Abstract
This article analyzes the Islamic political thought of Abudurrahman Wahid through the reading of his essays in Mengurai Hubungan Agama dan Negara (1999), and other books.
Abdurrahman Wahid states that he approaches the state-religion relation socio-culturally. The aim of this approach is not establishing Islamic state directly through their penetration into the goverment which is often adopted by Islamic reformist groups, but the socio-cultural reform in a long term through NGO or mass religious organizations such as NU and Muhammadiyyah.
According to him, the present constitutinal regime of Indonesia is legitimized as Dar Sulh (state of truce), in which Islam is not institutionalized by the government, however the freedom of the muslims to practice their religion is guaranteed.
He says, “the conception of Dar Sulh is so fruitful as to solve a lot of contemporary ploblems if only it is understood properly and fully developed, ” although his understanding of the concept of Dar Sulh is different from what the classical fiqh literatures defined, i. e., a state which has the truce with Dar Islam.
Abdurrahman Wahid rejects the Islamist demand for the establishment of the Islamic state in Indonesia, saying that it is contrary to the traditional Shafi'i legal theory of Dar Sulh. But his rejection of Islamic state seems to be the result of his negative assessment on the level of Islamic knowledge among Indonesian muslims as well. He says, “We are still in the process of establishing Tawhid (ke-Esa-an Allah) and are not so far from it” and “we must start our social reform from the society which is still in the stage of Jahiliyah, where the people know only Tawhid and nothing more.”
Thus, according to his bitter perception, what Indonesian society needs now is not the establishment of Islamic state enacting Islamic laws but the popularization of the teaching of Tawhid through socio-cultural reform based on Islamic universal moral values.
