The politics of regulating religious freedom

Supriyanto Abdi
The University of Melbourne

The politics of regulating religious freedom: The political and religious origins of (anti)-blasphemy discourse in the post new order Indonesia

This paper examines the construction of state’s discourse on ‘blasphemy’ and its ongoing reconfiguration in the post-New Order Indonesia. It will be divided into three main parts: The first part briefly traces the historical and political origins of state’s discourse of ‘blasphemy’ and related discourse of ‘recognized religion’ in Indonesia and how it has been perpetuated, used and abused by various political regimes. The second part analyses the extent to which these two state discourses have remained intact and retained their political and ‘disciplinary’ power in the post-New Order Indonesia. The third part examines the extent to which religious colour has been added to the debate over blasphemy and religious freedom in the post-New Order era with the rise of two competing religious trends: ‘Islamism’ and ‘Islamic liberalism’. Particular attention will be payed to the way each group frames and negotiates their competing discourses on Islam-state relations and religious freedom in this discursive contest. The paper will be concluded by a theoretical reflection on the possibility and limits of negotiating a liberal mode of governing religions within the context of competing trends of Islamization and political liberalization.

Retrieved from: http://international-conference.unp.ac.id/presenter-abstract/supriyanto-abdi.html

Islam, Religious Freedom and the Appropriation of Liberalism in the Post-New Order Indonesia

The configuration of Islam-state relations and religious freedom in the post-New Order Indonesia has been subject to ongoing contestation and negotiation among various religious and ideological groups. Focused on a recent public debate over the adequacy of the Presidential Decree No.1/1965 on the prevention of misuse of and/or blasphemous action towards religion, this paper will examine this ongoing dircursive contest over religious freedom in Indonesia and the extent to which competing conceptions of state-religion relations and religious freedom are appropriated and negotiated by competing actors (state agents and various civil society forces, including Muslim groups). In particular, this paper will discuss the extent to which liberal discourses on religious freedom such as state neutrality and public-private divide have been negotiated and appropriated by certain ‘liberal' Muslim intellectuals and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) activists. The discussion will be framed within two particular challenges that confront these ‘liberal' Muslim intellectuals and activists: the rise of Islamists' discourse of Islamizing political and public sphere and the existing state's ideological and political discourse. The paper will argue that while the democratization discourse has broadened the discursive zone for liberal discourse on religious freedom, the accompanying discourse of Islamization and the existing state's ideological discourse has set some discursive limits for it.

Supriyanto Abdi is a PhD student at the Asia Institute, the University of Melbourne. He obtained his Bachelor degree (Sarjana) in Islamic Studies from the Islamic University of Indonesia, Yogyakarta (2000) and Master of Contemporary Asian Analysis from the University of Melbourne (2005).

Retrieved from: http://sekadarpendapat.blogspot.com/2010/11/cils-conference.html

Time to Forgive and Live in Harmony With Ahmadiyah

A. Najib Burhani | The Jakarta Globe,  September 07, 2012

"Without the Ahmadiyah translation, some Indonesian intellectuals would have slipped away from religion and become atheists or hedonists."

Now that Idul Fitri has passed, can mainstream Muslims in Indonesia forgive Ahmadiyah? Can they accept Ahmadis as fellow citizens? Can’t we all start living in harmony with those who have different beliefs?

Perhaps these questions are unrealistic, and expect too much from the annual religious ritual that has lost many of its divine objectives. For some people, the meaning of Idul Fitri is nothing more than festivity, traveling back to their hometowns on the mudik , reuniting with family and friends, buying new clothes and gorging on ketupat , rice cooked in coconut leaves.

We have to be realistic and stop expecting the “magic” of Idul Fitri to reconcile those who involved in conflicts over the issue of orthodoxy and heterodoxy, particularly between mainstream Muslims and Ahmadiyah followers.

It has never worked before and seems unlikely to work in the future if we look at this from the perspective of theology. Ahmadis will never give up their distinctive belief in the prophethood of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, while mainstream Muslims will never accept Ahmadis because of such doctrines.

The only way to make reconciliation between mainstream Muslims and Ahmadis possible is on the basis of nationality, i.e. by accepting Ahmadis as fellow citizens and acknowledging their right to practice a different belief.

