Islam Nusantara a stepping stone to build solidarity

Malang, NU Online
The newly elect rector of Maulana Malik Ibrahim State Islamic University Malang, Prof. Dr. Abdul Haris said that "Islam Nusantara nationally and internationally propagated by NU is a typical Indonesian Islam that promotes tolerance in addition to accepting differences, whether religious, ethnic, racial, or cultural."

"Thus, the NU doctrine of Islam Nusantara becomes a stepping stone in building solidarity through such inclusive values as tawasuth (moderation), tasamuh (tolerance), taáwun (mutual help), tawazun (harmony), and others," he said.

According to Prof Haris, the roots of the inclusive values have plunged on the basis of the awareness of Muslims in Indonesia.

"Instead of expressions of worship and religious rites alone, Indonesian Islam has also been formed by and embedded in it the aspects such as cultures, traditions, customs and others," he said, adding that the religious life of Muslims at this time could not be separated from the process of dakwa (religious propaganda) or the spread of Islam in Indonesia since a few centuries earlier.

"Before Islam arrived in Indonesia, the archipelago cultures had mostly been influenced by long-standing religions such as Hinduism and Buddhism, including various traditional beliefs such as animism, dynamism, and so on,"he said.

He pointed out that the Islamic cultures eventually became small traditions in the swirl of the great traditions of Hinduism and Buddhism. The small traditions then affected each other and maintained their existence, he said. (Masdar)