National Seminar of Faculty of Ushuluddin: Islamophobia in the Eyes of the World

Faculty of Ushuluddin, UIN Online News - Faculty of Ushuluddin held a national seminar with the theme "Islamophobia Within Muslim & Islamophobia Without Islam: Hatred of Muslims and Islam, between Assumptions, Facts, and Prejudices" on Monday (25/3/2024). 

The seminar invited four speakers, namely Professor of Philology and Islamic Culture at the University of Koln Germany, Prof. Dr. Edwin P. Wieringa, Professor of Sociology of Religion at UIN Jakarta, Prof. Dr. Amin Nurdin, MA, Mubalig Jemaat Ahmadiyah Indonesia (JAI), Dr. Rakeeman R.A.M. Jumaan, and S3 Alumni of Ecole Normale Superieure (ENS) Lyon France, Andar Nubowo, DEA, Ph. D..

Dean of the Faculty of Ushuluddin, Prof. Ismatu Ropi, MA, Ph.D and Vice Rector for Cooperation, Din Wahid, MA, Ph.D, gave remarks at the national seminar. Ismatu delivered an opening speech about Islamophobia, according to him Islamophobia is a reason to hate Islam, both from external and internal Islam. Islamophobia itself has existed since the beginning of the crusades.

Meanwhile, Din Wahid in his speech conveyed three things that cause Islamophobia to occur. Islam that is considered "slightly" contrary to the majority Islamic culture is immediately considered as radical Islam.

"There are three things that cause Islamophobia, first, since the Prophet Muhammad has always been the subject of caricatures, many artists in Europe have used the figure of Muhammad as a mockery of Islam. Second, there are many cases of the Qur'an being burned in western countries. Third, related to the headscarf in several European countries, especially in France, there is a ban on people wearing the headscarf, people who wear the headscarf are considered strange and degraded," Din Wahid explained.

The seminar continued with a presentation by four speakers moderated by Faculty of Ushuluddin Lecturer, Saadatul Jannah, MA. Saadatul said that the issue of Islamophobia is always relevant to be discussed as long as there is Islam, and the issue of terrorists is still questionable whether those who do it are really Muslims or external elements of Islam who use Muslim identity.

Edwin, who has a background in Indonesian Islamic culture, gave his views from the perspective of the history of Islamic culture. He explained that Islamophobia has existed since the era before the entry of Islam into Indonesia because at that time Islam was considered an irrelevant religion in Indonesia.

At that time, the majority of Indonesians were still Buddhists and Islam itself was a religion that came from abroad, namely Saudi Arabia, so people considered the culture in Saudi Arabia was not the same as the culture in Indonesia so Islam did not deserve to exist in Indonesia. He got this statement from ancient literature, Suluk Gatholoco, which discusses criticism of Islam and Islamic priests in Java.

Unlike Edwin who sees islamophobia from a historical perspective, Amin Nurdin and Andar Nubowo see islamophobia from a contemporary perspective. Amin cites the crusades and the trauma of the war between Christians and Catholics as two reasons for the rise of Islamophobia.

"The World Trade Center (WTC) phenomenon in New York was the peak of Islamophobia, but before that Islamophobia already existed and the racism attacked biologically and psychologically. After the WTC tragedy, the racism became Islamic culture itself," Amin said.

From the point of view of Rakeeman, who is a representative of the Indonesian Ahmadiyya Congregation (JAI), Islam itself is still Islamophobic towards others. This attitude can be seen from the treatment received by the Ahmadiyah congregation in Indonesia, which still cannot be said to be fair because Rakeeman admits that the Ahmadiyah are still ostracized and even locked up in a small room with walls made of plywood.

According to Rakeeman, the views of the Ahmadiyya are not in accordance with the actual situation. He mentioned that some of the false things spread in the public about the Ahmadiyya should be straightened out by approaching the Ahmadiyya.

"Ahmadiyya are considered not to believe in God, atheists, they are also said not to fast, their hajj is not in Mecca but in India or where, also the prophet is not the Prophet Muhammad. All of that is not true and the confusion occurs because people do not know Ahmadiyah well. So we should all from various circles, from different Islamic groups should approach and get to know each other better," Rakeeman explained.

Rakeeman's presentation closed the discussion of this seminar and was concluded by Saadatul Jannah as the moderator that as Muslims, especially Muslims in modern times must have a modern or moderate mindset because a moderate Islamic mindset can be the foundation for having a more open view of Islamic problems in the world. She hopes that all UIN Jakarta students have a moderate spirit so that Islam can be seen by the world as a religion of peace. (Nadia Nur Fadilah/Fauziah/Novia Syifaputri Ramadhan)