ISLAMIC PLURALISM IN INDONESIA:

COMPARING FUNDAMENTALIST AND

LIBERALIST VIEW

Akhmad Siddiq Abstrak: Pluralisme dianggap sebagai basis ketiga

[email protected] dalam menafsir keberagaman beragama, setelah
eksklusivisme dan inklusivisme. Sejalan dengan
sejarah pluralisme di Barat, pluralisme Islam di
Indonesia juga bisa dikatakan sebagai kontinuitas
dari dua paradigma keberagamaan sebelumnya, yakni
eksklusivisme dan inklusivisme. Meski demikian, aksi
maupun reaksi yang dilakukan para pemikir
fundametalis Muslim di Indonesia tidak bisa begitu
Fakultas Ushuluddin
saja dinafikan. Menurut kelompok terakhir ini,
IAIN Sunan Ampel,
pluralisme adalah jalan berpikir yang “terlarang”.
Surabaya
Keywords: Pluralisme, fundamentalisme,
eksklusivisme.

Teosofi: Jurnal Tasawuf dan Pemikiran Islam

Volume 1 Nomor 1 Juni 2011
Introduction
We may define pluralism as “aboard term, applicable to any
doctrine which maintains that there are ultimately many things or many
kinds of things; in both this sense it is opposed to „monism‟. Its
commonest use in late twentieth-century philosophy is to describe
views which recognize many set of equally correct beliefs or evaluative
standard; and in this sense it is akin to „relativism‟.”1
Actually, pluralism—as the same as plurality—is a fact, although
in the field of religious studies it is still debatable. We may see how the
three great monotheistic religions—Judaism, Christianity, and Islam—
have lived in mutual respect and tolerant relationship for almost fifteen
centuries ago. Religious pluralism is a phenomenon which has always
been with us. So, like John Bowden clearly stated, “there is also
religious pluralism within each of the monotheistic faiths.”2
Pluralism is the third basic ways to interpret diversity of
religions: after exclusivism and inclusivism. According to Arvind
Sharma, it is easy to summarize these three ways of religious diversity.
She said: “If one religion thinks that it alone constitutes the road to
salvation and the other religion simply does not, the position is
described as exclusivist. If one religion continues to think that it alone
continues the path to salvation but admit that other religion also go
part of the way but not the whole way, which it alone does, then the
position is described as inclusivist. If, however, one tradition thinks
that all other tradition also continue valid paths to salvation, along with
it self, then the position is described as pluralist.”3 In the line with
Sharma, Rita Gross explained these ways in her article, Excuse Me, but
What’s the Question?, and she added the recent model suggested by Paul
Knitter in his book, Introducing Theologies of Religions (Orbis Books, 2003).
According to this theology of religions, value judgment about the
validity of various religions should be suspended in favor of learning
more deeply what each religion is actually aiming.4

1 See Concise Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Routledge, London, 2000).

2 Bowden, John, Religious Pluralism and the Heritage of the Enlightenment, in Boase, Roger,
Islam and Global Dialogue (Burlington: Ashgate Publishing Limited, 2005), 13.
3 Paul F. Knitter, The Myth of Religious Superiority (New York: Orbis Book, 2005), 56.
4 Knitter, The Myth, 76.

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 Like the history of pluralism in the West, we can say that Islamic
pluralism in Indonesia is a continuity from exclusivism and inclusivism.
Some “liberalist Moslem” scholars, e.g. Nurcholish Madjid, Johan
Effendy, and Gus Dur, struggled to reach it. Today, Sukidi said, it is
not enough to talk only about inclusivism. We need pluralism to make
deeper dialogue with other religions, not only in discourse but also in
“practice”.
There are still many “fundamentalist Moslem” scholars that
strictly reject and avoid this philosophical way of thinking. According
to them, pluralism is the forbidden way of thinking. Islam previously
stated that monotheism is the best way to understand religion.
Monotheism is the only religious thinking of God, and pluralism—
which tries to “converge” the truths—is truly opposed with
monotheism. 5 Accordingly, this group got the support from MUI
(Indonesian Moslem Leader Committee), who announced the
“prohibited” guidance of pluralism, liberalism and secularism.6
It is interesting to know that both “liberalist” and
“fundamentalist” Moslem use Qur‟anic verses in arguing their ideas.
Both refer to the Qur‟an, an Islamic holy book, to strengthen their
argument.
This paper is going to explain about the argument of two groups,
trying to find the “reason” behind their ideas. It will describe more
specifically about Islamic pluralism, asserting that the differential
paradigm between two groups of Moslem scholars is only a problem of
interpretation of the Qur‟anic text. In this context, we can refer to
Khaled Abou el Fadl, the leading Moslem thinker, who say:
“Ultimately, the Qur‟an or any text, speaks through its reader”7

