Strengthening orthodoxy

Religion as a divine truth has always been proven naturally by human beings so that its truth is considered as an absolute truth which can be applied at all all times to all people in all places. The basic belief of Muslims has recently met a serious threat as the Comtean positivism paradigm applied to religious sphere through modernization movements which are inspired from the spirit of the idea of progress. On account of this idea, the world is perceived to have moved linearly from primitive towards modern.  The primitive are those believing in the unseen realm, religion or theology. While the modern are those believing in rational considerations based on positive things (objective, empirical and rational).

The renewal of religion has most of the time been positioned in this paradigm so that religion is regarded as the mythical legacy of the past which should be verified objectively to be social and cultural facts inseparable from divine values. Because of this understanding, various rites and religious belief systems are considered meaningless as such spiritual moves and are understood as mere social integration. When other integration means founded, various rites have been put aside.<>

Various justifications are raised as if all the justifications are correct like the piety of individual seen from his acts of worship is regarded as the source of any emerging social upheaval because his life is viewed as such a fully Hereafter-oriented life. On the contrary, the social piety is measured by ignoring individual piety. But what will happen if the individual piety is ignored and the social piety can not fully be implemented because all attempts they have conducted in the reason of social and humanity are the business strategy of social activists. As a result people's needs could not be addressed and only religious leaders and clerics in villages have day and night accompanied them with their all sorrows and hopes.

Islam is not social philosophy as thought by Aguste Comte or other other thinkers. Islam is a religion. The religious teachings are absolutely and eternally true in nature though there are efforts of contextualizing the teachings. The efforts to contextualize the teachings have constantly be conducted especially by pious ulema having no popularity ambition. The ulema will all of the time position religion within the frame of society and culture to be implemented properly.

Religion cannot be positioned as a cultural product because its position is as divine truth. That is why the idea of progress is not only opposed to religion for putting aside the true and eternal legacy of the past, but it is also a mistake in the perspective of culture. The culture can not develop linearly and horizontally. Instead, it will develop in accordance with its supporting social environment. A culture cannot be measured with another because every single society is free to form its own culture in line with its spiritual and material basis.

For that reason, it is not true if those firmly holding to religion and traditional and cultural heritages are regarded as backward or primitive. For a religion, orthodoxy is the highest footing. That is why the orthodoxy must always be strengthened. The modernization and the liberalization of religion opposed to this principle will constantly negate the importance of orthodoxy because the two will attempt to separate society from religion. Needless to say, the main obstacle of liberal circles is the strength of Qur'anic values. That is why the Qur'an will always be reviewed critically following their success in escaping from the ulema intellectual heritage including their efforts to delegitimate Prophet's tradition (hadist).

Capitalism can develop in the world after liberalizing religion. That is why, to develop capitalism in Indonesia, the liberalization of religion should be conducted in all levels. At this point, the strong relationship between Muslims and their religious teachings must be eased through liberalization movements that tend to relatify religious values. Unfortunately, the systematic movements have not been realized by religious leaders and event they have naively carried out the dangerous movements. In addition, there have been some NU elites still blind to this reality as a result of their more attention to their own thought acrobatics.

Because of knowing the modernization with its spirit of liberalization having failed to make human live in prosperity and peace, people have deliberately returned to believe in religion. Religion, at this point, is to make human close to the highest truth willing to bring peace in the world and escatological peace. In such situation, the young circles having formerly been out of control and liberal have now started realizing their naive so that they have sincerely returned to the orthodoxy. As religious adherents, the orthodoxy is a such a must and a way to stay consistent with their own religious attitudes.

The strengthening of orthodoxy is a great progress for religious adherents and this is a future for the civilization. In the NU perspective as stated by KH Ahmad Shiddiq that in addition to having the meaning al-ibanah (purity) ijtihad also has the meaning i'adah (back to orthodoxy). It is one of the forms of authentic Islamic renewal. This movement is of course a big threat for any liberalization movement which has constantly conducted processes of secularization to raise capitalist society.

The movement to return to orthodoxy should have been conducted as both capitalism and liberalism have at the same time met failure. In this case, the two have plunged human into misery in the world and the hereafter. Fortunately, people have realized about the phenomenon though there have been some religious leaders not capable of realizing it. They have still wrestled with pragmatism and not been aware of the liberalization of religion. (Abdul Mun’im DZ)