Tolerance in Dealing with Different Mazhab (Schools of Islamic Thought) in Makassar City
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research, volume 231 5th International Conference on Community Development (AMCA 2018) Tolerance in Dealing with Different Mazhab (Schools of Islamic Thought) in Makassar City Muammar Muhammad Bakry Alauddin State Islamic University of Makassar [email protected] Abstract. This paper discusses the development of person. Being tolerant of differences is a good quality tolerant character in dealing with the differences of in someone that positively impact on the way one mazhab fiqh (school of thought within Islamic understands truth according to the most reliable dalil jurisprudence) through the development of four (reasoning or inference). aspects, namely spiritual and emotional, Differences of opinion is something natural. intellectual, physical and kinesthetic, as well as Although it often leads to a clash of opinions among affective and creativity. These four aspects become the ulama and later creates mazhab fiqh, yet it is the standard of assessing religious tolerance in actually a grace and convenience for Muslims. Various Makassar City. The more scholars have mujtahid ijtihad (independent reasoning) of ulama has become (one who is empowered to interpret legal issues not Islamic treasures and pride for their umat. explicitly address in the Qur’an) capacity, the more Differences in fuqaha only occur in secondary fertile and flourishing fiqh ‘flowers’ produce a problems (furui’yyah), not the primary ones like fresh and natural scent will be. As a result, it will aqidah (creed). The ultimate difference of ulama is in impact on the dynamics and variations of worship the level of human understanding in capturing practices that can refresh the umat (Islam followers) messages and meaning, drawing legal conclusions, in dynamic nuances. One of the indicators of a understanding the secrets of shari’a (Islamic law) and flourishing fiqh is seen from different opinions or understanding 'illat (reason) of law. All of this does not ikhtilaf ulama (scholarly religious disagreement) contradict the shari'a, because all Islamic shari’a does that occur among the fuqaha (Islamic jurists). not contradict one another. In other words, differences Hence, fiqh is one of the Islamic teachings that occur due to human limitations and weaknesses. upholds and appreciates tolerance and moderation Religious practices and rituals of Islam have been of opinions, as well as opens the opportunity for the believed to have originated from the Prophet widest possible divergence of views. The freedom to Muhammad saw, which was interpreted and taught by choose which mazhab or ulama (Islamic scholar) as the ulama from time to time. When the Prophet was a role model is individual rights in Islam. still alive, their companions often expressed different Nevertheless, a proper and profound attitude views, let alone in the present time, thousands of years toward the essence of fiqh will avoid fanaticism, and away from the Prophet era. Ulama practice the religion increase one’ s tolerance instead. This is what we upon perusing hadits (narrations concerning the actions call educating umat to be tolerant in practicing and orders of prohet Muhammad) that are considered Islam. sahih (authentic), which is further applied in their practice of worship and muamalah (worldly matters) Keywords: tolerance, differences, mazhab Muslims who are still novice in religious matters usually follow the teachings of certain teachers or INTRODUCTION ulama in practicing Islam. The atmosphere of internal tolerance among Muslims sometimes becomes the Difference is inevibility. Humans are naturally born trigger of mazhab fanaticism. Among them, there were as a male or female. Humans come from different those who claimed Shafi'i followers but turned out to tribes, nations, languages, and cultures. These be "more Shafi'i" than Imam Shafi'i, or "more Hanbali" differences bring about varieties in character, science, than Imam Hanbali. Even there are those claim that and religious interpretation. they do not conform to any mazhab, but apparently the Forcing to unite and equate man in one thought is way they practice Islam is often related to certain contrary to the human nature. In other words, this mazhab, or combine between one mazhab and another action can mean challenging God's omnipotence. Even (talfiq). if God could unite all human beings, but He create Due to the social phenomena arises, khilafiyah differences so humans can learn invaluable lessons (different opinions) likely to intensify, and even lead to from the differences. internal debate among umat. The ceremonies (tahniah Therefore, having an accepting attitude is a gift and ta'ziah) with certain tradition and ritual, the series from God and shows that one is a broad-minded of prayers such as reading basmalah, qunut, reciting Copyright © 2018, the Authors. Published by Atlantis Press. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/). 