While hard-line groups see the Ahmadis only as a source of trouble, they have made some positive contributions to this country since 1925. I am personally not convinced about the claim by Jemaat Ahmadiyah Indonesia that W.R. Soepratman, the composer of Indonesia’s national anthem, was an Ahmadi, but Ahmadis have made at least three big contributions to the country.

First, Ahmadis introduced a rational understanding of religion. This particularly comes from the Lahore Ahmadiyah or the Gerakan Ahmadiyah Indonesia. In his book “Dibawah Bendera Revolusi” (“Under the Flag of Revolution”), Indonesia’s founding president, Sukarno, made a list of Ahmadiyah books that had influenced his thinking.

Among them were Mohammad Ali’s “Mohammad the Prophet” and “Inleiding tot de Studie van den Heiligen Qoer’an,” as well as Khwaja Kama-ud-Din’s “De bronnen van het Christendom.”

The second contribution of Ahmadiyah was in introducing the comparative study of religions to the country, although in an apologetic and polemical way. This is particularly true during two unstable periods: colonial times and the first two decades after the declaration of independence in 1945.

This can be seen from books on comparative religion during those two periods, such as Hasbullah Bakry’s books on Christianity and Judaism, and Djarnawi Hadikusumo’s books on comparative religion.

With the collapse of Sukarno’s Old Order in 1965, the study of comparative religion in Islamic higher education took on a new direction, i.e. it was no longer apologetic and polemical, and therefore no longer used Ahmadiyah books as sources of reference.

The third contribution of Ahmadiyah in Indonesia was in introducing the Koran in vernacular languages. The first Dutch translation of the Koran, for instance, was from the Ahmadiyah. Since Dutch was the language of Indonesian intelligentsia at that time, the translation was warmly welcomed and became a prized possession for many people during this period.

Agus Salim, one of the nation’s founding fathers, praised the Ahmadiyah translation for its success in reconciling religion and science without slipping into materialism, rationalism or mysticism. Without the translation, according to former Foreign Minister Roeslan Abdulgani, some Indonesian intellectuals would have slipped away from religion and become atheists or hedonists.

It is true that all of these contributions are from the past. People may be curious about the contribution of the community to present-day Indonesia, although many people seem reluctant to acknowledge any positive contributions by Ahmadis to Indonesia’s progress.

One contribution can be found in Manis Lor village, in Kuningan, West Java. This is a very unique village; 80 percent of the residents are followers of Ahmadiyah. Before Ahmadiyah emerged there in the 1950s, it was a poor village inhabited by pagans and nominal Muslims. Ahmadiyah transformed it into a prosperous and religious village.

It is a religious village not only in the sense of rituals, but in the sense of its cleanness, neatness and the daily attitude of its residents.

In the Ahmadiyah part of the village, visitors will not find anyone smoking or drinking alcohol. Rather, they will find smiles, friendly attitudes, hard-working people, a safe place to stay and a strong bond and cohesion among residents.

Anyone who visited the compound of the popular Muslim preacher Aa Gym in Gegerkalong, Bandung, between 1996 and 2006 and then visited Manis Lor would have been able to make a comparison between the two. And what they would have seen was a beautiful combination between this-worldly and an other-worldly orientation of religiosity.

Compared to Gegerkalong, Manis Lor was a living success story of community development, but on a larger scale. It was not one block or one neighborhood as in Gegerkalong, but an entire village. Visitors would not find people tossing trash anywhere but in garbage cans. Of more than a thousand houses in Manis Lor, only 12 could have been called run-down.

Given all of these contributions by Ahmadis to the modernization of Indonesia, can’t we stop treating Ahmadiyah as the enemy? Can we stop hating these fellow citizens? As compatriots, can we forgive their “deviant” or distinctive beliefs and allow them to live in harmony with us as part of Muslim society? The recent Idul Fitri should have given us a renewed awareness of the need to treat them more humanely.

A. Najib Burhani, a researcher at the Indonesian Institute of Sciences, is a PhD candidate at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Available at: http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/opinion/time-to-forgive-and-live-in-harmony-with-ahmadiyah/542819

Identity Negotiation and Resistence of Indonesia Ahmadiyah

Thesis Defense on Ahmadiyah, Open for Public

Monday, 3-September-2012 | Viewed (48)

IDENTITY  NEGOTIATION AND RESISTENCE OF INDONESIA AHMADIYAH

This week two students of CRCS batch 2010, Ngatini and Syaiful Arief will defense their thesis on Indonesia Ahmadiyah. Syaiful Arief writes "Strategic, Identity Negotiation of Jemaat Ahmadiyah Yogyakarta, Indonesia" and Ngatini, "Texturising Resistence under Routine Repression a Study of Indonesian Ahmadiyya". The defense will be on:

Wedesday, September 5fth, 2012, @ 09 AM,

Room: Ruang Sidang B, 5th floor of Graduate School Building, UGM.

