Baiturrahman Mosque
Apr 12th, 2007, in News, by PatungBaiturrahman mosque enforces strict dress codes for visitors.
The Grand Mosque in the capital city of Aceh province, the Baiturrahman mosque in Banda Aceh, has begun enforcing rather strict Muslim clothing rules for budding visitors and worshippers.
Baiturrahman Mosque.
Young men who patrol the grounds of Baiturrahman armed with loudspeakers chase away potential visitors who are not dressed properly. Raniwati, a young women who was kicked out of the mosque, says:
Just covering the head is not enough if the pants or skirt worn is not proper Muslim dress.
She said wearing jeans was now forbidden at Baiturrahman because such a thing is unislamic.
The sharia office in Banda Aceh admits that enforcement of dress code rules at the mosque have recently become tighter, so as to get people used to wearing Muslim dress. An official says: gatra
We will keep an eye on every visitor to Baiturrahman, day or night.
7 Comments on “Baiturrahman Mosque”
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Abdul Khalid al Jumhuri says:
I disagree. Those thugs who claim to be the guardian shall be caught, interrogated, put to a fair trial, and then executed. What they are doing is just giving true Islam a bad name and make Islam the laughing stock of the world.
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Rizali says:
The implementation of Islamic law – syariah in Aceh is just another political manipulation by Indonesian centralistic regime. The indon government has no gut to uphold human right and justice in aceh. For that they try to divide aceh through implementation of Islamic law-syariah so acehnese fight each other, one pro-manipulated syariah, other against it.
Indon has no ability to resolve it real problem: stupidity, that is why indon will self-destruct.
Look all the stupid student in 1998 reform movement that currently in parliament. They just laugh at their death friend in trisakti, semanggi, etc, by refusing to uphold human right court.
Look at IPDN case. How can parents and student so stupid to bribe to enter such crazy school just to get kill? And the killer honored by the government, whose giving them civil servant status and generous salary.
All just stupidity that we love to joke around and we call it: indon.
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Bas says:
You have to be Indonesia not to be aware of how ridiculous rules are and how much they discredit Islam.
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Cukurungan says:
While Acehnese are busy decoding Quran, Javanese will also began decoding “Jangka Jokoboyo” and “primbon wong urip” combine with spelling mantra “Aji Jaran Goyang” all javanese problems will be solved instantly and Java will becomes centre of excellent for the magical invention and corruption.
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Suhada says:
Assalamualaikum. I think I must make a bold statement in accordance to this matter. We must stop the Arabization of Islam! We have fail to distinguish the virtue of Islam from it’s Arab socio-cultural matrix.
We tend to consider Arab traditions, be it clothing, singing, names, represent Islam at their best. It will never be more erroneous. We have to be able to perceive the true and pure value of Islam!
It happened that my name Suhada is Arabic. But as for me to say I will not object to be named Sayuti or Joko. I won’t bother to change my name into Abdul or Ahmad in order to be noticed as a Muslim.
The urge for a Muslimah to wear veils such as Jilbab can be traced from a Quranic perception “to wear their veils over their bosoms”. Most of us will easily view the perception as the justification for such rules like the one established in Baiturrahman. But does it refers to the real divine message? I don’t think so!!
Before I go further on the topic I would like to apologize for my rather harsh words. I just can’t help not to be disgusted by such a close-minded, fundamentalistic, Wahabbi induced paradigm that flourished all over this beloved country of mine.
The phrase “to wear their veils over their bosoms” should not be taken literally. Here we can see clearly the significance of hermeneutic to obtain the universal and fundamental message of a certain phrase from any given divine texts. Be it from The Holy Quran, the Torah, Gospels, etc.
We might see the term hermeneutic as exclusively Christian’s. But I think the methodology applies for every religious beliefs. We must be able to reconstruct the very socio-cultural matrix contemporary to the time when the certain text is given. Thus we will be able to really understand the message of the text. We must not let the socio-cultural biases to obscure our vision from the divine light. What we are really looking for from this spiritual journey is the perpetual universal value of the text given.
The phrase,obviously, was given within the time of Rasullulah himself. Thus picture yourself Arab women who already wears veils — not due to any religious motives by all mean, but rather due to the harsh and dusty desert climate — but let their bosoms wide open. Rasullulah then urged the women “to wear their veils over their bosoms.” He is urging modesty, not necessarily a particular dress-code. Hence, the universal message from this phrase is for Muslims and Muslimahs to dress modestly. Not necessarily wearing jilbabs or head-covers by all mean.
As for the Arabization of Islam is a trend that somewhat obscure us from the real divine value of Islam. Adurrahman Wahid in many of his essays oftentimes criticized our incapability to embrace Islam within our own local tradition. Instead preserving our traditional value –of course the ones which compatible to Islam– we tend to exchange them with somewhat Arabic attributes. Abdurrahman Wahid even adress this issue to our sense of inferiority.
Obviously Rasullulah is an Arab. We must, by all mean strive at our best to copy him. But not necessarily in the superficial matters. Since Rasullulah is an Arab it doesn’t mean we must dress in Arabic clothes. Since Rasulullah is an Arab it doesn’t necessarily mean we must speak in Arab dialect. It is hilarious to hear many Ustadz and Ustadzah speak in Arab dialect, even when they pronounce Indonesian words. It is awfully boring to hear our religious music that strongly influenced with Arabic nuance. The scale. The costume. The instruments. Nothing can get even duller!!
I hope someday we will be mature enough to be able to distinguish the real value of Islam from it’s Arab socio-cultural matrix. Thus we might see such a beautiful diversity sprout in Islam. The diversity that eventually, hopefully, will give us the real vivid picture peace within Islam. The peace granted by our compassionate and merciful All-Mighty.Whose sovereignity rise beyond earthly differences and barriers. Since God is great. Allahuakbar!! Wassalam..
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Aluang anak Bayang says:
………. that flourished all over this beloved country of mine.
Mas, even though I may or may not agree with you, as long as you still consider yourself children of this land, I am all ears. We are pribumis of this great land, and if anything goes wrong, our future generations will be left picking up the pieces.
Cuk, I am intrigued by your intelligence. 🙂
Comment on “Baiturrahman Mosque”.
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I like the idea, but I am envisaging it on a grander scale. The whole Acheh area should be sealed off. Bulldozed away what reminds them of being Indonesian. Do away wth all the forest greens and creating oases. I am sure Saudi Arabia will be proud of their long lost brothers and supply them with camels. No cars, electricity as these are western inventions and unislamic. Points of entry, for example the airport, should have a kiosk where you can buy or hire Arab robes and headdress. Whalla, you have Achehnistan. In a matter of no time, they will start decoding Qu’ran and making great scientific and medical discoveries. Acheh will be the envy of the rest of the world. Allahu akhbar!