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Muslimijohtaja: länsimaisten poliitikkojen tulisi lakata teeskentelemästä, ettei terrorismilla ole mitään tekemistä islamin kanssa - Suomen Uutiset
Muslimijohtaja: länsimaisten poliitikkojen tulisi lakata teeskentelemästä, ettei terrorismilla ole mitään tekemistä islamin kanssa
Viidenkymmenen miljoonan muslimin organisaatiota Indonesiassa johtava pääsihteeri Yahya Cholil Staquf ryöpyttää Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitungin ja Time-lehdenhaastattelussa radikaalille islamille antautuneita läntisiä poliitikkoja. Staqufin mielestä islamin kritiikkiä ei pidä kutsua islamofobiaksi – hän on samoilla kriteereillä itsekin islamofobi.
Indonesian merkittävimpiin uskonnollisiin vaikuttajiin kuuluva Yahya Cholil Staquf johtaa noin 50 miljoonan maltillisen muslimin organisaatiota. Islamin traditionaalista tulkintaa hän kritisoi tavalla, joka voisi Euroopassa johtaa islamofobia-leimakirveen käyttöön tai vihapuhekäräjille.
– Läntisten poliitikkojen tulisi lakata teeskentelemästä, että ääriajattelulla ja terrorismilla ei ole mitään tekemistä islamin kanssa. On selkeä yhteys fundamentalismin, terrorismin ja puhdasoppisen islamin perustavien olettamusten välillä. Niin kauan kuin meiltä puuttuu konsensus tästä asiasta, emme voi voittaa fundamentalistista väkivaltaa islamin sisällä.
Perinteisen islamin perusolettamuksista ongelmallisia ovat Staqufin mukaan ainakin muslimien ja ei-muslimien välinen suhde, muslimien suhde valtioon ja muslimien suhde vallitseviin lakijärjestelmiin siellä, missä he elävät.
– Klassisessa traditiossa muslimien ja ei-muslimien suhteen oletetaan perustuvan erotteluun ja vihanpitoon.
Islamilaisessa perinteessä valtio on yksi, universaali toimija, joka yhdistää kaikki muslimit yhden johtajan hallintaan ei-muslimimaailmaa vastaan, Staqufi selittää.
Tällainen valtiofilosofia on ilmennyt esimerkiksi Isisin pyrkimyksessä ylläpitää kalifaattia Syyrian ja Irakin alueella. Staqufi on aivan eri mieltä kuin ne läntiset kommentaattorit, jotka väittävät Isisin pyrkimyksiä kalifaatin perustamiseksi epäislamilaisina.
– Isisin pyrkimys globaaliin kalifaattiin on selkeästi ortodoksisen islamilaisen tradition piirissä.
Indonesiassa on perinteisesti ollut vallalla maltillinen islamintulkinta, joka on ristiriidassa islamin pyhien kirjoituksien kanssa. Maltilinen kehitys kohti maallisempaa yhteiskuntaa näytti 1970-luvulle asti toteutuvan myös muualla maailmassa.
Viime aikoina puhdasoppinen islam on kuitenkin saanut jalansijaa niin Indonesiassa, Lähi-idässä kuin muslimien diasporissa länsimaissa.
Siitä Staqufi syyttää ennen kaikkea Saudi-Arabiaa, mutta myös läntisiä johtajia.
– Viimeisten 50 vuoden aikana Saudi-Arabia ja muut Persianlahden maat ovat käyttäneet massiivisesti resursseja levittääkseen heidän ultrakonservatiivista versiotaan islamista kaikkialle maailmaan. Kun tämän on annettu tapahtua vuosikymmeniä, on lännen viimein painostettava saudeja voimakkaasti lopettamaan tällaisen käyttäytymisen, Staqufi sanoo.
Tässä vielä alkuperäinen Time:n artikkeli, ollaan kuitenkin murossa jossa pelkästään tuosta aikaisemmasta lähteestä olisi tullut ulinaa
Orthodox Islam and Violence 'Linked' Says Top Muslim Scholar
In Interview, Top Indonesian Muslim Scholar Says Stop Pretending That Orthodox Islam and Violence Aren't Linked
Among Indonesia’s most influential Islamic leaders is Yahya Cholil Staquf, 51,advocates a modern, moderate Islam. He is general secretary of the Nahdlatul Ulama, which, with about 50 million members, is the country’s biggest Muslim organization. Yahya. This interview, notable for Yahya’s candor, was first published on Aug. 19 in German in Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. Here are excerpts translated from the original Bahasa Indonesia into English.
Many Western politicians and intellectuals say that Islamist terrorism has nothing to do with Islam. What is your view?
Western politicians should stop pretending that extremism and terrorism have nothing to do with Islam. There is a clear relationship between fundamentalism, terrorism, and the basic assumptions of Islamic orthodoxy. So long as we lack consensus regarding this matter, we cannot gain victory over fundamentalist violence within Islam.
