Social Ethics as a Basis in Religious Conduct

better than the conditions in other countries such as in the Middle East and Africa, in the last few years, the condition of interreligious relation, particularly in connection to the minority groups still receives negative assessment. This is reported by institutions such as Centre for Religious and Cross-Cultural Studies CRCS UGM, Setara Institute, the Wahid Institute, and even the Indonesian Board of Survey LSI reported that from 2009 – 2012 the religious condition in Indonesia experienced a decline in religious freedom due to annual increase in the number of violence. The amount of violence reached 294 cased from its previous number of 172 cases in 2011 Kompas, 29 Desember, 2012. Considering the amount of violence cases there is indeed interest and compulsion of religious community to shift its paradigm in religious conduct. Conducting religion is no longer limited to thinking of one’s own life through the oppression of others, but it is no less important to conduct religion with consideration to making others feel comfortable and at peace. This interest indicates personal piety and social piety which is translated into hablun min Allah wa hablun min an nas in life. Constructive dialog is in reality easily implemented in the Indonesian context, even more so now as we know Indonesia suffers from numerous chronic diseases such as natural disasters which constantly loom all day; the issue of acute poverty; the very dangerous issue of backwardness with the increasing social economic gap of the society; and a number of other actual issues which beg the joint attention of the religious community. However, if the religious community is reluctant in carrying out concrete actions or constructive dialog, it will be difficult to achieve our expectation of growth in interreligious dialog which truly creates more conducive conditions for interreligious relations in Indonesia. Indonesia would ultimately become a mere jungle of violence among religious communities due to their reluctance in engaging in cooperative interreligious dialog constructively. As an alternative in religious life, dialog is therefore a very concrete and necessary matter to the religious community in Indonesia. if the religious community is reluctant in conducting interreligious dialog theological dialog which in my opinion is better suited to religious figures religious elites, while constructive dialog is “grounded” from theological dialog so that it is more suitable with the real conditions of Indonesia. Dialog, thus, becomes a necessity for religious community. Dialog, thus, will truly not be the cause of religious poverty and spiritual aridity. In fact, it is through interreligious dialog that followers of religion will be more enriched by listening to stories or spiritual experiences that are different to our own. We do not need to convert religion to understand a different religion let alone ridicule different religions. Dialog is therefore not a mere obligation of religious community, but it is a life necessity of diverse religious community. Dialog will tighten the interreligious bond between one another, however, dialog in its true meaning is not merely a series of monolog which only considers disadvantages and weaknesses of other religions differing to the one adhered to by the followers. This kind of dialog is in actuality a series of monolog among religious communities, it is not a dialog but it is often carried out due to theological and paradigmatic closed-mindedness regarding dialog itself. Thus, the need for interreligious dialog in Indonesia is a part of the obligations of its religious community. Interreligious dialog will therefore be a necessity for all religious communities which exist amidst the differences and heterogeneity of society in Indonesia. If there is no intent to conduct constructive dialog or theological dialog of the religious elite, then it is quite difficult to expect peace and harmony in the religious community as advised by Hans Kung which I quoted freely in the initial writings of this passage. Religious dialog, therefore, becomes a basic necessity for the religious community particularly in Indonesia, and the world community in general. Dialog could connect sensitivity of religious community to social conditions appearing in front of us as religious community. Religious dialog could also be said as a part of the dialog of humanity which is a defining characteristic of civilized religious community possessing care towards others Kesley, 1992. The intent in building interreligious dialog in Indonesia which is recently being carried out by various parties, although it still leaves a number of problems such as the excess of violence based on theological religious background as reported by survey institutions surely becomes a mutual point of concern. As reported by the Setara Institute for instance state that there were more than 156 cases of interreligious violence in Indonesia between 2010 – 2012, which is phenomenal since this is an era where religious and political freedom becomes a part of our lives. Therefore, if we intend to create conducive conditions for today and the future in regards to religious life, then the need for religious dialog must be executed without hypocrisy and suspicion.

9.4 A New Consciousness in Conducting Religion

We often hear the term passing over coming back. This term originally developed in Sufistic communities in regards to those who have “passed over formal boundaries”. Nevertheless, it does not mean that Sufis leave formal matters such as prayer of worship to the Creator, daily prayers, alms and its sort in the Islamic Sufi tradition. Sufis even become highly spiritual and religious since they no longer “think” about what is done as something that has to be done, but as a “life necessity” of which its assessment is wholly afforded to God without any intent on self-assessment. However, it must be admitted that there is often the misunderstanding in the spirituality of Sufis by some lay followers that they abandon shariah laws, where in fact the Sufis become so due to their being deeply and closely pious in nature so that formalistic matters have been conducted with all kinds of informal dedication. The dimension of shariah is the start of one’s path to becoming a grand Sufi as Ibn Arabi and al-Ghozali or al-Maturidi, which often is truly misunderstood by the religious community. Let us recall the statement of Rabiah al-Adawiyah, a woman Sufi who developed the mahabbah the LOVE school of thought to God. Rabiah Adawiyah stated: “If my prayers are for expectation of your heaven, then put me in your damnation. And if I pray for fear of hell, then do not judge my prayers But if my prayers are solely for my love to You, o Allah, the possessor of LOVE, then judge my prayers Do not cast Your Face away from me”. This is her deep spirituality which is often misunderstood by some who consider the importance of formal matters. Formal matter is not the same as matters full of formalities, this is what needs to be understood further. Formal matters such as obligatory and preferential rituals of worship, and even rituals that are ghoiru mahdah, are means leading to one’s spiritual faith, so that it is sensible to say that one would not become a grand Sufi as Rabiah, Ghozali, Maturidi, Ibn Arabi, and Hasan Asyari were one not to pass the dimension of shariah in their faith Thus, religious community is surely not immune to the realities of life. Once we are aware that our presence is not without social-historical and sociological context, it would be strange if these contexts were to be eliminated. It is impossible to eliminate the social context of where we live, what is possible is that reality must become a part of the lives of the faithful wherever they are. If they are incapable of understanding and placing the context, we will consequently be in a room that appears to be empty, void and hidden. While in fact we exist in the public sphere which is full of contestations. Contestation could be in the form of various religious activities and political formations. However, the contestation in connection to the community of the faithful is the contestation in righteousness amar ma’ruf nahi munkar and competition in righteousness fastabiqul khairat, because the