5 It is different with John Bowden‟s thesis. According to him, “there is also religious
pluralism within each of the monotheistic faiths.” (See: John Bowden, Religious
Pluralism and the Heritage of the Enlightenment, in Boase, Roger, Islam and Global Dialogue,
(Burlington: Ashgate Publishing Limited, 2005), 13.
6 The guidance based on National Conference MUI VII, 26-29th July 2005. The

number of this guidance is 07/MUNAS MUI/II/2005. The head of the conference is

KH. Ma‟ruf Amin.
7 Khaled Abou el-Fadl, The Place of Tolerance in Islam (Boston: Beacon Press, 2002), 22.

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Islamic Pluralism in Indonesia
Referring to Sayyed Hossein Nasr, a pluralistic Moslem
philosopher, Islamic pluralism is a divine revelation. The differences
among religion are explained in terms of the different manifestations
through which the Real presents itself. Here, he is in the opposite view
from John Hick who asserted that pluralism is a human phenomenon.8
In Indonesia, discourses about Islamic pluralism were becoming
lustrous after the launching of the “guidance” of MUI which
prohibited pluralism, liberalism, and secularism. There were two
Moslem groups responding to this guidance: the “pro” and the “con”
for Islamic pluralism.

A. Pro-Islamic Pluralism
To talk about the argument of pro-Islamic pluralism, I want to
approach this issue from two points of view: historical and normative
perspectives, emphasizing the second.
By the first perspective, we may find the teaching of Islamic
pluralism from the history of the Prophet Mohammad in Medina,
where people—Moslems, Jewish, and the small Christian community
of Najran—had been living in multiculturalism and pluralism. Prophet
Mohammad gathered people to the “Constitution of Medina” (al-
Mîthâq al-Madînah) and invited them to the agreement: protecting
together Medina from enemies. They have the same rights and tasks.
Moslems and Jews had lived peacefully there for a long time. What
happened later when the Moslems chased the Jews out was a political
issue. That happened because some Jews did not keep their promise to
protect Medina from outsiders, and precisely they tried to corporate
with the enemy to attack the Moslems from behind: a conspiracy.
Nurcholish Madjid was sure that everyone who would try to read
the essence of the “Constitution of Medina”9 would be presently

8 Muhammad Legenhausen wrote the article comparing the way of thinking between
both of Sayyed Hossein Nasr and John Hick, Misgivings about Religious Pluralism of
Sayyed Hossein Nasr and John Hick, al Tawhid, vol. 14, no. 04.
9 Some of the articles of Constitutions of Medina are bellowing:

Article 16: whoever of the Jews follow us has the (same) help and support (nas}r,
iswah) (as the believers), so long as they are not wronged (by him) and he does not
help (others) against them.

134 Akhmad Siddiq—Islamic Pluralism

surprised, because the concepts within the Constitution were too
progressive involving religious pluralism.10 As Robert N. Bellah said,
the system of Civil Society in Medina Era was too modern.
The social interaction between Moslems and Jews in Medina is
the real fact of Islamic pluralism. Islam did not compel people to
profess Islam and be Moslem. Prophet Mohammad did not force Jews
to convert. He allowed people to believe their faith and worship God
based on their conviction. This fact denies the claim assuming that
Islamic teaching was spread by the sword: violence and war.
So, it was historically shown that Islam is full of pluralistic
teachings. Prophet Mohammad taught his companions to be Moslem
pluralists. A story of hadith said, one day while Prophet Mohammad is
sitting with his companions, a Jewish corpse came. The Prophet
directly stood up to honor that corpse. His companions asked him:
“He is only a Jewish corpse, isn‟t he!?” But Prophet Mohammad said:
“He is a human being, isn‟t he?” In this story, he wanted to teach his
companion to honor others: to make a harmony with others. And we
know that harmony is one of values of pluralism.
In the second perspective, there are a lot of verses in the Qur‟an
describing plurality. Ali Asghar said “Islam not only accepts the
legitimacy of religious pluralism but considers it central to its system of
beliefs.”11 Here are some of verses which Liberalist Moslems use to
argue their philosophical idea of pluralism:
1. “Unto every one of you We have appointed a (different) law and
way of life. And if Allah has so willed, He could surely have made