Radical Islamic movements are nothing new. They’ve appeared again and again throughout our own history in Indonesia. The West must stop ascribing any and all discussion of these issues to “Islamophobia.” Or do people want to accuse me — an Islamic scholar — of being an Islamophobe too?
What basic assumptions within traditional Islam are problematic?
The relationship between Muslims and non-Muslims, the relationship of Muslims with the state, and Muslims’ relationship to the prevailing legal system wherever they live … Within the classical tradition, the relationship between Muslims and non-Muslims is assumed to be one of segregation and enmity.
Perhaps there were reasons for this during the Middle Ages, when the tenets of Islamic orthodoxy were established, but in today’s world such a doctrine is unreasonable. To the extent that Muslims adhere to this view of Islam, it renders them incapable of living harmoniously and peacefully within the multi-cultural, multi-religious societies of the 21st century.
A Western politician would likely be accused of racism for saying what you just said.
I’m not saying that Islam is the only factor causing Muslim minorities in the West to lead a segregated existence, often isolated from society as a whole. There may be other factors on the part of the host nations, such as racism, which exists everywhere in the world. But traditional Islam — which fosters an attitude of segregation and enmity toward non-Muslims — is an important factor.
And Muslims and the state?
Within the Islamic tradition, the state is a single, universal entity that unites all Muslims under the rule of one man who leads them in opposition to, and conflict with, the non-Muslim world.
So the call by radicals to establish a caliphate, including by ISIS, is not un-Islamic?
No, it is not. [ISIS’s] goal of establishing a global caliphate stands squarely within the orthodox Islamic tradition. But we live in a world of nation-states. Any attempt to create a unified Islamic state in the 21st century can only lead to chaos and violence ... Many Muslims assume there is an established and immutable set of Islamic laws, which are often described as shariah. This assumption is in line with Islamic tradition, but it of course leads to serious conflict with the legal system that exists in secular nation-states.
Any [fundamentalist] view of Islam positing the traditional norms of Islamic jurisprudence as absolute [should] be rejected out of hand as false. State laws [should] have precedence.
How can that be accomplished?
Generations ago, we achieved a de facto consensus in Indonesia that Islamic teachings must be contextualized to reflect the ever-changing circumstances of time and place. The majority of Indonesian Muslims were — and I think still are — of the opinion that the various assumptions embedded within Islamic tradition must be viewed within the historical, political and social context of their emergence in the Middle Ages [in the Middle East] and not as absolute injunctions that must dictate Muslims’ behavior in the present … Which ideological opinions are “correct” is not determined solely by reflection and debate. These are struggles [about who and what is recognized as religiously authoritative]. Political elites in Indonesia routinely employ Islam as a weapon to achieve their worldly objectives.
Is it so elsewhere too?
Too many Muslims view civilization, and the peaceful co-existence of people of different faiths, as something they must combat. Many Europeans can sense this attitude among Muslims.
There’s a growing dissatisfaction in the West with respect to Muslim minorities, a growing fear of Islam. In this sense, some Western friends of mine are “Islamophobic.” They’re afraid of Islam. To be honest, I understand their fear … The West cannot force Muslims to adopt a moderate interpretation of Islam. But Western politicians should stop telling us that fundamentalism and violence have nothing to do with traditional Islam. That is simply wrong.
They don’t want to foster division in their societies between Muslims and non-Muslims, nor contribute to intolerance against Muslims.
I share this desire — that’s a primary reason I’m speaking so frankly. But the approach you describe won’t work. If you refuse to acknowledge the existence of a problem, you can’t begin to solve it. One must identify the problem and explicitly state who and what are responsible for it.
Who and what are responsible?
Over the past 50 years, Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states have spent massively to promote their ultra-conservative version of Islam worldwide. After allowing this to go unchallenged for so many decades, the West must finally exert decisive pressure upon the Saudis to cease this behavior ... I admire Western, especially European, politicians. Their thoughts are so wonderfully humanitarian. But we live in a time when you have to think and act realistically.
The last time I was in Brussels I witnessed some Arab, perhaps North African, youth insult and harass a group of policemen. My Belgian friends remarked that such behavior has become an almost everyday occurrence in their country. Why do you allow such behavior? What kind if impression does that make? Europe, and Germany in particular, are accepting massive numbers of refugees. Don’t misunderstand me: of course you cannot close your eyes to those in need. But the fact remains that you’re taking in millions of refugees about whom you know virtually nothing, except that they come from extremely problematic regions of the world.
I would guess that you and I agree that there is a far right wing in Western societies that would reject even a moderate, contextualized Islam.
And there's an extreme left wing whose adherents reflexively denounce any and all talk about the connections between traditional Islam, fundamentalism and violence as de facto proof of Islamophobia. This must end. A problem that is not acknowledged cannot be solved.
Marco Stahlhut is a Jakarta-based German academic and correspondent.