720 Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research, volume 231 du’a together after sholat (prayer), clothing, growing ‘differences’, such as aljadal (arguing) and syiqaq the beard, are some sources of dispute that later divide (quarreling). Muslims into various groups. Even worse, the group When two parties are argueing to defend their often blames each other without trying to see such respective views, each side argues for strengthening differences as a variety of Islamic treasures. their views and weakening the views of others. This In addition to the cases discussed above, thare are activity is called al-jadal. But if the angers or tensions many other cases that will present if we are not able to peak between two parties, which is usually prioritize things that matter the most. A failure to accompanied by the subjectivity and inability to think understand the priority scale will even lead to negative clearly, then this situation is called syiqaq [1]. things. In the history of tabi'tabi'in, the unity of Muslims This gives a simple but substantive illustration of (tawhīd shufūf al-muslimīn) was a priority. It was how difficult some people correctly put the values of believed that fraternity in Islam that make each other’s life in the composition of maslahat-mafsadat (social closer was more important than others. Therefore, utility-disutility), large-small, high-low, primary- persons who conform to this belief are often holding secondary, universal-particular, and how the back their opinions in congregation religious practice, imbalanced composition can result in mental even though he believes his opinion is the right one. oppression and variety of Islamic religious practices. There is a principle underlying congregation religious This paper hghlights the religious practices and service, namely "fi'lul mafdhūl wa tark al-fādhil", rituals of Islam, especially in Makassar (the capital city which means that one is willing to practice a certain of South Sulawesi). Some of the reasons for choosing way based on opinion that he does not consider as Makassar is because the population consists of diverse having a strong foundation, and choosing to leave his ethnic backgrounds (Bugis, Makassar, Mandar, Toraja, opinion that he thought having a stronger basis [2]. Jawa, etc.), religion, ideology (sunni, syiah, etc.) and This attitude will create an atmosphere of tolerance other pluralities. and mutual respect in religious practices and rituals of This paper attempts to answer the following Islam. Some examples of this situation include an questions: imam (religious leader) who thinks that reciting qur’an 1. How do Muslims respond to different out loud during congregation prayer is better but perceptions of ulama? chooses not to do it because it follows the majority of 2. How is the practice of following certain mazhab the followers who prefer to do otherwise; or an imam among ulama and common people in Makassar? who argues that qunut is not recommended in the 3. How do people respond to different religious morning prayer, but decides to still recite it for the practices among Muslims in Makassar? majority of the followers consider it advisable. The classical ulama usually do this, with the hope that the RESEARCH METHOD furū'iyyah problem will not lead to the internal divisions of the umat, but rather make it more united. The method used in this research is ushuliyah According to Abu al-Ashim [3], the imam of tasyri'iyyah and ijtima'iyah. The former is used to mazhab like Imam Ahmad and others believed that "... explain different views of ulama in terms of legal an imam should leave even the recommended things in arguments, which are further compared (muqaran) to order to unite the hearts of the umat. In the case of witir objectively assess the differences, while the latter is prayer, the imam should follow the condition of the used to explain the social phenomena related to various followers who do not perform witir prayer, except by religious practices and rituals of Islam. way of fashl or leaves one raka'at at the end of prayer. To understand the social phenomena in Makassar, the author conducted interviews with several Religious practice and rituals of Islam in Makassar administrators and jamaah masjid (a group of people In Indonesia, the majority of Muslims follow praying in mosques) in South and North Makassar. The mazhab Syafi'iyah in practicing Islam, especially in southern region was dominated by Muhammadiyah and performing sholat. Even mazhab Shafi'iyah is Wahdah Islamiyah followers, while the northern region immersed in the local culture and followed heartily. by Nahdhatul Ulama followers. This is different from other Southeast Asian countries including Malaysia and Brunei Darussalam, who make DISCUSSION the Shafi'iyah a well-structured part of the national constitution, which is exercised in the community’s Differences can be seen in appearance, attitude or daily lives. opinion. Differences are more common than feuds. It is There are many factors that made mazhab Syafi'i because people who are in conflict must have become the mazhab with the most followers.