Jombang, NU Online
The leader of Tebuireng Islamic boarding school (pesantren) KH Sholahuddin Wahid (Gus Sholah) regretted the statement made by the director of the Deradicalization of National Counterterrorism Agency (BNPT), Irfan Idris, for proposing ulema certification as an idea to help weed out radicalization. <>

"As far as I know it's not the BNPT's official statement, only one person, and he (Irfan Idris) does not understand about ulema (Islamic scholars) and pesantren," he told reporters here recently.

The younger brother of former Indonesian President KH Abdurrahman Wahid (Gus Dur) was of view the ulema certification idea should not be delivered by BNPT to the public.

"But the idea should first be discussed with pesantren ulema and intellectuals. To deal with terrorism, it could be done with the cooperation between the government and ulema."

Gus Sholah said that the ulema certification would not resolve both radicalism and extremism, and could raise many other problems.

"The certification will raise more problems, the government will be busy with matters related to the ulema, but terrorists still go on," said the former member of the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM).

Meanwhile, Nia Elvina, a sociologist from Nasional University, said that "since lecturers and teachers must be certified, it could be possible to apply the same system to ulema in order to maintain their credibility.”

Nia claimed that many ulema are former prisoners and thugs and thus have low credibility. She noted that Islam in Indonesia has seen a rise in radicalism, exemplified by several recent conflicts sparked by religious intolerance.

“The quality of their sermons is very low, as they are lacking certain knowledge necessary to interpret the teachings of Islam,” she said, adding that misinformed sermons have the potential to set off social unrest. “Their role is often politicized and appeals to the interests of some fringe groups instead of the majority of Indonesian Muslims.”

Roisul Hukama, a member of the Ulama of Nangkernang village, Karang Gayam, Sampang, was recently arrested and named as a suspect for provoking hundreds of people through a mosque’s loudspeaker to attack dozens of Shiite students and teachers. Two died in the attack and many others were injured.

It was revealed later that Roisul — leader of a Sunni Muslim associated with the Muslim organization Nahdlatul Ulama — had a personal feud with his brother, Shiite leader Tajul Muluk, that wound up turning into a community-wide conflict.

Contributor : Muslim Abdurrahman
Editor : Sudarto Murtaufiq