REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, BOGOR -- Chairman of the Advisory Board of the Indonesian Ulemas Council (MUI) Prof KH Didin Hafidhuddin said the High-Level Consultation of World Muslim Scholars (summit) being held here would issue Bogor Message. He said it could make Indonesian plurality a reference for Islamic world.

"Indonesia calls for Wasathiyah Islam as plurality is practiced well in the country. In other countries it is difficult for Islam to be side by side with Christian," Didin said here on Tuesday.

Plurality is practiced in the country although not as conspicuous in Mazhab (Islamic sect) as in Middle East, but Indonesia has the concept of Wasathiyah Islam, he said.

He cited most Indonesian Muslims follow the Syafi'i Mazhab but when performing religious service in mosques some pray with Qunut (prayers), other without qunut.

"Indonesia is an embryo of a moderate (wasathiyah) nation, with its theories are reinforced from the paths obtained in the Qur'an and Hadith," he said, adding Wasathiyah Islam gives importance to tolerance (Tasamuh) and plurality aspects.

"I see the direction is there. Wasathiyah Islam is not harsh. It is protective toward all of groups of religious faiths and that is what Indonesia calls for through MUI," the Post Graduate Director of the Bogor University of Ibnu Khaldun (UIKA), said

Explanation about wasathiyah Islam is given in the Al-Quran, surah Albaqarah verse 143 that Islamic followers as the middle path are needed to prevent conflicts, caused by both radicalism, either religious radicalism or secularism, he said.

Religious radicalism and secular radicalism are equally dangerous as they would bring about conflicts in the world, he said. Religious radicals justify violence on behalf of religions and secular radicals use violence to prevent religious role in life, he added.

He said a number of Muslim countries including Palestine want Indonesia to be leader in spreading wasathiyah Islam. According to him, tolerance in the concept of wasathiyah Islam is not to unite differences but to respect differences, especially in religious services, and faith could not be united.

The participants of the summit are not only from the Organization of Islamic Conferences (OIC), but also from other countries such as Australia, the United States, Canada, Japan, President of the Korea Muslim Federation, and the President of China Islam Association (CIA).

The meeting will produce "Bogor Message" to be agreed upon by hundreds of Islamic scholars and intellectuals taking part in the Summit Meeting of Wasathiyah Islam, which was opened here by President Joko Widodo (Jokowi).

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