Article 25: The Jews of Banu „Auf are a community (ummah) along with the believers.
To the Jews their religion, and to the Moslem their religion. (This applies) both to
their clients and to themselves, with the exception of anyone who has done wrong or
acted treacherously; he brings evil on himself and on his household.
Article 37: It is for the Jews to bear their expenses and for the Moslem to bear their
expenses. Between them (that is to one another) there is help (nasr) against the people
of this document. Between them is sincere friendship and honourable dealing not
treachery. A man is not guilty of treachery through (the act of) his confederate. There
is help for the person wronged.
10 Fridolin Ukur and Retnowinarti, Pluralisme dan Demokrasi (Jakarta: Badan Penelitian

dan Pengembangan Persekutuan Gereja-gereja di Indonesia, 1995), 60.

11 Asghar Ali Enggineer, “Islam and Pluralism” in Paul F. Knitter, The Myth of Religious

Superiority (New York: Orbis Book, 2005), 212.

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 you all one single community: but (He willed it otherwise) in order
to test you by meant of what He has given you. Vie, then, with one
another in doing good works! Unto Allah you all must return; and
then He will make you truly understand all that on which you were
wont to differ.” (5:48)
2. “There is no compulsion in religion: Truth stands out clear from
error.” (2:256)
3. “Say: O ye that reject faith, I worship not that ye worship, nor will
ye worship that which I worship, and I will not worship that which
ye have been wont to worship, nor will ye worship that which I
worship, To you be your way (religion), and to me mine.” (109:1-6)
Liberalist Moslem argues by these verses that pluralism is a fact
that we cannot reject, and is a phenomenon which God wanted to.
As it is mentioned in the first verse, if God really wants to make
one single community in the world, He can do this, but in the fact He
does not. This verse asserts that pluralism, including religious
pluralism, is “supported” by God. In this context, the word “Unto
every one of you We have appointed a (different) law and way of life”
is very important and significant. The phrase “every one of you”
obviously denote different communities.12 Based on this verse, every
community has its own way and law, as it is a fact that God sent a
prophet to every community.13 As Qur‟an said, “To every people (was
sent) an apostle: when their apostle (before them), the matter will be
judged between them with justice, and they will not be wronged.”
(10:47)
There is another verse related with the spirit of pluralism that
strengthens the freedom of belief and conscience. Allah said:
“Mankind is a single nation. So Allah raised prophets as bearers of
good news and as warners, and He revealed with them the book with
truth, that it might judge between people concerning that in which they
differed. And none but the very people who were given it differed

12Engineer, “Islam”, 212.

13In Islamic tradition, there are a lot of prophets from Adam to Mohammad. It is all
about 124.000, include 313 rasûl (messenger) and 25 prophets that are mentioned in
the Qur‟an. It is also convinced, based on the h}adîth, that in every 100 years there will
be one reformer (mujtahid) among the Moslem, who will purify the teaching of Islam.

136 Akhmad Siddiq—Islamic Pluralism

about it after clear arguments had come to them, envying one another.
So Allah has guided by His will those who believe to the truth about
which they differed.” (2:213)
The second verse asserted to us that religiosity is a free-choice of
human beings. There is no coercion in “having” religion. Allah clearly
stated that human beings can choose what religion they want to
believe, because the essence of religion is “faith” which someone
cannot get in a forced situation: he will only reach it philosophically,
freely, and fairly by thinking. According to this verse, human beings
should “activate” their mind to reach the “truth”, or say, to have a
religion. It is forbidden to force another person to believe a certain
religion. On the other hand, this verse teaches us not to claim the truth
and salvation, because it will sociologically cause socio-political conflict
to emerge, and then cause what we call “holly war” among religions.
Perhaps, it is important here to look at Paul Knitter‟s statement that
each religion—as a way to viewing all things—is relative, limited,
partial, and incomplete.14
The third verse makes the portrait of pluralism sharper. It allows
everyone to profess his/her faith. To summarize this surah, Abdullah
Yusuf Ali said, “This is another early Meccan Surah. It defines the right
attitude to those who reject faith: in matters of truth we can make no
compromise, but there is no need to persecute or abuse anyone for his
faith or belief.”15
To encounter the views of Liberalist Moslem, Anis Malik Toha
writes a book titled Tren Pluralisme Agama, Tinjauan Kritis (Trend of
Religious Pluralism: A Critical View). In this book Toha tries to
generally describe a history, basic principles, and the impacts of
pluralism, to finally talk more specifically about Islamic views.
According to him, there are two kinds of will of God: ontological will
(irâdah kawnîyah) and legislative will (irâdah shar‘îyah). Sometimes God
created things based on His ontological and legislative will, e.g.
goodness, truth, conviction, angels, and everything He wants and likes,
and sometimes He created things only on ontological will, e.g. evil,
wrongness, and everything He dislikes and hates. According to Toha,
14See: Sukidi, Teologi Inklusif Cak Nur (Jakarta: Kompas, 2001), 4-5.
15 Abdullah Yusuf Ali, The Qur’an, Text, Translation and Commentary (New York:
Tahrike Tarsile Qur‟an Inc. 2001), 1799.

