By Bramantyo Prijosusilo, "What can NU offer to mitigate prejudice against Islam in the West?" - The Jakarta Post - Jakarta, IndonesiaMonday, July 7, 2008
A group of Ph.D. students affiliated with Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) declared on June 28, 2008, in Boston, Massachusetts, the formation of their U.S.-NU community (KNU-AS). The community aims to mitigate the prejudices between the Islamic world and the West and strengthen the NU to help solve the problems Indonesia is currently facing.
KNU-AS declares that Islam and the West need not be mutually antagonistic, for both worlds should enrich one another. The curious thing was that the press release distributed by the KNU-AS did not specify just how Islam and the West could be mutually enriching.
The benefits and hazards of the West to the world are obvious. The West offers ever-developing sciences and technologies that alleviate suffering and open possibilities.
The West also offers a free and tolerant society that equally protects its minorities, including Muslims. The down side of the Western civilization is that it depletes resources and encourages runaway greed.
While science, technology, democracy and the rule of law make the human experience richer and safer, capitalism and the free-market concentrate power and access to resources in the hands of an elite, making the rich richer and the poor more wretched in a world that has ever less resources to share. Ultimately, Western civilization might devour the whole world.
The hazards of certain interpretations of Islam are also blatantly obvious: Terrorism and religious totalitarianism.
Terrorism is the weapon of the weak in their imagined jihad, materialized to match the perceived and real onslaughts against Islam and Muslims. Theocratic totalitarianism is the political system offered to the world by groups from the violent al-Qaeda to pseudo-intellectual Hizbut Tahrir, as an alternative to capitalism and democracy.
The violent, anti democratic image created by the actions of militant fundamentalists and projected by the media obscure the benefits that Islam might offer to the world. Even so, the fact that Islam is the fastest growing religion in the West, testifies that more and more people find something they need in the religion of Muhammad.
There must be something less obvious and more appealing in Islam than the severity of the harsh, patriarchal Sharia, even though that particular morbid image is widely broadcasted by the media. The newly established KNU-AS must take upon itself the task defining and demonstrating to the West the benefits that Islam has to offer.
Westerners who embrace Islam often cite that the materialism and consumerism of the West has resulted in spiritual malaise, boredom and alienation. In response to this condition, the spirit of free enterprise in the West has successfully packaged and marketed spirituality.
Since the Beatles visited Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in India in 1968, the pursuit of spirituality as an alternative to the Western lifestyle has become ever more popular. In a way, the West's fascination with the positive aspects of Islam is part of this thirst for exotic spiritualism.
The successes of Sufi orders such as the Naqshbandi or the Qadiri Rifai in the U.S. and Europe reflect this very thirst. The recent facility to take bayyath (oath that connects the disciple with the master) into a Sufi order through a website, as well as the use of the internet in recruiting, planning and executing terrorist attacks, illustrates how deeply current Western technology has penetrated into the Islamic world.
KNU-AS is not a pioneer of Islam in the USA. The NU community founded in Boston is in an America that already houses at least two opposing images of Islam.
The violent suicide bomber represents the first, while otherworldly whirling dervishes represent the second. Both use the latest information technology to broadcast their diametrically opposed interpretations of Islam.
Because of its unique position as a part of the biggest Islamic organization in Indonesia that happens to follow traditionalist interpretations of Islam, a successful KNU-AS should be able to establish a third image of Islam in the U.S -- an interpretation of Islam that is neither otherworldly nor violent but down to earth and welcoming, as most Indonesians imagine themselves to be.
If it succeeds in this, KNU-AS efforts to fertilize the growth of an inclusive, tolerant Islam in Indonesia will be much more successful.
So, back to the main question: what does the KNU-AS have to offer the West?
KNU-AS's main attraction to the West is its potential to influence Islam in Indonesia, which lately has shown unsettling tendencies towards militant fundamentalism. To bring the potential to influence the NU and thus Islam in Indonesia to fruition, KNU-AS must firstly muster energy vital enough to influence the perception of Islam in the U.S.
To rise to this formidable challenge, KNU-AS might look into the possibilities of engaging in cultural diplomacy.
NU communities in Java have many amateur but excellent music, theater and martial arts groups that given the opportunity could easily capture a Western audience for a breathtaking hour or two. The very rich and sophisticated but relatively unknown performing arts of Banyuwangi (a traditional NU stronghold) for example, would be a safe bet to help shift perceptions of Islam in the U.S.
The same goes for the beautiful but devastating, obscure martial art of pencak silat. NU and its Pagar Nusa schools of pencak silat have many young and old masters who cannot only apply punches, kicks, takedowns, throws and joint locks, but can also, to an extent, defy gravity and demonstrate invincibility to fire and sharp blades.
Managed creatively NU's artists could put together a show as entertaining as the famous Chinese State Circus, guaranteed to inspire and capture people's imagination.
The only obstacle to doing this would be funds, especially as the members of KSA-NU are mostly students. However, considering many of the Indonesian elite have been caught giving and receiving bribes of large sums, there must be cartloads of that elusive stuff floating idly around, just waiting for a worthy cause.
