As a democratic country possessing Muslim majority, Indonesia often gets political turbulences. Ahmad Syafi’i Maarif, known as Buya Syafi’i, is a Muslim scholar and intellectual figure that concerns to political news nowadays. As to him, news related to general election in social media tends to bring hateful and bashful utterances. Buya stated that this condition can cause Muslims to a hostile feud. Buya added, “As Muslims, we need to learn from the Islamic civil war in the era of Prophet Muhammad on 656 CE.”
“In Quran, Islam is said to be the winner. However, in reality, after the Death of Prophet Muhammad, many people got involved in civil wars, overpowering each other for political greed. People put religions as a political means, dragging God into the hatred and dirty politics. This, in fact is very chagrining and saddening situation that happens in our beloved country,” conveyed at his book review event entitled “Arab Crisis and the Future of Islamic World”. The book review was held at Graduate Building of UMY on (1/3) as a part of UMY’s 38th Anniversary Commemoration.
Through his book, Buya inscribed his restlessness and concerns about the future of Islamic world. His writings include a course that discusses about religions as a means for political interest. Political power is a reason Arab failed to introduce Islamic values. “We surely do not want Indonesia experiences failure like what Arab did before,” maintained Buya.
For the 2019 General Election, Buya urges all people to stick to democratic mechanism and maintain the unity and integrity of Indonesia. General election only happens once in five years, so Buya admonished all people to appreciate the moment. As Muslims, Buya encourages Muslims to be more patient.
“We should not be too serious responding to different choices in politics. Hoaxes and hateful utterances indicate that Indonesia is now entering an era of deterioration. Democracy habituates us to be patient,” ended Buya.