Thesis Examiners:

Dr. Zainal Abidin Bagir

Samsu Rizal Panggabean, MS

Dr. M. Iqbal Ahnaf

Abstract

Strategic, Identity Negotiation of Jemaat Ahmadiyah Yogyakarta, Indonesia

Syaiful Arief

The study examines the relation between subjects and discourses practices with specific strategies in the form of rule and programs implemented in Jemaat Ahmadiyah Yogyakarta. Through ethnographic fieldwork, I found that the obligation of bai’at, the obedience into Jemaah and the belief of Mirza Ghulam have become the significant elements for someone to be Ahmadi. However, the construction of identity within this community is dynamics, there are members try to get full attachment into Ahmadiyah and other adjust with certain conditions.

This thesis shows that through motivational or strategic positions, members of Jemaat Ahmadiyah Yogyakarta negotiate their identity with other through several aspects; social-religious, scholarship and government institutions. Although this study leads to the significant role of Ahmadis, it also acknowledges the contribution of the government and other social organizations that encourage mutual understanding and respective attitudes toward diversities in Yogyakarta.

------------------

Abstract

Texturising Resistence under Routine Repression: a Study of Indonesian Ahmadiyya

Ngatini

“There is no action possible without little acting”, said George Elliot as quoted by Scott in his work Domination and the Arts of Resistance (Scott, 1990: 1). I think Elliot’s statement is best fit to summarize what has been going with Indonesian Ahmadiyya in Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara. Indonesian Ahmadiyya in Lombok is part of Indonesian Ahmadiyya  congregation  (JAI), an Islamic group that has been condemned by the Indonesian Ulama Council (MUI)  in 1980 and repeated in 2005 as defiance of Islam due to its belief in Mirza Ghulam Ahmad as the promised Messiah. Following the religious decree of MUI  issued in 1980 and reissued in 2005 banning  Ahmadiyya religious activities, there are numbers of efforts  inhibiting  Ahmadiyya teaching to grow and  to bring the members of Ahmadiyya back to the “right track”. These efforts find it way in so-called coercive persuasion (Lofland & Skonovd, 1981).

In Lombok, the coercive persuasion has many forms ranging from legal laws of local governments banning Ahmadiyya activities, bribes, intimidations, exclusions from social activities, stoning, expellee, house burnings, robbery, to killing. The coercive persuasion  that have been taking place since 1972  leads  Indonesia Ahmadiyya congregation in Lombok experiencing objective-subjective deprivations (Beith-Hallahmi & Argyle, 1997). Those objective-subjective deprivations are like losing dwelling places, losing jobs, losing family members, losing possessions, undergoing psychological disorder, being expelled from their hometown, doing refugee from one place to another place and finally living in refugee camp for more than 6 years.  Still, despite of being in the face of miasma, JAI In Lombok, persisting to be Ahmadis, doing their daily activities as usual and resistance at the same time.

Employing sociological approach, this research intends to investigate why certain numbers of JAI in Lombok remained to be Ahmadi under such miasma. More, this research also wants to explore how some people who remained to be Ahmadis adjust their selves to such coercive and persuasive condition and deal with their objective-subjective deprivation.  The data for this research were collected through series of individual in-depth and group interviews with Ahmadis and non-Ahmadis, participative observation over the life of JAI in Lombok, and studying the literatures on Ahmadiyya issue from January to February 2012.

The research shows that there are three kinds of reasons of why certain numbers of people remained to be Ahmadis despite of such miasma they have; theological reason, sociological reason, and ethical reason.  Meanwhile, to make the impact of coercive persuasion and the objective-subjective deprivation less severe they are doing, following Scott, everyday forms of resistance or the infra-politic of subordinate group. Relying on Scott’s theory of resistance, I categorize the resistance of JAI in Lombok into two groups that are the public resistance and the domestic resistance.