The writer is an artist and former journalist. He can be reached at bramn4bi@yahoo.com
A group of Ph.D. students affiliated with Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) declared on June 28, 2008, in Boston, Massachusetts, the formation of their U.S.-NU community (KNU-AS). The community aims to mitigate the prejudices between the Islamic world and the West and strengthen the NU to help solve the problems Indonesia is currently facing.
KNU-AS declares that Islam and the West need not be mutually antagonistic, for both worlds should enrich one another. The curious thing was that the press release distributed by the KNU-AS did not specify just how Islam and the West could be mutually enriching.
The benefits and hazards of the West to the world are obvious. The West offers ever-developing sciences and technologies that alleviate suffering and open possibilities.
The West also offers a free and tolerant society that equally protects its minorities, including Muslims. The down side of the Western civilization is that it depletes resources and encourages runaway greed.
While science, technology, democracy and the rule of law make the human experience richer and safer, capitalism and the free-market concentrate power and access to resources in the hands of an elite, making the rich richer and the poor more wretched in a world that has ever less resources to share. Ultimately, Western civilization might devour the whole world.
The hazards of certain interpretations of Islam are also blatantly obvious: Terrorism and religious totalitarianism.
Terrorism is the weapon of the weak in their imagined jihad, materialized to match the perceived and real onslaughts against Islam and Muslims. Theocratic totalitarianism is the political system offered to the world by groups from the violent al-Qaeda to pseudo-intellectual Hizbut Tahrir, as an alternative to capitalism and democracy.
The violent, anti democratic image created by the actions of militant fundamentalists and projected by the media obscure the benefits that Islam might offer to the world. Even so, the fact that Islam is the fastest growing religion in the West, testifies that more and more people find something they need in the religion of Muhammad.
There must be something less obvious and more appealing in Islam than the severity of the harsh, patriarchal Sharia, even though that particular morbid image is widely broadcasted by the media. The newly established KNU-AS must take upon itself the task defining and demonstrating to the West the benefits that Islam has to offer.
Westerners who embrace Islam often cite that the materialism and consumerism of the West has resulted in spiritual malaise, boredom and alienation. In response to this condition, the spirit of free enterprise in the West has successfully packaged and marketed spirituality.
Since the Beatles visited Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in India in 1968, the pursuit of spirituality as an alternative to the Western lifestyle has become ever more popular. In a way, the West's fascination with the positive aspects of Islam is part of this thirst for exotic spiritualism.
The successes of Sufi orders such as the Naqshbandi or the Qadiri Rifai in the U.S. and Europe reflect this very thirst. The recent facility to take bayyath (oath that connects the disciple with the master) into a Sufi order through a website, as well as the use of the internet in recruiting, planning and executing terrorist attacks, illustrates how deeply current Western technology has penetrated into the Islamic world.
KNU-AS is not a pioneer of Islam in the USA. The NU community founded in Boston is in an America that already houses at least two opposing images of Islam.
The violent suicide bomber represents the first, while otherworldly whirling dervishes represent the second. Both use the latest information technology to broadcast their diametrically opposed interpretations of Islam.
Because of its unique position as a part of the biggest Islamic organization in Indonesia that happens to follow traditionalist interpretations of Islam, a successful KNU-AS should be able to establish a third image of Islam in the U.S -- an interpretation of Islam that is neither otherworldly nor violent but down to earth and welcoming, as most Indonesians imagine themselves to be.
If it succeeds in this, KNU-AS efforts to fertilize the growth of an inclusive, tolerant Islam in Indonesia will be much more successful.
So, back to the main question: what does the KNU-AS have to offer the West?
KNU-AS's main attraction to the West is its potential to influence Islam in Indonesia, which lately has shown unsettling tendencies towards militant fundamentalism. To bring the potential to influence the NU and thus Islam in Indonesia to fruition, KNU-AS must firstly muster energy vital enough to influence the perception of Islam in the U.S.
To rise to this formidable challenge, KNU-AS might look into the possibilities of engaging in cultural diplomacy.
NU communities in Java have many amateur but excellent music, theater and martial arts groups that given the opportunity could easily capture a Western audience for a breathtaking hour or two. The very rich and sophisticated but relatively unknown performing arts of Banyuwangi (a traditional NU stronghold) for example, would be a safe bet to help shift perceptions of Islam in the U.S.
The same goes for the beautiful but devastating, obscure martial art of pencak silat. NU and its Pagar Nusa schools of pencak silat have many young and old masters who cannot only apply punches, kicks, takedowns, throws and joint locks, but can also, to an extent, defy gravity and demonstrate invincibility to fire and sharp blades.
Managed creatively NU's artists could put together a show as entertaining as the famous Chinese State Circus, guaranteed to inspire and capture people's imagination.
The only obstacle to doing this would be funds, especially as the members of KSA-NU are mostly students. However, considering many of the Indonesian elite have been caught giving and receiving bribes of large sums, there must be cartloads of that elusive stuff floating idly around, just waiting for a worthy cause.
The writer is an artist and former journalist. He can be reached at bramn4bi@yahoo.com
[Picture: Myristica fragrans (nutmeg). Image from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indonesia].
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