NU chairman delivers sermon at president's daughter’s wedding

Jakarta, NU Online
General Chairman of Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) KH Said Aqil Siroj said the wedding of Kahiyang Ayu, the daughter of President Joko Widodo, to Muhammad Afif Bobby was a sign of God's perfect plan.

"The wedding of Ananda Kahiyang Ayu to Muhammad Afif Bobby Nasution that we attend today is one of the signs of the greatness and the majesty of Allah," said Kiai Said while giving a wedding sermon at Graha Saba Buana building, Jl Letjen Suprapto, Surakarta, Wednesday (8/11).

The wedding, Kiai Said explained, was also as a form of the color of Islam Nusantara because of the unification of two cultures and the wedding ceremony in customary.

"The wedding in addition to uniting Mas Boby and Kahiyang physically, is also a meeting point of khuluq (morality), culture, civilization, and personality," Kiai Said said.

The wedding of Kahiyang Ayu to Muhammad Bobby Afif Nasution is being greeted with great enthusiasm by the public.

As reported by The Jakarta Post, the country's largest English newspaper, Surakartans started gathering early in the morning along the street in front of Jokowi’s private residence on Jl. Kutai Utara, Sumber, where the President, accompanied by First Lady Iriana, is scheduled to conduct a Javanese ritual to hang bleketepe (row of plaited coconut leaves) at 8 a.m. local time on Tuesday.

Several other rituals, including siraman (bathing of the bride), followed yesterday's traditional wedding procession, which was attended only by Jokowi’s immediate family and relatives.

Around 1,200 members of the Pro-Jokowi (Projo) volunteer group were reported to have arrived at Purwosari Station in Surakarta on Tuesday morning. They were transported on 30 buses to the Donohudan Haj Dormitory in Boyolali, where they will stay for the duration of the wedding until Wednesday.

The decorating of Graha Saba Buana, the wedding venue owned by President Jokowi’s family, was reportedly completed on Tuesday.

“The akad nikah or ijab qabul [Islamic matrimony] will be conducted at Graha Saba Buana at 8 a.m. on Wednesday. The President will give his daughter's hand in marriage. Vice President Jusuf Kalla will act as witness for the bride while Coordinating Economic Minister Darmin Nasution will be witness for the groom,” said Quirinto Endy, coordinator of journalists covering the wedding.

Present also at the occasion were Rais Aam (supreme leader) of Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) KH Ma'ruf Amin and the daughter of the former Indonesian president Alisa Wahid. (Masdar)