Azyumardi Azra on Mob Rule

Azyumardi Azra talks on the increasing prevalence of mob action and how the government and police seem unwilling to stop it.

Moral conservatives have slammed the newly launched Playboy magazine for being pornographic. Have you read it?

The Playboy published here is not as "hot" as the foreign editions; some local magazines and tabloids often carry pictures which are more erotic. But …

Secularism

Secularism is not to be feared by Muslims.

Azyumardi Azra said in Jakarta on 20th August that religion in Indonesia would flourish in a secular environment, would be reborn in a new and dynamic fashion. While most people think that modernisation naturally brings about:

Secularism that causes religion to decline, become irrelevant, and even die.

In fact, while this does occur to some extent, modernisation also creates a …

Comment by Djoko: … of Azyumardi may be right; secularization …

Javanese Terrorists

The Javanese are more likely to become terrorists than other ethnic groups.

Professor Azyumardi Azra, a liberal Muslim intellectual and former rector of Universitas Islam Negeri (UIN; State Islamic University) in Jakarta, said on June 23rd how surprised he was that most terrorists in Indonesia were of Javanese origin, given the fact that the Javanese are often not known for their strictness in religion as much as people from Sumatra and Sulawesi are.

Azyumardi Azra.

With …

Comment by Odawa: … Professor Azyumardi Azra, never did we learn of …

Islamic Leaders

… the police - 16%.
the parliament - 11%.
political parties - 8%.

The rector of IAIN, Azyumardi Azra, said this showed that the institutions of the state were weak in comparison to those of organised religion. He said the image of the police in particular was poor and blamed this on the May 1998 riots, when the police were unable to stop the violence.

The police did not have the capacity to deal with the riots, while politicians couldn't do anything to put an end to them. …

Tamsil Linrung

… did not agree with much of Tamsil's beliefs but he still had to be respected.

Meanwhile Azyumardi Azra said Canada had to do whatever America told it to, so it was easy to understand the issue. mediaindo

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March 26th.

Tamsil Linrung says he will visit the US embassy in Jakarta to ask for an explanation of his black-listing, even though it is now clear that the ban on his travel came from the Canadian embassy. antara

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March …

Baitul Muslimin

… Jakarta and attended by Muhammadiyah leader Dien Syamsuddin, Nadhatul Ulama leader Hasyim Muzadi, Azyumardi Azra, parliament vice-chairman Zaenal Ma'arif, and various clerics from Banten, West Java, and Jakarta, as well as PDI leader Megawati Soekarnoputeri, who unlike most of the female attendees did not wear Islamic dress. detik )

Baitul Muslimin logo, showing a mosque but no moon or star.

The name "Baitul Muslimin" means a home for Muslim men and the formation of the group …

Papal Speech

… were still carefully studying the Pope's statement before making any comment.

Muslim scholar Azyumardi Azra said:

Next time the pope should be more thoughtful when making statements.

Catholic priest Benny Susetyo believes that many Muslims have misunderstood the pope's remarks. He doubted that those making angry comments had read the speech.

The situation in Indonesia is very sensitive because there are so many Catholics and they are generally well-regarded by Muslim leaders, …

Islamic Violence

… however were not so glum in their reading of the results, in terms of Islam's share of the blame. Azyumardi Azra said the roots of the violence could not be blamed entirely on Islam, but also on the vengeful nature of some native cultures and common social and political problems, such as poverty, unemployment and political instability.

The country's self-image of kindness, tolerance and hospitality must be questioned because local cultures are very close to violence.

However he did …

Israel & Lebanon

… while waiting for the go-ahead from the party's central executive board.

Islamic intellectual Azyumardi Azra says any sending of jihadist forces to Lebanon from Indonesia would only disturb the people there. Speaking at the Al Azhar Indonesia on Tuesday 25th July he said the idea of sending fighters to Lebanon should just be forgotten as it would not help the situation.

If you want to struggle/jihad it's better you do it by collecting food, blood, and aid to send there. That would …

Pancasila

… included Goenawan Mohamad, Jakob Oetama, Rahman Toleng, H.S. Dillon, Rosita Noor, Karlina Supelli, Azyumardi Azra, Daniel Dhakidae, Mochtar Pabottingi and B. Herry-Priyono.

Among the invited guests were President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and his Cabinet members, political leaders and religious leaders.

Also present were members of religious minorities, including from Ahmadiyah, which the Minister of Religion has labeled a deviant Islamic sect. Ahmadiyah followers have been the target …

Local & Regional Laws

… laws, and their conflict with national law, receives some attention.

Muslim intellectual Azyumardi Azra worries about the amount of regional and provincial legislation that has been promulgated recently.

