Aswaja should meet its social relevance

Yogyakarta, NU Online
Any principles of Islamic teaching on ahlussunnah wal jamaah (Aswaja) adopted by NU followers (Nahdliyin) should experience the process of contextualization and meet its social relevance.

The concept of kulliyatul khoms (five Islamic universal principles), namely the protection of religious freedom, the protection of life, the protection of mind, the protection of property or property rights, the right to enter into marriage and the protection of reproductive rights.<>

The concept has so far been viewed in mere individual level without searching for its social relevance. Whereas any policies like fuel oil price hike, privatization, liberalization would, directly or indirectly, threaten the realization of the purposeful concept.

The issues was taken up at a workshop on strengthening the role of syuriyah (advisory council), held by Yorgakarta's NU Regional Board (PWNU) and participated by some 60 NU young clerics at the Istana Hotel, Tegalrejo, Yokyakarta on Monday-Tuesday (19-20/5).

The workshop was aimed at strengthening the teachings of Aswaja, social analysis, and mapping any contemporary social problems.

Secretary of the PWNU, Drs HA Zuhdi Muhdlor, M. Hum, said the materials discussed were conflict resolution, social analysis mapping, contemporary Islamic movement and other relevant themes.

"The forum (halaqah) of the NU young clerics has produced some social analysis and recommendation that ought to be followed up by NU board members in all levels," he said.

While Organizing Committee chief, KH Tamyiz Muharram, MA, said the forum raised such favorable expectations for all participants had enthusiastically formulated action plans that would be followed up in each NU branch board and even by involving clerics in villages.

The participants were divided into 8 small groups to deepen and discuss materials on social analysis, conflict resolution, food and energy crisis, human rights, social, economic, and political mapping, the kulliyyatul khoms, mabadi'ul khoirul ummah, fikrah nahdliyyah, and so on.

"This training tries to develop paradigm on thinking and organizing based on real problems in society so that any teachings of Aswaja would experience the process of contextualization and meet its social relevance and intellectual," Tamyiz said.

He further added that the forum was not only focusing merely on religious texts, but it also exploring in-depth and comprehensive social reality. Though the forum, Tamyiz said, the participants were optimistic syuriyah would systematically and organizationally function without basing on religious ritual functions.

In the meantime, one of the training facilitators, Mustafied, handling the topic of social analysis and the kulliyyatul khoms, said the dialectics of participants was very dynamic. The analysis on reality combining social analysis tools and (religious) texts, he added, had raised critical findings.

Mustafied gave an example in analyzing the government's plan to raise fuel oil prices that he viewed as instrument for extensively exploiting oil resources "in which 80 percent of Indonesia's oil companies has been managed by foreign companies."

In the perspective of the kulliyyatul khoms, he said, the fuel oil price hike must be rejected for increasingly impoverishing people and having potential to threaten the principle of khifdhul mal (the protection of property).

Concerning the Cash Assistance Program (BLT), Mustafied said that it would not educate people and have potential to degrade their dignity and self-respect. The program would again threaten the principle of khifdhul irdh (the protection of dignity). (ron/dun)