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Ramadan Momentum Stop Hoaks and Hate Speech

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By: Muhammad Yasin)*

Hoax trends to hate speech are negative behaviors that are contrary to Islamic teachings. This phenomenon must be stopped, especially in the momentum of the holy month of Ramadan.

As civilized human beings, especially as Muslims, of course we must be able to maintain peace with each other. Moreover, with Islam which is referred to as ‘a mercy to all nature’, then of course we must continue to spread the good impact to the community. We must continue to promote peace in society and efforts to respect different groups.

The best momentum to do all of this is, of course, during the month of Ramadan as it is today. So not only can we practice to endure hunger and thirst, but we must also be able to refrain from various types of lust and things that are not good. For example, spreading hoaxes and hate speech in any form and aimed at anyone.

Especially in the midst of an all-digital world like today, there are so many people who are very easy to access anything on their social media through their respective cellphones. So the possibility of throwing hate speech at each other to hoaxes seems to have become a common phenomenon because we can hide behind social media accounts with different identities.

Such behavior is clearly not good behavior, Islam certainly will never allow its people to do such things. On the contrary, even in the midst of the onslaught of social media and also easy access to anywhere through the digital world as it is today, as good Muslims, we should continue to spread kindness.

There are at least two things that can make it very easy for people to continue spreading hoaxes and hate speech on their social media. The first is because of the identity that can be disguised and the second is that they always hide behind the name of freedom of expression or democracy. In fact, it does not reflect the morals of a good Muslim.

As revealed by the former commissioner of the National Commission on Violence against Women, Riri Khariroh, that this holy month of Ramadan must absolutely not be polluted by bad things, including hate speech or incitement in any form to hate other groups. Therefore, according to him, in a month full of blessings like this, it is the most appropriate moment for all Muslims to practice morality.

Various things that may not be useful must be able to endure and we also avoid as the essence of Ramadan itself. We must also be able to not be easily trapped by consuming fake news or hoaxes that are widely spread on social media, let alone to spread them.

Hate speech and hoaxes are dirty practices that can ignite emotions, thus creating conflict and division of the nation. In fact, the Indonesian people need to maintain unity and harmony as the main capital to be able to advance and compete with other nations. Therefore, a strong public awareness is needed to jointly prevent this.

Ramadan is our momentum to get closer to the Almighty by continuing to strive for good behavior in any case, including being involved in stopping hoaxes and hate speech. With this shared awareness, harmony and unity in Indonesia can be maintained.

)* The author is a student of IAIN Kendari

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