Abdul Mu'ti: As a Pluralist Country, Religious Moderation for Indonesia is a Necessity

PPG Building, UIN News Online— 1,234 new students from the Faculty of Tarbiyah and Teacher Training at UIN Syarif Hidayatullah participated in the Introduction to Academic and Student Culture (PBAK) 2022 themed “Kreatif Berilmu, Moderat Beragama, Semangat Berwirausaha” held at PPG Building, Bojongsari Depok.

Present in the event, Dean of FITK Sururin, Deputy Dean for Academic Affairs Kadir, Deputy Dean for General Administration Abdul Muin, Deputy Dean for Student Affairs, Alumni, and Cooperation Dr. Khalimi. Also present in the event, Professor at FITK UIN Jakarta Abdul Mu'ti who was invited as a resource person.

In his speech, Abdul Mu’ti revealed the importance of religious moderation, especially to the new students of FITK UIN Jakarta. According to Mu’ti, as Indonesian citizens who have diverse cultures and beliefs, we need moderation in religious life. Therefore, religious moderation is a necessity.

conveyed that there were 4 important factors that became the reason why religious moderation was needed. The four factors are Theological, Political, Sociological, and Psychological.

“Theological is a factor related to religion, belief. A person who adheres to Islam must be moderate, because Islam itself is a religion that is just, washat (middle), and moderate,” he said.

Next is the political factor, he said that the Indonesian people have various ethnicities, cultures, and beliefs. Indonesian society is a pluralistic society that has many kinds of differences, so that in order to achieve harmony, Indonesian people must be moderate in responding to these various kinds of differences.

The last one is psychological factor. “Biologically, humans are creatures that need other creatures. In playing the role of social beings, humans definitely need other humans in their lives. Therefore, we must be fair and moderate,” said Mu’ti.

He also explained 2 causes that make a person have extreme understanding, namely lack of knowledge and lack of socializing.

Lack of knowledge makes a person look at things from one side only and cannot judge it from the other side. Therefore, moderate people are people who have broad knowledge and insight. This insight is like the ocean, it must be wide as far as the eye can see.

“Second, lack of socializing which causes a person to finally lack tolerance in responding to various differences. The more you socialize, the more you will know about something that makes a difference from the point of view of others,” said Mu’ti. (fitk/musam/usa)