INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF INDONESIAN STUDIES SPRING 2016
modernist Muslims advocated an Islamic ideological paradigm aspiring to an Islamic state . On the other hand , the traditionalist Muslims , namely NU , tried to reinstall the Jakarta Charter based on the idea of the supremacy of Shari ’ a , not the state , such as advocated by Ibn Taymiyah following the collapse of the caliphate . Indeed , the modernist Muslims claimed that the idea of an Islamic state was the advanced development of the idea of Ibn Taymiyah which would implement Shari ’ a into the state . They advocated the monolithic understanding of Shari ’ a for the purposes of unifying the Muslims against the followers of modern ideologies . By so doing , they ignored the Islamic tradition which acknowledges the plural manifestations of Shari ’ a in the form of the Fiqh . It was not surprising that they were more obsessed with the modern idea of ideology for their own purposes of establishing an national Islamic state . In this regard , Wahid criticizes them in his article titled “ Jangan Paksakan Ideologi Asing pada Islam ” ( Abdurrahman Wahid , 1999b , pp . 165-171 ) and argues that Muslims should understand worldly life based on Islamic cosmology , namely the Fiqh paradigm , which is neutral to any political system . In line with this Wahid supported the Republic of Indonesia based on the national ideology of Pancasila , but he was critical of Soeharto regime which did not rule based on the principles of liberal democracy .
Wahid and the sub-ordination of Shari ’ a into the national law
Wahid has departed from the classical Fiqh paradigm and embarks on the Fiqh-plus paradigm as he incorporates the developments of modern science into the Islamic tradition . He interprets Islamic tradition in the light of modern knowledge and argues that Islam supports liberal democracy . It is due to his political approach to the relationship between Islam and the state which requires the government to rule democratically . He no longer adopts a legal formal approach that the state is to implement Shari ’ a , rather , considers democracy as one of the substances of Shari ’ a . His thought on democracy is a kind of subordination of Shari ’ a into the national law and it is also a kind of quasi-norm which should be respected by government ( Abdurrahman Wahid , 2007b , p . 303 ). This implies that he supports the Republic of Indonesia with its national ideology of Pancasila in the light of liberal democracy . In this regard , Wahid challenged the Soeharto regime which advocated theory of integralistic state to maintain his power ( Pranarka , 1985 , pp . 42-43 ).
Pluarlity of Shari ’ a Muslims agree that they should live by the religious regulations , namely Shari ’ a ( Islamic laws ), however they differ in what they mean by Shari ’ a . Wahid challenged monolithic Shari ’ a advocated by the followers of Islamic ideological paradigm as the formulation of Shari ’ a is bound to the existing social system . It is due to the Qur ’ an , as the source of Shari ’ a , not regulating the details of human life so that the product of Shari ’ a , namely Fiqh , is contingent upon the prevailing social system . Accordingly , Shari ’ a is the reformulation of Islamic teachings from its sources , the Qur ’ an and hadiths , by the clerics . Most clerics agree upon the matters of ritual teachings ( ibadah ) that have been regulated completely by the Qur ’ an and hadiths , but they have different views concerning the role of Islam in social life ,
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