Eva Fachrunnisa: “Who are Moderate Muslims?”

PPIM.UINJKT.AC.ID – Lecturer from the Australian National University, Eva Fachrunnisa, shared his experience when teaching Islamic studies in Australia. She once raised a question to her students about who moderate Muslims were. “But they found it difficult to answer,” Eva said on Friday (17/7).

She shared the story in a virtual seminar series of #ModerasiBeragama (Religious Moderation) themed “Indonesianists Talking about Religious Moderation: from Indonesia to the World”, which was organized by the Center for the Study of Islam and Society (PPIM) of the UIN Jakarta through Convey Indonesia program.

Eva’s students responded with various answers at that time. Some said that moderate Muslims were “those who were against terrorism.” This answer was related to the rising popularity of moderate Islam following the 9/11 attack in New York City in 2001. Some others answered that moderate Muslim were “those who did not wear hijab.” Another answer was “they were Muslims but they were fine to drink alcohol and wine”.

Such various answers, Eva said, showed that there were various perspectives regarding the concept of moderate Islam, particularly when it came to the characters of Indonesian Muslims who came from various backgrounds. So, it was acceptable if people had different definitions, depending on their own religious attitudes, influence from their community and from whom they learned Islam.

This was how religious moderation worked, Eva said, and such ideas were also promoted by a number international figures, including Malaysian Prime MInister Najib Razak and Grand Shaykh from Universitas Al-Azhar, Ahmad al-Tayyeb.

In Malaysia, Eva said, Najib Razak often mentioned about Islam wasatiyyah (justly balanced or middle-path Islam) in his speeches, including one he delivered in the United Nations General Assembly in 2010. Najib announced the establishment of Institut Wasatiyyah Malaysia (IWM) and the Global Movement of Moderates Foundation (GMMF) to support his wasatiyyah projects.

Eva also said that religious moderation implemented in Indonesia had some similarities with that in Al-Azhar. This was conveyed by al-Tayyeb when he met with President Joko Widodo at the Bogor Presidential Palace in Bogor, West Java, in 2018. To him, thinking and practicing moderate Islam meant following manhaj (methodology) of ahlussunnah wal jama’ah (Islam that is open and promotes tolerance).

“There are many similarities [in the concept], one of which is that Al Azhar is against intolerance and this commitment is stipulated under Al Azhar document issued after the 25 January Revolution. This is very interesting. Al Azhar also upholds freedom of opinions,” Eva said.

Besides Eva, the discussion that was moderated by Convey Indonesia Team Leader Jamhari Makruf also presented other Indonesianists as speakers, including Tim Lindset from the University of Melbourne, Hyung-Jun Kim from Kangwon National University, and Takeshi Kohno from the Toyo Eiwa University, 

Writer: Herda Maulida

Editor: M. Nida Fadlan