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Islamic pluralism has a unique character: (1) appreciating the basic
differences among religions with its own characteristics, (2) identifying
factors and mediums which push human beings to reach their
perfection, and (3) naming everything by its name, without reduction
and simplification by another definition.16
At last, Toha tends to reduce the meaning of Islamic pluralism,
and tries to interpret it by his own “subjectivity”. Here, he often refers
to an article written by Muhammad Legenhausen, Misgivings about
Religious Pluralism of Seyyed Hossein Nasr and John Hick. He rejects the
western scholars‟ interpretation of pluralism. In his view, Islam has its
own characteristic. Based on the Qur‟an (2:256) he argues that we must
strictly differentiate between goodness and evil, and between Islam and
kufur (infidel). I think the conclusion of all things he argues goes back
to Islamic monotheism: he believes that Islam is the only one religion
which God wants it ontologically and legislatively.

B. Con-Islamic Pluralism
Fundamentalist Moslems argue their conviction minimally with
three verses in the Qur‟an. They are the following:
1. “The religion before God is Islam (submission to His will)…”
(3:19)
2. “If anyone desires a religion other than Islam (submission to God),
never will it be accepted of Him; and in the hereafter he will be in
the ranks of those who has lost (all spiritual good).” (3:85)
3. This day have I perfected your religion for you, completed my
favour upon you, and have chosen for you Islam as your religion.”
(5:3)
In the first verse, Allah has clearly asserted that the true religion
before Him is Islam. According to Fundamentalist Moslems, here,
Islam means the teaching which Prophet Mohammad taught and
practiced it. Islam is absolutely the five pillars that Moslems must
conceive, beginning with syahadat (the confession that Allah is only the
true God and Mohammad is the prophet of Him). Other religions
outside Islam are wrong and unacceptable. They tend to be exclusivist.
This kind of conviction is strongly strengthened by the second verse
16See: Anis Malik Toha, Tren Pluralisme Agama: Tinjauan Kritis (Jakarta: Perspektif
GIP, 2005), 210.

138 Akhmad Siddiq—Islamic Pluralism

which states that everyone trying to look for the truth outside Islam
will not be accepted by God.
As Mustafa Ruzqar believes, the main point emphasized by these
verses is that Islam is the final religion and is self sufficient.17 But, he
also reminds us to critically look at the ambiguity inside these verses.
The majority of Moslems have understood that “Islam” means a
specific religion, has a specific meaning, and is the final religion. There
will no more revelation after Islam.
So, the claimed self-sufficiency of Islam is closely related to the
idea that Islam is the final religion. Since the previous age, Moslems
believed that Islam does not need to learn from the other religions. It
is opposite with hadith which order us to learn from anyone, anything,
anyhow, even from a “pig” (to express something we hate). Here,
Moslems seem to be rejecting dialogue with other religions.
On the other hand, Liberalist Moslems interpreted “Islam” in
this verse as “a total submission of the will of the creature to the will of
the creator”18. Interpreting this verse, Muhammad Asad wrote:
“Behold, the only (true) religion, in the sight of God is (man‟s) self-
surrender into Him”. They conceived that Islam does not mean certain
institutionalized religious law. Mahmoud Ayyoub has explained that
term “Islam”, at the time of Prophet Mohammad and according to the
Qur‟an, is not the name of religion. He said:
“Islam is not, according to the Qur‟an and early prophetic
tradition, the name of a religion. Rather, it signifies the attitude of
the entire creation before God. The term Islam, in this sense,
applies to the heavens and the earth and all that is in them, to
humankind and to everything that God created. This is the first
and the universal plane of the meaning of the term “Islam”.19
I think it is important here to mention two others verses of
Qur‟an to show that Qur‟anic text encourages a pluralist to
approach toward other religions. This emphasis will be seen very
sharply in these two verses:

