Ashura and the Entrance of Sunni-Shia Dialogue

 

Obor carnaval in Madura island

Ashura (10 Muharram) is usually my entry point when discussing how to find a meeting point (kalimatun sawa’) between Sunnis and Shia while I was in Australia. Most of my Iranian frinds would ask, “Are the sunni Muslims in Indonesia celebrating Ashura?” I replied, “yes, we are. We are fasting and increase the dhikr on that day just like you”.

One of them asked, “Do you respect Husayn too?”. I replied, “of course, we majority of Sunni Muslims respect to Husayn as much as you respect to Husayn. We love Husayn as much as you love Husayn”. Usually if I say that, they will comment, “In fact, we are the same, aren’t we?!”. I replied, “we are the same, our shahadat is the same, our Prophet is the same, our Qur’an is the same”. Then some of them asked, “What’s the difference between us?” I replied, “the difference is that you only admit that there were 12 imams after the death of the Prophet and we don’t. But that doesn’t mean that we don’t love your 12 Imams. We love them because they are also the descendent of the Prophet. We just don’t call them Imams. Many of us mantion Hasan Husayn in our salawat.We in the Sunni also call our Prophet as Jaddal (grand father of) Hasan wal Husayn “.

Why Does The Jama’ Tabligh Still Gather in Corona Season

As the alumni of pesantren (traditional Islamic boarding school in Indonesia) who the favorite place when back home is mosque, when I was in aliyah (senior high school) I met Jama’ tabligh when they were in a mosque near my home. Accidentally, they had been doing tabligh in the mosque. There are around ten people in the group. They stayed there for a month. We were the residents welcomed to them due to nir ideology in this community. They only engaged the people too doing prayer together in the mosque. This is totally different thank other ideological Muslim communities like Jamaah Wahabi or salafi.

Reciting Burdah around the Village to Rejecting Corona

reciting Burdah in a village in Madura island

As many scholars said that Islam in Indonesia spread by Sufis. The approach was by culture, by Islamic tradition acknowledge by them. One of the culture is reciting qasidah burdah around the village. The tradition used by many villagers in Indonesia to protect them from pandemic. Now days, they do it for Corona virus. The burdah tradition transmitted by two actors of Islamization in Indonesia; tarekat and pesantren.

Selamat Jalan, Reeza!

Tahun 2002, saya kuliah di IAIN Surabaya. Setiap hari, saya setia naik bus kota. Terutama di semester-semester awal. Pada masa itu, setiap kali berdiri di dalam bus kota, saya melihat sesosok perempuan berwajah bersih, berhidung mancung mungil, berambut ikal sebahu yang juga berdiri di dalam bus. Sekali dua kali  naik bus, saya tak berani menyapanya. Tapi hampir setiap hari kami jumpa di dalam bus, akhirnya saya pun berani menyapanya. Namanya Reeza Purwanti, kuliah di Universitas Bayangkara, kampusnya di depan IAIN Surabaya. Dan ternyata ia adalah tetanggaku, dari keluarga Padang. Tak lama, kami pun menjadi akrab.

Aku Tak Mau Bunga Itu

Pagi itu, matahari bersinar keemasan. Suara kaki ceria datang dari anak-anak negeri yang berangkat sekolah. Para petani, sudah bersiap ke ladang-ladang. Langit pagi yang teduh tak tunjukkan panas kemarau kali ini.

Gadis itu melangkah ke arah tanah lapang, dengan sebuah buku dalam dekapan. Ia memandang lurus ke depan, menatap matahari yang mulai naik sejengkal. Seorang laki-laki, menyusul ke arahnya. Menatap matanya yang menerawang jauh ke alam. Dalam hati, laki-laki ini mengaguminya. Mengagumi ketegaran yang tersembunyi alam kecantikan lembutnya.

Gadis ini menoleh, “mas, bawa apa?”

Laki-laki itu menampakkan tangan kanan yang disembunyikannya. Terlihat bunga kertas berwarna merah diberikan pada gadis bermata bening itu. “Ini, aku bawa bunga untukmu”.

Menghela gadis itu. Ada raut kekecewaan, “bunganya imitasi”.

Suara di Makam Belanda

“Usht…!! “ Begitu suara seperti bersiul datang dari semak semak saya dengar.

Malam ini, sengaja saya bersepeda angin (road bike) sendirian dari Surabaya Barat ke Surabaya Tengah. Sengaja pula saya tak melewati jalan utama tapi sedikit melingkar melewati Makam Belanda yang dikenal sebagai Makam Kembang Kuning. Memasuki area Makam Belanda dari arah barat. Makam yang biasanya di luar negeri sepi, di sini terlihat menjadi tempat alternatif “tidak wajar” Bagi sebagian orang membuka warung kopi dan rokok.

Terus menuju jalan di tengah makam mulai ada suara suara “usht…!!! Seperti suara memanggil. Mendengar suara memanggil, saya memperlambat sepeda saya, semakin dekat dari Makam semakin terlihat ada gerakan manusia. Semakin dekat terlihat sesosok tubuh berambut panjang dan berok pendek.

Jesus in The Quran

Muslims believe that Jesus is one of the prophet of Allah (Nabi Allah). He is the 24th prophet from 25 prophets that Muslims need to know. Begins with Adam and ended with Muhammad. Muslims believe that Jesus was a prophet who was given a special message—Injil, or the gospel—to convey to all people. This message both confirmed what was taught in the Torah (Taurat) and Muslims believe that  Injil foretold the coming of Prophet Muhammad. Thus, Jesus has a vital and unique role to play in the Muslim faith.