Retrieved from: http://crcs.ugm.ac.id/news/800/Thesis-Defense-on-Ahmadiyah-Open-for-Public.html#.UER65PaUopA.facebook

Ahmadiyah di Kota Medan

Judul :	Ahmadiyah di Kota Medan
Pengarang :	Benny Ariyandi
Sumber :	Jurnal ilmu-ilmu sosial Univ Muhammadiyah Sumut
Penerbit :	Pusat Penelitian dan Karya Ilmiah Universitas Muhammadiyah Sumatera Utara
Kode Panggil :	300.5, Jur i
Tahun Terbit Artikel:	2008
Volume :	9
No :	3
Halaman :	325-338
Kata Kunci :	Religion; Social values; Ahmadiyya; Medan
Sari :	NULLPenelitian in;' bertujuan memaparkan sosialisasi nilai-niloi Jamaah.Ahmodiyah di ,Medan baik seeara internal maupun eksternal. Penelitian menggunokan pendekotan kuolitati/ stud; kasus (case study) yang bersifat deskriptif. Penelitian dilolcukan di Medan. Ditemukan baliwa Jama 'ah Ahmadiyah cabang Medon memperkuot jaringon mereka dar; dolam dengan meningkatkan solidaritas sesama anggota. Mereka meneropkan strategi adaptasi terhadap lingkungan selcitar dengan cara berbaur dan herinteraksi dengan masyarakat ,di antaranya dengan terlibat do/am berbagai kegiatan di lingkungan 80$;01 mereka.   Available at: http://isjd.pdii.lipi.go.id/index.php/Search.html?act=tampil&id=27402&idc=1

Love for All, Hatred for None

Sayings of Hazrat Khwaja Mu'inuddin Hasan Chishti
 

                                          
The final discourse of Khwaja Mu'inuddin Chishti to his students, one month before his death:

Love all and hate none.
Mere talk of peace will avail you naught.
Mere talk of God and religion will not take you far.
Bring out all the latent powers of your being
and reveal the full magnificence of your immortal self.

Be overflowing with peace and joy,
and scatter them wherever you are
and wherever you go.

Be a blazing fire of truth,
be a beauteous blossom of love
and be a soothing balm of peace.

With your spiritual light,
dispel the darkness of ignorance;
dissolve the clouds of discord and war
and spread goodwill, peace, and harmony among the people.

Never seek any help, charity, or favors
from anybody except God.
Never go the court of kings,
but never refuse to bless and help the needy and the poor,
the widow, and the orphan, if they come to your door.

This is your mission, to serve the people.....

Carry it out dutifully and courageously, so that I, as your Pir-o-Murshid,
may not be ashamed of any shortcomings on your part
before the Almighty God and our holy predecessors
in the Silsila on the Day of Judgment.
 

Sayings of Khwaja Mu'inuddin Chishti:

A friend of God must have affection like the Sun. When the sun rises, it is beneficial to all irrespective of whether they are Muslim, Christian, or Hindu.

A friend of God must be generous like a river. We all get water from the river to quench our thirst. It does not discriminate whether we are good or bad or whether we are a relation or a stranger.

A friend of God must display the hospitality like the earth. We are raised and cradled in its lap, and yet it is always under our feet.
The noise of the lover is only while he has not seen his Beloved. Once he sees the beloved, he becomes calm and quiet, just as the rivers are boisterous before they join the ocean, but when they do so, there are becalmed forever.
The Enlightened becomes perfect only when all else is removed from in-between him and the Friend. Either he remains or the Friend.
Whosoever received any blessings, received them due to his generosity.
The Enlightened is one who does not keep anything dear to his heart except the remembrance of God.
There are such lovers of God, whom the love of God has made quiet to an extent that they do not know that there is anything else existing in the world.
When one comes on the path of love of the Friend, he becomes nonexistent (loses himself).
The heart of the Enlightened should be such that, it may efface everything, and may be exclusively devoted to the Glorious vision of the Friend. 
 There are four cardinal virtues of the individual self:
       (i) refraining from begging in the state of poverty;
       (ii) showing the attitude of being well-fed when feeling hungry;
       (iii) maintaining a cheerfulness in the time of sorrow; and
       (iv) befriending the enemy.

The spiritual disciple deserves to be called a Dervish only when he lives in the world with no self-interest.
The lovers of God hear the talk of the Friend directly.
A sin committed does not harm an individual so much as looking down upon one's own fellow human beings.

