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Islamic organizations agreed on Thursday to disseminate on a
large scale, the teachings of "true jihad" among Muslims across
Indonesia in an effort to help prevent extremist groups from recruiting
new members and carrying out attacks.
The agreement was reached in a meeting at the official residence of
Vice President Jusuf Kalla, where prominent Muslim leaders were shown a
video seized recently from a raided terrorist hideout.
Among those in attendance were Din Syamsuddin and Ahmad Syafii Maarif
from the Muhammadiyah organization, and Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) leaders
Ahmad Bagja and Rozi Munir. The Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) was
represented by secretary-general Ichwan Syam.
Syarif Hidayatullah Islamic State University (UIN) rector Azyumardi
Azra and another Muslim scholar Komaruddin Hidayat also watched the
video at around 8 p.m. on Thursday. Kalla also showed it to dozens of
other Muslim clerics late on Wednesday.
"During the meeting, the Islamic organizations made an agreement with
the vice president that they would publicly explain accurate
interpretations (of Koranic verses) on jihad in accordance with
comprehensive Islamic perspectives," Azyumardi said after the meeting.
They also acknowledged that terrorism was carried out by Muslims using
"heretical Islamic teachings", he added.
That acknowledgement was a seeming departure from previous statements
in recent years, in which Muslim leaders have repeatedly rejected a
link between terrorism and Islam. This despite the fact that all of the
bombers and planners have carried out their attacks in the name of
Islam.
Bagja said the NU, the country's largest Muslim organization, had
instructed all of its boarding schools (pesantren) and preachers as
well as its affiliated groups to explain to the public that terrorism
is not a legitimate form of jihad.
"Islam does not recognize suicide bombings (used by terrorists for
jihad) because the enemy and victims are too random," he explained.
Din said Muhammadiyah -- the nation's second biggest Muslim
organization -- would carry out a similar campaign to prevent militant
groups from recruiting new members.
"We will disseminate true Islamic teachings on jihad to our members,"
he said.
He said jihad using suicide bombing is haram (forbidden) under Islamic
law. "The concept of jihad is only acceptable in war-torn regions,
where Muslims are evicted from their homeland and their wealth is
confiscated, like in Palestine... But not Indonesia which is a peaceful
state."
MUI's Ichwan Syam said the ulema council held a meeting on Tuesday to
discuss ways to publicly disseminate its 2003 fatwa against terrorism
in the name of jihad.
The MUI, he added, would also approach other Islamic groups, which have
so far been "sidelined" for their alleged links to radicalism and
terrorism, such as the Al-Mukmin Islamic boarding school in Ngruki,
Central Java.
Cleric Abu Bakar Ba'asyir, who cofounded the school that has produced
several convicted terrorists, was found guilty in connection to the
2002 Bali bombings, which killed 202 people.
Earlier on Thursday, Kalla appealed to Muslim clerics to campaign for
"a true jihad" following the discovery of a VCD that contains accounts
of would-be suicide bombers and their leader fomenting hatred against
friendly countries -- the U.S., the UK, Australia and Italy.
"That kind of jihad is not correct. It is a misinterpreted jihad and
very dangerous. It could be more (dangerous) as there have been nine
suicide bombings here so far," Kalla said.
Separately, National Police Chief Gen. Sutanto said the police would
distribute copies of the video to the public.
"We will distribute the VCD to clerics so they can relay it to young
people, and in turn those people will not be trapped by wrong
teachings," Sutanto said.
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