'NU facing threats posed by extremists and liberals'

Jakarta, NU Online
The Supreme Council of Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) KH Hasyim Muzadi said that the country's largest Muslim organization 'is committed' to protecting and preserving its long standing tradition from any possible threats posed by those who propagated extreme and liberal views.<>
He said that both extremism and liberalism were from within Islam itself for being voiced by Islamists who serve the interest of other parties instead of seeking to help create harmony amid diversity which is the true face of the country.

"We have faced threats posed by extremists and liberals. They have sought to gradually threaten religious views long embraced by Indonesian Muslims, especially Nahdliyin (NU followers)," he told NU Online here on Wednesday (11/12). 

He said, in addition to threatening both akidah (creeds) and syariah (Islamic laws), liberalism, could give negative impacts to Islam and even it would also disturb other religions to be liberalized. 

In addition to facing liberalism, Hasyim said, NU had also faced extremism from within Islam itself. If the liberalism could affect both akidah and syaria, the extremism could be able to threaten the image of Islam.

"Those who bring Islam with violence can harm Islam in Indonesia," he said.

In regard with the idea of communism, Hasyim argued that it was officially banned in Indonesia but its line of thought and ideology have still been evolved especially the idea of not believing in one God or atheism. 

"The Indonesian Communism Party (PKI) has officially been banned, but the state is impossible to ban an unseen ideology. We face it with wariness and preaching," Hasyim added.

Editing by Sudarto Murtaufiq