---

Khwaja Mu'inuddin Hasan Chishti was born in Asfahan, Persia, around 533 AH / 1138 AD, and brought up in Sanjar.  In Samarqand and Bukhara he completed his religious education. He was initiated into the Chishti Order by Khwaja Usman Haruni around 1156 AD. At Baghdad Mu'inuddin met the great Abdu-l-Qadir Jilani, the founder of the Qadiri Order and also Abu-n-Najib Suhrawardi, the renowned Saint of the Suhrawardi Order. During his visit to Medina, around 1187 AD, he received a mandate from the Holy Prophet to proceed to Ajmer (Rajasthan, India), where he established the first presence of the Chishti Order in India. His high morals, great wisdom and frugal lifestyle deeply influenced thousands of people as he carried on his work in Ajmer for more than 45 years and became known as also known as Gharib Nawaz, the Patron of the Poor. He passed away on the 6th of Rajab 633 AH/ 1236 AD. His tomb in Ajmer  is a well-known place of pilgrimage for  people from many countries, regardless of their religion.

For more information about Khwaja Mu'inuddin Chishti's life and teachings, see the following web sites:
http://www.gharibnawaz.com
http://www.chishti.ru/o_teachings.htm
http://www.soofie.org.za/memorial/hazrat_khwaja.html
http://www.sufiajmer.org/html/lifeandteachings.html
http://muslim-canada.org/sufi/chishti.htm

Retrieved from: http://wahiduddin.net/sufi/muinuddin_sayings.htm
Also available at: http://razarumi.com/2006/11/13/love-all-and-hate-none-muinuddin-chishti/

Radikalisasi Pancasila di Bidang Agama

Oleh Ahmad Najib Burhani*

Judul ‘radikalisasi Pancasila’ ini dipakai dalam Focus Group Discussion (FGD) yang diselenggarakan oleh MPR-RI dan Lembaga Hikmah dan Kebijakan Publik (LHKP) PP Muhammadiyah di Kartika Chandra, 4-5 Agustus 2012. Tidak hanya orang luar, para peserta pun bertanya-tanya tentang judul itu. Apa yang dimaksud dengan radikalisasi Pancasila?

Istilah ini ternyata mengacu kepada pemikiran almarhum Kuntowijoyo (Kompas, 20 Feb 2001) yang menawarkan untuk: mengembalikan Pancasila sebagai ideologi negara; mengganti persepsi dari Pancasila sebagai ideologi menjadi Pancasila sebagai ilmu; mengusahakan Pancasila mempunyai konsistensi dengan produk-produk perundangan, koherensi antar sila, dan korespondensi dengan realitas sosial; dan Pancasila yang semula hanya melayani kepentingan vertikal menjadi Pancasila yang melayani kepentingan horizontal.

Penjelasan Kuntowijoyo mengindikasikan bahwa sebetulnya apa yang ia maksudkan dengan istilah radikalisasi itu bisa juga diganti dengan istilah revitalisasi, restorasi, renaisans, dan objektifikasi. Namun demikian, semua istilah pengganti itu memang tidak bisa mencakup seluruh elemen yang dikandung dalam kata radikalisasi sebagaimana dikemukakan Kunto. Karena itu, meski istilah ini membingungkan, namun kriteria-kriteria di atas cukup bisa menjelaskan apa yang dimaksud dengan radikalisasi.

***

Dengan mengacu pada beberapa fenomena yang terjadi belakangan ini, penulis sepakat dengan upaya radikalisasi Pancasila sebagaimana dipaparkan Kuntowijoyo itu. Pertama, pada tahun-tahun terakhir ini, terutama semenjak Era Reformasi 1998, terdapat kecenderungan dari beberapa orang untuk kembali mempertentangkan antara Islam dan Pancasila atau loyalitas kepada agama dan loyalitas kepada negara. Ketaatan pada ideologi lain selain Islam, beberapa kelompok meyakini, bisa disebut sebagai pelanggaran terhadap Islam.

Kedua, beberapa peraturan pemerintah, baik di tingkat pusat maupun daerah, yang diciptakan belakangan ini terlihat tidak konsisten dengan nilai-nilai Pancasila. Yang paling mencolok terutama adalah peraturan yang berkaitan dengan kelompok minoritas, terutama Ahmadiyah.

