that can tear the unity of the nation.

The mosque as the house of Allah is a place that should be used to glue ukhuwah between worshipers, the presence of practical politics will certainly tarnish the main function of the mosque.

Takmir mosque has a role to convey the message of peace and foster a tolerant attitude towards differences. Of course, do not let the difference in political views bring the source of the problem, in fact the election is a manifestation of the spirit of democracy, not spreading hatred and vile.

The case of politicization of places of worship has happened lately, where leaflets containing writings on behalf of the Indonesian mosque Council da’wah bulletin ciracas circulated in the community.

The contents of the leaflet contained a text themed “The New Year of Spirit for New Leaders.” The ciracas party said that the emergence of the da’wah material leaflet was a paper discussing politics.

The severity of the Da’wah DMI bulletin of the Ciracas branch does not reflect the vision and mission, nor the views of the DMI, but the thoughts of individuals who try to ride the DMI for personal and political interests.

Minister of Religion Lukman Hakim also complained about the rise of places of worship that were supposed to sow the spirit of worship and peace, justification for the emergence of division and hatred for political reasons.

 “Do not use religion, do not manipulate and exploit religion in terms of the outside side to be used as a justifying factor or practical political interest, this is done in order to restore the essence of religion to the teachings of real religion,” said Lukman.

Semogoa the clerics, religious teachers and clerics can obey and implement what was said by the Minister of Religion. Because many people are already fed up with the political material that resonates from the pulpit of the mosque.

Intention of course would want to direct all souls to the Ka’bah in the Grand Mosque, but in this political year, mosque worshipers could be led to political interests.

If we remember in the past, of course we can still distinguish between the lectures of the late KH Abdurrahman Wahid in the pulpit of the mosque which affirm that Islamic teachings are in line with the ideals of social liberation and democracy, with ulama who advocate politicizing mosques while embracing groups who for 32 years made the wealth of his family, colleagues and supporters.

Unfortunately, at this time there are still rare examples of praxis about the connection between mosques, religion and politics that preach the ideals of solidarity and emancipation. But so many examples of the politicization of mosques in the interest of spreading hatred and strengthening the political position of the political business elite of looters.

The real threat of the emergence of politicization of mosques is the splitting of people only because of differences in political views, mosques should be a place that soothes and reassures the soul, not necessarily as a stage to gain votes by bringing down political opponents. Worse, politicians who want to make mosques as a stage for political campaigns, they casually quote a portion of the verses and hadith of the prophet to support their interests.

The next threat is the disappearance of the meaning of the sanctity of the mosque itself. The politicization of mosques is a real form of crime, because people who use mosques as a campaign stage means manipulating mosques for their own sake.

We all hope that there will be no more political turmoil that has started from inside the mosque, because the mosque is a sacred place of worship for Muslims, therefore it is fitting that we play a role in making the mosque and its territory free from all forms of politicization of mosques.

The politicization of the mosque has implications for two things. On the one hand this action is no doubt a serious threat to the nation’s democracy. The involvement of religious elements in practical politics has proven to have caused a lot of negative things, ranging from discrimination, the potential for social divisions and friction which resulted in the loosening of kinship.

Islam does not teach people to be anti-political. History records that Islam is a political religion. However, the political style played by Islam is not a political style of power that justifies any means to gain votes. Political Islam is a high-level politics oriented to humanity.

All Muslims in Indonesia should restore the function of the mosque for the sake of worship and da’wah, and build a spirit of tolerance among the people. It is time for Muslims to stop discussing practical politics in the mosque, which in fact does bring more harm than benefit.

However the mosque must return to become a sterile place from various elements of certain practical politics. This is because pilgrims in the mosque come from various groups of Muslims, not partisan supporters of political parties or certain candidates. So that the takmir of the mosque and its ranks need to be aware of the complexity of Muslims.

Returning a mosque to a pure place of worship is a great homework of Muslims today. Let the politicians fight in the field. Don’t let mosques become the realm of political battle.

) * The author is a social and political observer

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