UMM Alumnus of Islamic Faculty, Imam Syaukani, S.Ag, MH, Saturday (9/25), visited his alma mater after five years did not come to Malang because of his preoccupations. The graduate majoring in Sharia is now living in Jakarta as a researcher at the Research and Development Division of RI Ministry of Religious Affairs. The rare opportunity was utilized by the Sharia Department to conduct a guest lecture delivered by Imam Syaukani which was attended by all students of Sharia Department. Imam spoke on Islamic Law Politics in Indonesian paneled with Pradana Boy, S. Ag, MA, who was also a graduate of FAI UMM.
The presence of Imam and Boy no doubt could provide motivation for students of Sharia. Dean of FAI, Drs. Sunarto, M.Si, said that the smallnumber of Sharia students actually makes students to have wide opportunities developing themselves to be succeeded in their field. He exemplified the success of Imam and Boy who can compete at national and even global level.
"If we have capabilities, we will be respected by others and can do great things. That was what I did then we would be the only option for there is no other who can do it,” said Imam motivating the students. The ‘capabilities’ can be realized in the form of writing habit, then doing different jobs from others’ and doing things which are impossible for others. Those would make you being the only option.
As it was being exemplified, in a field he was currently practiced, Imam admitted that Islamic law becomes Islamic law policy adopted in Indonesia, being a legal policy or law direction which would be applied by the state. There are three raw materials to formulate UUD 1945; Western law, Customary and Islamic law. "After Indonesian independence, UUD ‘45 still includes Islamic law as part of national law," he explained.
The applied Islamic law must also be democratic by looking beyond the interests of the religion of Islam. Of course, it must not conflict with the purpose of the State, Pancasila and Indonesian legal ideals which are commonly called rechtidee. Thus, the relationship between law and religion is seen as a relative derivation or one part or derivation from an absolute religion.
Continued byPradana Boy, Islamic law is very interesting thing as his currently working on dissertation that discusses the fatwa in the view of Islamic law in Indonesia. "Criticizing Islamic law does not mean criticizing Islam itself because Islamic law is only part of jurisprudence," he explained. The trend of Indonesian society that makes fatwa as Act must be straightened. Inside this issue, it appears that there is a serious problem in addressing the fatwa. According to him, sometimes a fatwa becomes a justification for doing violence.
Someone who understands the Islamic laws has a responsibility to explain the truth about fatwa to the society. There was no history of Islam that fatwa is considered as formal laws of the State. "Don’t let MUI and other parties take advantage of public ignorance to issue any fatwas," said Boy who was currently pursuing his doctoral study at National University of Singapore. (rwp/t_alf)