Ketiga, nilai utama yang dikandung Pancasila, menurut Sukarno, adalah gotong-royong. Namun sayangnya nilai ini sepertinya sudah luntur di masyarakat. Misalnya, budaya antri di jalan raya sepertinya sudah tidak berlaku. Keamanan di Jakarta sangat tergantung pada satpam, sementara masyakarat tak mau saling bahu-membahu mengamankan daerahnya. Orang hanya mau membantu pada mereka yang seagama, sementara kelompok yang dituduh sesat, meski hidup miskin, tak diberi zakat di Ramadhan.

***

Tiga hal di atas diantaranya yang membuat radikalisasi Pancasila perlu segera direalisasikan. Persoalannya kemudian adalah kearah mana kita mesti mengacu dalam kaitannya dengan pemahaman Pancasila yang benar? Pemahaman Pancasila seperti apa yang perlu diamalkan?

Seringkali orang memandang bahwa pemahaman para pendiri negeri ini, terutama para perumus Pancasila seperti Sukarno dan Mohammad Hatta, adalah yang paling sah dan sempurna dalam menjelaskan nilai-nilai yang dikandung oleh Pancasila. Penafsiran yang dilakukan para perumus Pancasila memang harus tetap dijadikan acuan. Namun demikian perlu dicatat bahwa setiap orang itu hidup pada zamannya dan problemnya masing-masing.

Secara prinsip, penjelasan Sukarno-Hatta ketika mengelaborasi Pancasila perlu dirujuk karena nilai historis di situ. Hanya saja perlu digarisbawahi bahwa pemahaman mereka tak perlu dianggap yang paling sempurna dan otentitas itu tak mesti berada di titik awal sejarah Indonesia. Sikap kritis ini perlu dilakukan untuk menghindari apa yang dikonsepsikan Mircea Eliade sebagai the myth of eternal return, sebuah keyakinan bahwa kita lemah dan buruk sementara orang-orang dahulu itu adalah manusia terbaik.

Contoh terbaik dalam bahasan ini adalah Ahmadiyah. Meski dalam bukunya Di bawah bendera revolusi Sukarno menulis satu bab yang berjudul “Tidak pertjaja bahwa Mirza Ghulam Ahmad adalah nabi”, namun di era Sukarno-lah pemerintah mengakui secara resmi (Keputusan Menteri Kehakiman RI No. JA. 5/23/13 13 Maret 1953) keberadaan organisasi Ahmadiyah di Indonesian. Hanya saja, era Sukarno pula-lah yang melahirkan UU No. 1/PNPS/1965. Meski memiliki konteks yang berbeda pada saat pengeluarannya, UU itu kini dipakai sebagai dasar hukum untuk membubarkan Ahmadiyah. Dan lagi, pada akhir kekuasaannya, ideologi Pancasila ini diubah sedemikian rupa untuk mendukung kekuasaan Sukarno.

--oo0oo--

Ramadan di Transito

Seputar Indonesia, Tuesday, 07 August 2012

Bagi orang kaya Ramadan adalah bulan untuk merasakan penderitaan orang yang lemah serta menjadi waktu untuk meningkatkan kesadaran dan kepedulian sosial.

Tapi apa makna puasa bagi mereka yang selama bertahun-tahun hidup tertindas dan tersingkirkan seperti komunitas Ahmadiyah yang menghuni Asrama Transito di Mataram? Sekitar 140 orang telah hidup sebagai pengungsi di tempat penampungan itu selama lebih dari enam tahun. Mereka menempati tiga aula yang disekat dengan kain menjadi kamar-kamar seluas 2x3 meter untuk dihuni setiap keluarga. Mereka ini berkali-kali diusir dari desanya setelah terlebih dulu rumahnya dibakar atau dihancurkan dan harta benda yang mereka miliki dijarah oleh para penyerang. Kebanyakan berasal dari Pancor dan Selong di Lombok Timur.

Mereka terusir dari sana pada 2002 dan kemudian pindah ke Gegerung, Lombok Barat, untuk memulai kehidupan baru. Belum lama menempati rumah baru, pada 2006 mereka kembali diserang dan diusir. Rumah mereka dihancurkan dan dijarah. Sejak itulah orang-orang Ahmadi ini menumpang di Asrama Transito mirip seperti stateless citizens.

Orang-Orang yang Tegar
Ketika saya bertemu para penghuni Transito di awal Ramadan ini, yang mengherankan, tidak ada kesan sedih di wajah mereka. Mereka memadati musala kecil untuk salat tarawih dan tadarus Alquran. Mereka bisa menampilkan senyum dan melayani tamu sebaik yang mereka mampu. Masa yang terlalu lama dalam penderitaan membuat orang-orang ini mampu menyesuaikan diri dengan nasib dan merangkul dengan baik musibah yang mereka terima.Tidak ada tangisan atau keluhan, apalagi kesan untuk dikasihani.

