NU, LDII agree to fight against misleading teachings

Kediri, E Java (ANTARA) – The executive boards of Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) and the Indonesian Islamic Propogation Institute (LDII) agreed to fight against misleading teachings in Indonesia.

“We must fight against the misleading teachinggs as they have created conflicts among Muslims,” NU`s Associate Chairman KH Said Aqiel Siradj said at a post-fasting get-together at LDII`s boarding school here on Sunday.

He further said the teachings developed by Qiyadah Islamiyah on the emergence of a new prohpet for Muslims besides Prophet Muhammad had triggered conflicts among Muslims.

“If it is only ikhtilaf (differences in opinion) like those on the dates of Muslim holidays, it doesn`t matter but if it has dealt with a question on the prophet, it has concerned `syariah`, a matter of Islamic law,” he said.

Meanwhile, LDII General Chairman KH Abdullah Syam shared the same opinion with Said Aqiel Siradj. “Thus, the government and MUI (the Indonesian Ulemas Council) must take stern measures against Qiyadah Islamiyah,” he said.

Both Siradj and Syam agreed that the government must soon eliminate misleading teachings including those developed by Qiyadah Islamiyah but with prior approaches and enlightenment.

“If approaches and enlightenment fail, there is no other way but disbanding them by force,” Siradj said. The myriad of new teachings in Islam, Siradj said, was part of the euphoria in the era of freedom making people easy to create new teachings.

Siradj said a number of Islamic organizations in Indonesia like LDII, NU (the largest in the country) and Muhammadiyah (the second largest) were demanded to play strategic roles in fighting against misleading teachings.

Syam opined that the myriad of misleading teachings in Indonesia was insparable from globalization influences of western countries that wished to disunit Muslims in the country. Siradj and Syam also agreed that such misleading teachings only followed a trend which temporarily developed in certain places.(*) (http://www.antara.co.id)

LDII battling to avoid the heretic label

The Council of Muslim Clerics, (Majelis Ulama Indonesia (MUI)), has in the past viewed some practises of the LDII, the Indonesian Islamic Propagation League, a hardline group in the past linked to the Indonesian Islamic State movement, (Negara Islam Indonesia (NII)), as being “exclusivist” and therefore unacceptable.

The MUI’s main objections to LDII concern the latter’s worship or prayer routine, and its attitude to other Muslims. For a person to join LDII prayer services he must first register with the LDII, and once prayers have begun no one may leave the room, it was said. The LDII was also accused of teaching that other, non-LDII, Muslims were not quite the real thing.

LDII chief Soehartono Rijadi now says however that the membership and prayer rules are no longer “relevant” and at their upcoming national congress the governing council will agree to change such policies to put their worship practices more in line with other groups in the country like Nadhatul Ulama and Muhammadiyah.

Soehartono hopes that this will enable the LDII to lose the deviant stigma it has recently had, and show that it is not exclusive. He also said that he hopes the MUI will clarify the status of LDII so as to prevent any unpleasantness from the easily excitable masses, as in the case of Jamaah Ahmadiyah in 2005 and 2006.

A day later Maruf Amin of the MUI said the matter of the LDII’s deviancy or otherwise was still being discussed. On the same day Abdullah Syam of the LDII invited people to come to LDII mosques and see that they were not closed to outsiders, and that the teachings did not insult others. (http://www.indonesiamatters.com)

Islamic oganization LDII condemns bomb atAttack on Pakistan hotel

The Indonesian Islamic Propagation Institute (LDII) on Sunday condemned the suspected suicide car bomb attack on the Marriott Hotel in the Pakistani capital of Islamabad that killed more than 40 people on Saturday.

“Not only non-Muslims but also Muslims in the country fell victim to the bomb attack. This is fasting month. The perpetrators of the bomb attack must respect it and refrain from committing a crime that claims the lives of other people. The bomb attack is certainly not the act of a Muslim,” LDII Chairman Prasetyo Sunaryo said.

Press reports said at least 43 people were killed and about 250 others injured in the bomb attack. A number of buildings near the scene also caught fire after the blast. The blast came a few hours after Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari delivered his first speech before lawmakers at the parliament building located hundreds of meters from the scene.

A number of Islamic mass organizations in Indonesia alleged that foreign parties had tried to disrupt harmony among adherents of different faiths, particularly between Muslims and non-Muslims in the world.

“We, Muslims, must always keep watch for any attempt by foreign parties who try to disrupt harmony among adherents of different faiths. That is why we call on religious adherents in Indonesia to be united so we cannot easily be pitted one against the other,” he said. (*) (www.antara.co.id)

Exclusivity is not our doctrine: LDII

Leaders of the Indonesian Institute of Islamic Propagation (LDII) said that exclusivity was not part of their doctrine as suggested by a table published in The Jakarta Post on Thursday.

Such a perception would likely stem, among other things, from behavior displayed by organization members “whose understanding of the teachings has not matured,” one of the leaders said when visiting the Post on Friday, along with other board members.

“It is such members who we are educating,” said Aceng Karimulloh, a deputy LDII Jakarta branch leader and among the ulema from the organization. LDII chairman Teddy Suratmaji, an engineer, said such a misperception could have resulted from the “stigma” contributed by members of Islam Jamaah, an exclusivist and hard-line movement well known in the late 1970s, which later developed into the LDII. Islam Jamaah was closely scrutinized by the government following reports that its followers considered non-members as infidel or kafir, even though they were from the same family.

Nowadays, the LDII organization, which is legal, “has no connection” with Islam Jamaah, according to its official handbook. Information on LDII can also be viewed at www.ldii.or.id. The handbook addresses all “frequently asked questions” related to perceptions of Islam Jamaah and LDII.

Teddy displayed pictures of LDII’s activities in their bimonthly magazine, Nuansa Persada, which depicted its interaction with various Islamic groups, “which could not be possible if we were exclusivist,” Teddy said, denying that they did not pray with non-members.

Nor it was true that each member must pay 10 percent of their income to the imam, they said. Perceptions that LDII members consider non-members as
filth (najis) was also denied. “In the 1970s, it was commonly accepted that people of different sexes who were not muhrim (directly related) could not touch each other,” board member R. Sabaruddin said, “so maybe people got the idea that non-members were considered najis. But now this practice is “common” among many Muslims in the country.

The logo of LDII, which claims to be independent, clearly bears the banyan tree, symbol of former president Soeharto’s political vehicle Golkar, which sought all potential avenues to increase its control and influence. They said that they had intended to change the logo, but faced resistance from older members. (http://www.thejakartapost.com)