Haidar Bagir: Extremism Comes From Poverty

PPIM.UINJKT.AC.ID – Founder and Director of Mizan Group, Haidar Bagir, revealed that poverty was one of the main causes of extremism, with recruitment carried out by the extremist groups mostly targeting marginalized people who usually lived in poverty.

He was speaking on Friday (28/8) in a virtual seminar series of #ModerasiBeragama (Religious Moderation) themed “Generosity and Philanthropy in the Framework of Religious Moderation”. The seminar was organized by the Center for the Study of Islam and Society (PPIM) of the the Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University (UIN) Jakarta, in collaboration with the university’s Social Trust Fund (STF) organization, through Convey Indonesia program.

As the solution, Haidar emphasized the importance of practicing social justice, which could be realized through sharing activities (philanthropy). Haidar called on all parties not to narrowly interpret the concept of zakat and alms in Islam.

“The concept of muallaf [new converts to Islam], or muallafah qulubuhum [volatile heart], for example. [People] usually consider it only as new convert to Islam. In fact, if we look at the origin of the word, the fiqh [Islamic jurisprudence] imams have interpreted and divided the meaning into three categories: non-Muslims who have just converted to Islam; people whose kindness is worth financial support; and groups of people who, if we don’t lend a hand to them, can be harmful to society,” Haidar said.

He added that enhancing the philanthropic movements was one of the important pillars in realizing religious moderation. This could be realized in two ways; by donating the funds collected from zakat, infaq (voluntary charity), and alms to the institutions engaged in community development and adopting religious moderation, and; by giving the funds to the community which could become part of moderate society after receiving it.

The virtual seminar on Religious Moderation is held every Friday via “Convey Indonesia” official Youtube channel. Besides Haidar, the discussion that was moderated by Convey Indonesia Team Leader Jamhari Makruf also presented several figures who were actively involved in philanthropic activities, such as Amelia Fauzia (Director of STF UIN Jakarta), Hilman Latief  (Coordinator of PP Muhammadiyah’s LazisMu), and Abdur Rouf (Executive Director of NU Care, LazisNU).

Writer: Syaifa Rodiyah

Editor: M. Nida Fadlan