Barangkali, seperti disampaikan oleh pembina spiritual mereka, air mata mereka memang sudah habis. Apa yang justru muncul dari para penghuni Transito ini adalah keyakinan bahwa penderitaan yang mereka alami adalah bukti kebenaran nubuwwah. Sebagaimana dalam cerita nabi-nabi, orang-orang yang berpegang teguh pada keyakinan yang benar akan selalu mengalami persekusi, baik oleh pemerintah maupun masyarakat sekitarnya. Mereka yakin bahwa pada masa-masa tertentu, ulama yang semestinya menjadi pembimbing umat justru banyak yang menjadi sejahat-jahatnya makhluk Tuhan di muka bumi.

Bagi mereka, itu terjadi sekarang ini terutama ketika ulama menuduh mereka sesat dan kafir. Keyakinan akan kebenaran iman membuat mereka tegar dalam penderitaan. Meski dalam kondisi miskin misalnya, mereka tetap menyisihkan apa yang mereka peroleh untuk membayar zakat setiap bulan, bukan hanya pada Ramadan. Mereka rajin bekerja dan tidak mengemis, apalagi menjual kemiskinan dan penderitaan. Dengan sekuat tenaga mereka menyekolahkan semua anaknya meski pemerintah mendiskriminasi mereka dalam memberikan bantuan untuk orang miskin.

Heresi dan Hilangnya Toleransi
Ramadan selalu ditekankan sebagai bulan toleransi dan kesadaran akan penderitaan orang lain. Tapi, sepertinya kesadaran itu tak berlaku terhadap mereka yang dituduh sesat atau heretik seperti jemaat Ahmadiyah. Pada tahun-tahun lalu misalnya, meski semua orang miskin mendapat kiriman zakat, orang-orang di Transito dikecualikan.

Kebencian sebagian umat Islam terhadap Ahmadiyah sebegitu dalamnya, hingga orang semisal Abu Bakar Baasyir dan beberapa orang di Nusa Tenggara Barat menuduh orang Ahmadi lebih buruk dari PKI (Partai Komunis Indonesia). Jika mereka masih menaruh hormat kepada nonmuslim, terhadap Ahmadiyah rasa hormat itu sudah tidak ada lagi. Kebencian ini akan semakin terlihat ketika kita menyimak pernyataan dari Sobri Lubis yang menyebutkan bahwa darah orang Ahmadiyah bukan hanya “halal” (boleh dibunuh), tapi “holol” (berlipat-lipat kehalalannya).

Persamaan ibadah ritual, syahadat, dan kitab suci tidak bisa dijadikan titik yang mempertemukan kelompok garis keras dan Ahmadiyah. Sebaliknya, itu semua menjadi titik permusuhan dan dipakai oleh kelompok garis keras untuk menuduh bahwa Ahmadiyah telah menodai, membajak, dan membunuh Islam dari dalam. Dalam sosiologi heresi, persamaan itulah yang menjadi penyebab kebencian orang kepada mereka yang dituduh sesat jauh lebih sadis daripada kebencian kepada orang murtad atau orang kafir sekalipun.

Beberapa ulama di negeri ini tunduk kepada fatwa dari Saudi Arabia yang dikeluarkan oleh OKI (Organisasi Kooperasi Islam) dan Rabita Alam Islami yang meminta umat Islam memutus hubungan sosial, ekonomi, dan politik dengan orang Ahmadiyah. Fatwa ini berkontribusi menyebabkan orang kehilangan toleransi dan perikemanusiaan terhadap anggota Ahmadiyah yang tinggal di Transito.

Ini juga yang ikut andil dalam menjadikan sebagian orang Islam tidak bisa membagikan kesadaran sosial puasa kepada Ahmadi, tak bisa membagi zakat mereka kepada pengikut Ahmadiyah yang miskin, tertindas, dan terusir. Semoga puasa kita total dan kemanusiaan kita total dan tidak pandang bulu. Amin.


AHMAD NAJIB BURHANI
Kandidat Doktor di Universitas California-Santa Barbara; Peneliti LIPI
 

Available at: http://www.seputar-indonesia.com/edisicetak/content/view/517490/