MUI Chairman: Indonesia Not an Islamic State or State of Infidels

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Chairman of the Indonesian Ulama Council (MUI) Maaruf Amin referred Indonesia as a nation that is built under a pledge. The people in the country have agreed to live alongside peacefully or mu'ahadah.

“In the Islamic perspective, this country isn’t an Islamic nation (Darul Islam), nation of infidels (Darul Kufri), or a war country (Darul Harbi), but Indonesia is a country of agreement (Darul Ahdi),” said Ma’aruf Amin on Thursday, July 13.

The Muslim and non-Muslim communities in Indonesia, according to the MUI chairman, must love one another, care for each other, and respectively help one another.

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Quoting Imam Ghazali, Ma’aruf Amin explained that a country can only be formed because of interdependency or Ta'awun and Tanashur.

He said that the integrity of a country is ruined following the emergence of groups of people that lack national commitment. He considers groups that tend to promote separatism, radicalism, and intolerance as direct products of fanaticism.

“As if their groups are the most righteous and heaven is theirs alone, at the same time calling others infidels,” said Ma'aruf.

The MUI chairman urged ulama (Muslim clerics) and the government to reunite the nation during current heated times.

AHMAD FAIZ