بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
News & Comment
Indonesia’s Soft Approach
News
Indonesian President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo refrained from openly rejecting the idea of joining the Saudi Arabia-led military coalition of 34 countries to fight terrorism, but his chief security czar announced the government’s decision to distance itself from the anti-terrorist coalition.
Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan said Indonesia had no intention of joining the military alliance, as the government was prioritizing the use of soft power in its war on terror.
“The stance of Indonesia’s government is that we want to handle the IS with a soft approach, including by promoting Islam as gracious and full of compassion, not a brutal religion like what the IS is portraying,” the retired four-star general said after accompanying the president in his meeting with Indonesian Military (TNI) generals on Dec 16.
The new Islamic alliance, led by Saudi Arabia, was expected to share information and train, equip and provide forces if necessary for the fight against the militant Islamic State (IS) group militants, Reuters reported recently. (Dawn Newspaper, 12/30/2015)
Comment
Saudi Arabia is leading nations which feel that the way forward is to use force to eradicate the threat of ISIS, while Indonesia is more in favour of using what they term a soft approach through cultural activities and working on eliminating the ideas that they say lead to terrorism. The problem of both approaches is that neither seeks to take the correct role of the state as defined by Islam-since all Muslim states today are in no way worthy of being the leaders of the Ummah. Even if the Saudi coalition is made of Muslim nations and is termed as ‘Islamic’ this is not the way Islam requires Muslims to unite and defend Islam. Likewise countering the false image of Islam is also not done through ‘religious’ and ‘cultural’ activities.
If we look into the history of Islam actually being implemented we see how the Khilafah "Caliphate" (Caliphate) state was a leading state that unified and defended Muslims both when it was in its early stages and small and in its later stages when it was covering vast lands. If anyone violated Islamic law, the State was able to address this and it had the authority to do so. The State alone is the means by which the true image of Islam is conveyed through media, education and the foreign policy and the State alone is one that can defend the lands of Islam from both internal and external threats.
Only when Islam is fully realized in the form of a state we will see the Muslims unite under one true leadership with one clear goal and further this goal will not serve the interests of the West or the agents who depend on the division of the Muslim lands and who will ultimately only do what serves their own interests and status quo.
The empty coalitions and the actions of self-interest by Muslim countries are all linked to the Capitalist political motives, which serve the dominant Capitalist nations and are linked to their interests. While the Ummah today is in search of a sincere leadership, the leaders of the Muslim countries will never rise up to the role unless they change their fundamental ideological viewpoint and whole heartedly serve the interests of the Ummah and the Deen. This can only be achieved when all State actions stem from looking after the affairs of the Ummah on the basis of Islam.
«إِنَّمَا الإِمَامُ جُنَّةٌ يُقَاتَلُ مِنْ وَرَائِهِ وَيُتَّقَى بِهِ فَإِنْ أَمَرَ بِتَقْوَى اللَّهِ عَزَّ وَجَلَّ وَعَدَلَ كَانَ لَهُ بِذَلِكَ أَجْرٌ وَإِنْ يَأْمُرْ بِغَيْرِهِ كَانَ عَلَيْهِ مِنْهُ»
“Only the Imam is a shield, behind whom you fight and you protect yourself with, so if he orders by taqwa and is just then he has reward for that, and if he orders by other than that then it is against himself.” (Muslim)
Written for the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir by
Nazia Rehman - Pakistan