17 Ruzgar, Islam, 163.

18 Mahmoud M. Ayyoub, The Qur’an and Religious Pluralism, in Roger Boase, Islam and
Global Dialogue (Burlington: Ashgate Publishing Limited, 2005), 278.
19 Ayyoub, The Qur’an, 278.

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1. “Those who believe (in the Qur‟an), and those who follow the
Jewish (scripture), and the Christians, and the Sabians—any
who believe in Allah and the last day, and work righteousness,
shall have their reward with their Lord; on them shall be no
fear, nor shall they grieve.” (2:26)
2. “Whoever work righteousness, man or woman, and has faith,
verily, to him will We give a new life, and life that is good and
pure, and We will bestow on such their reward according to the
best of their actions.” (16:97)
Anyway, I believe that these two verses are more “relevant”
to the essence of Islamic teaching of pluralism than exclusivism.

Conclusion
Based on previous descriptions we may conclude that the
different ways to look at pluralism between Liberalist Moslems and
Fundamentalist Moslems is an interpretational problem of the Qur‟an.
Both of them use the Qur‟anic verses to argue their conviction and
conceive them as a truth. Sometimes they use the same verse with a
different interpretation, and they often use different verses to deepen
their argumentation.
Imam Ali said that the content of the Qur‟an is h}ammâl al-wujûh
(multi-interpretable). Everyone may interpret a verse of Qur‟an based
on his “background” and socio-cultural setting. It is in line with what
Khaled Abou el Fadl wrote:
“Any text, including those are Islamic, provides possibilities for
meaning, not inevitabilities. And those possibilities are exploited,
developed, and ultimately determined by the reader‟s efforts—good
faith efforts, we hope—at making sense of the text‟s complexities.
Consequently, the meaning of the text is often only as a moral as its
reader. If the reader is tolerant, hateful, or oppressive, so will be the
interpretation of the text.”20
Pluralism is a fact. However, the difference between the pros and
the cons of Islamic pluralism is a kind of plurality. We should not
“problematize” religious diversity, because it is not a mistake. “The
lamps are different, but the light is the same”, Jalaluddin Rûmi Said.
Referring to Rita M. Gross, the essential question here is—instead of
20 el-Fadl, The Place, 22-23.

140 Akhmad Siddiq—Islamic Pluralism

debating pluralism; where it came from, why it persists, whether or not
it should exist—how best to live with religious diversity.21
Do you know what did Rûmi say farther?
Everything and everyone glorifies You in different ways.
Yet none of them is aware of the others.
Man disbelieves in the glorification uttered by inanimate things
But those inanimate things are masters in performing worship.
Nay, the two-and-seventy sects/nations, every one,
are unaware of the real state of each other and in a great doubt.22

References
Boase, Roger, Islam and Global Dialogue. Burlington: Ashgate Publishing
Limited, 2005.
Knitter, Paul F. The Myth of Religious Superiority. New York: Orbis Book,
2005.
Abou el Fadl, Khaled. The Place of Tolerance in Islam. Boston: Beacon
Press, 2002.
Legenhausen, “Muhammad. Misgivings about Religious Pluralism of
Sayyed Hossein Nasr and John Hick”, al-Tawhid, Vol. 14, No. 04.
Ukur, Fridolin and Retnowinarti. Pluralisme dan Demokrasi. Jakarta:
Badan Penelitian dan Pengembangan Persekutuan Gereja-gereja
di Indonesia, 1995.
Sukidi. Teologi Inklusif Cak Nur. Jakarta: Kompas, 2001.
Ali, Abdullah Yusuf. The Qur’an, Text, Translation and Commentary. New
York: Tahrike Tarsile Qur‟an Inc. 2001.
Toha, Anis Malik. Tren Pluralisme Agama: Tinjaun Kritis. Jakarta,
Perspektif GIP, 2005.

Knitter, The Myth, 80.

21

Jalaluddin Rûmi, in Paul Knitter, Knitter, The Myth of Religious Superiority (New York:
22

Orbis Book, 2005), 229-230.

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