INDONESIA: Fatwa May Tackle Jehad, Not Root Social Problems

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Fabio Scarpello

JAKARTA , Nov 22 2005 (IPS) - Sickened by a spate of senseless suicide bombings, the religious elite in the world’s largest Muslim country, has come up with a fatwa (edict) against jehadi terrorism-but worries remain about the roots of the phenomenon in underlying social problems.

The fatwa, issued last week, revolves around the interpretation of ‘jehad’ (holy war) and is seen as a step in the right direction by most commentators who, however, warn that social problems- as much as distorted readings of the Holy Quran – are at the base of the problem.

“It is a welcome development and will help clarify the perception of those who associate terrorism with jehad. But terrorism is not just the product of a distorted ideology. Its roots lie also in the social problems of our society,” Masdar Farid Mas’udi, director of Indonesian Society for Pesantren (religious schools) Development, told IPS in an interview.

The new “task force against terrorism’’, as the group of mainstream religious leaders has been dubbed, includes individual Muslim scholars as well as members of Indonesia’s two largest Islamic organisations, the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) and Muhammadiyah- which have a combined membership of 70 million people-and also representatives of Indonesia Ulema Council (MUI), the country’s highest religious body.

Their mission, as described by Indonesia’s Minister of Religious Affairs M. Maftuh Basyuni, is to explain what ‘jehad’ is and to counter the distorted ideology of radical Islam.

‘Jehad’ literally means struggle and according to most Muslim scholars, it means both an inward struggle to better oneself and the Muslim’s responsibility to prevent injustice in the world. In certain circumstances, it could also mean an active struggle. However, the concept has been distorted by terrorists, who have used it as a cover to carry out attacks in the name of Islam.

To counter misinterpretation, the task force has announced plans to publish pamphlets, monitor books and publications that promote wrong interpretations of Islam and also talk to the young and impressionable students that crowd the country’s ‘pesantrens’- private Islamic schools.

The pesantrens (also known as madrassas) in West and Central Java, have proved to be the favourite recruiting ground for the country’s growing radical movement.

The involvement of mainstream Islamic leaders breaks years of an almost total silence, during which the ulemas (religious leaders) stubbornly avoided comment on the link between terrorism and religion, except for a whispered ‘fatwa’ against terrorism, issued by the MUI back in 2003.

Credit for the changed attitude must go to a quiet evening the ulemas spent at the residence of Indonesia’s Vice-President Jusuf Kalla on Nov. 16, when the group was shown a video found after a recent police raid on a house in Semarang, West Java, where Noordin M. Top, a wanted terrorist, was thought to be hiding.

Apart from tips on how to make bombs and threaten Westerners, the video also showed three young people, who later blew themselves up in Bali on Oct. 1, justifying their action in the name of ‘jehad’. The attack left 20 people dead.

“My brother and wife, God willing, when you see this recording, I will already be in heaven,’’ one of them, identified as bomber Muhammad Salik Firdaus, said in Arabic.

Over the last three years, Indonesia has been stained by a series of terrorist attacks carried out by jehadi activists and Firdaus is one of nine home-grown suicide bombers so far identified by the local police.

Besides the latest bombing in Bali, suicide bombers were also deployed in the attacks in Jakarta against the Australian Embassy on Sep. 9, 2004 and on the JW Marriott Hotel on Aug. 5, 2003. The series began with the deadly Oct. 12, 2002 bombing in Bali.

The attacks, which have killed over 230 people, have been blamed on the Jemaah Islamiyah, a terrorist group active in South-east Asia and believed to be linked to Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda network.

In a series of raids, prompted by the latest ‘café bombing’ directed against Western tourists on the resort island of Bali, police, on Nov. 9, cornered and eliminated Azahahri bin Husin, a Malaysian-born engineer who was named as the mastermind behind the worst of the suicide attacks.

Since watching the video, the ulemas and other religious leaders have spoken out unreservedly against the suicide bombers.

Ma’aruf Amin, head of the MUI’s fatwa department as well as the designated leader of the newly formed religious task force said that terrorism is “haram” (a sin) and therefore, forbidden under Islam.

“What they do is suicidal acts and also acts of terrorism. Since Indonesia is not in a war zone, those acts are forbidden,” he was quoted as saying by Detik.com, an online news service.

Similar condemnations have been made by other top Islamic leaders and recorded in the media worldwide.

Din Syamsuddin, a senior member of Muhammadiyah and one of those invited at Kalla’s home, said ‘jehad’ as a means of outward struggle is not acceptable in a context such as Indonesia.

“The concept of jehad is only acceptable in war-torn regions, where Muslims are evicted from their homeland and their wealth is confiscated, like in Palestine,” he told the daily, ‘The Jakarta Post’.

However, Mas’udi, who is also a member of the NU board, warned against the trend to define terrorism as a problem merely due to a wrong interpretation of the Holy Quran or to limit it as an issue relevant only to the Muslim community.

“If a young man thinks that his life is worthless and that his death might be worthier and therefore, decides to blow himself up, then at the root of the problem there are also social issues, such as poverty and low education, that needs to be addressed by all and not just by the Muslims,” he argued.

A similar comment was made by Aleksius Jemadu, a security analyst who teaches at Parahyangan University in Bandung, Central Java.

“Terrorism is a problem that has its roots in society and it is in society that it needs to be solved with the involvement of all of society,” he told IPS.