Regional sharia laws are worrying.
(Perda-perda syariat itu mencemaskan.)

he said during a seminar titled "60 Tahun Peringatan Hari Lahir Dasar Negara Indonesia" at a university in Depok, West Java, and added, much as Hasyim Muzadi has mentioned, that any such regional …

South East Asian Islam

… too deeply into the issue.

The rector of the State Islamic University in Jakarta, Professor Azyumardi Azra, warned political parties not to rely on the issue of Islamic sharia law as a vote-getter.

Azyumardi Azra said that Islamic parties would not be able to garner much support if they "sold" Islamic law at elections. The reason, he said, was that the idea of the application of sharia law had been on the "market" for a long time but was already a worn out, obsolete idea. What's …

Tony Blair & Moderate Islam

… to avert his eyes and ears from those who aren't counted in this category.

Blair met with Azyumardi Azra, the rector of the State Islamic University, and Din Syamsuddin, leader of the country's second largest Muslim group Muhammadiyah, among a couple of other moderates. Both men told Blair that the presence of western troops in Iraq was the root of all problems there and that Britain should pull out. Din Syamsuddin is reported to have added later:

He didn't respond specifically to …

Islam and The West

… Where exactly he got the figure 99% from is known only to his voluble self.

Rais, who like Azyumardi Azra, is thought to be a Muslim intellectual, said this:

If given a choice between the two alternatives I am sure that from Merauke to Morocco people would choose working together. The reason is that if there are atom bombs in the world we have no choice but to avoid confrontation.

Warming to the sound of his own voice he waffled on that cooperation between the two clashing …

Conspiracy Theories

Conspiracy theories among opinion leaders in Sumatra, American-Zionist and British conspiracies.

Zionist Conspiracies

The President of LBH Perjuangan Hukum dan Politik, Aldian Pinem, said in Medan, North Sumatra, in early April that the Geert Wilders short movie " Fitna " was an attempt to create the impression that all violence in the world was caused by Muslims.

This was not …

Comment by khalid: … My response: Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (founder of …

Ahmadiyah (Nearly) Banned

A formal banning of the unorthodox Muslim sect Jamaah Ahmadiyah becomes more likely.

A Step Closer

Team Pakem (Badan Koordinasi Pengawas Aliran Kepercayaan Masyarakat (Bakor Pakem)), the body that oversees (unorthodox) religious activity in Indonesia, has recommended that all activities of the sect Jemaah Ahmadiyah Indonesia (JAI) be stopped and the JAI dissolved.

Wisnu Subroto of …

Comment by Rene Wadlow: … of the movement -Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad who is …

Sharia Byelaws

… Happily, some decent Muslims are speaking up, notably the Wahid Institute's Azyurmadi Azra and Ahmad Suaidy. Suaidy, the director of the Wahid Institute, said:

The enforcement of sharia bye-laws also leads to classifying non-Muslims as second-class citizens, which is against the Constitution.

Quite so. Dhimmi status.

The Minister claims that in Aceh, for example, the disputed regulations were only applied to Muslims. In other words, the entire principle of the rule of …

Ahmadiyya

Ahmadiyah makes changes to its beliefs and avoids being banned by the government.

Continued from Religious Intolerance and Banning Islamic Sects .

No Ban

Pakem (Pengawas Aliran Kepercayaan Masyarakat, Overseers of the Peoples' Beliefs), made up of representatives of the Attorney General's Office, police, the State Intelligence Agency and the Religious Affairs Ministry, …

Comment by Abu Khurshid: … one book of Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian. …

Book Censorship

… and Judaism: Dorothy Kavanaugh (Mason Crest, Jordan); Murder in the Name of Allah: Hazrat Mirza, Tahir Ahmad (Lutterworth Press, Great Britain); dan, The New Paths in Muslim Evangelism, Evangelical, Approaches to Contextualization (Baker Book House, US).

Shia Islam

Pressure on Shia Islamic groups in Indonesia is growing.

On 10th April in Sampang, Madura island, East Java, the home of a Shiite cleric was attacked by a mob of more than 100 people. The attackers carried sharp weapons and attempted to enter the cleric's home but were prevented from doing so by police. No-one was hurt. metrotv

Still in East Java, but on the mainland, on 20th April …

Comment by Asad Ahmed: … moved to KUFA by HAZRAT ALI (R.A.), where so called …

Christianisation

Christianisation through sodomy, hypnosis, and kidnapping is rampant in Indonesia.

It is often heard that Indonesia is subject to a process of Christianisation, one example being an old article by one Herry Nurdi in Sabili magazine - "Alert! Christianization is Attacking Campuses" (ALERT! KRISTENISASI MENYERBU KAMPUS), the word "attack" having the sense of "in great numbers" or "stampede", …

Comment by Suhada: … say: “Uzair (Azra) is the son of Allah,” and the …