Hooo… Ternyata suratku ke Jakarta Post ada yang kasih komentar! Selama ini yang kuikutin korannya aja, ternyata ada perkembangan di webnya. Berikut komentar-komentarnya:

Abdullah (not verified) — Sun, 04/13/2008 – 9:47pm
Everything is from Allah as stated in the Al-Quran. Homosexuality is from Allah, even iblis is from Allah. Just because it is from Allah, it does not mean that it can be adopted by mankind as “natural” when God has made it very clear it is forbidden. But why does Allah provides everything but then forbids some? Why does Allah create iblis and kafirs and then warn mankind not to embrace, succumb and follow their ways? Again Allah made it very clear in the Al-Quran that those are subjects of test for mankind. But how can the non-Muslim understand that? Lakum dinukum, waliyadin.

Anita (Bandung) (not verified) — Mon, 04/07/2008 – 11:44am
Just trust that Allah always gives the best for its creations.

The Reader (not verified) — Sat, 04/05/2008 – 6:58am
Who decides who does and who does not fully understand Islam? Who decides what is and is not a correct or incorrect interpretation of Islam- the MUI, JIL or the Taliban?? Surely they cannot all be right?? Or is it Viska Wibowo, Gus Dur or Osama Bin Laden who have the answers?? These 3 people all seem to think they do! What exactly is required to fully understand it? In Indonesia,one minute the Bali Bombers are denounced as having nothing to do with the ‘real’ Islam, and then they are having lunch with the authorities because they are their Muslim brothers!! Amrozi cs were convinced, and still are, that they were defending Islam, according to their understanding, which is obviously very real to them. The Wahid Institute tells us Islam is plural, tolerant and inclusive. Tolerant and inclusive of who, and what? Some say the Al-Qu’ran cannot be translated from the original Arabic, so can only native speakers of Arabic fully understand Islam? What is the ‘real’ Islam: Muslims and non-muslims are constantly telling each other they have no idea what this is, if they happen to disagree on something…so, Viska, what is the real Islam, who fully understands it, and how do you know? Why is one person’s interpretation or understanding ‘better’ or more ‘correct’ than anothers??

Source: Jakpost

My Respond:

I totally agree with Abdullah and Anita.

To: “Reader”

I guess You think it too hard or I just put the wrong word to the sentence “didn’t fully understand Islam”. Please forgive my Inglish (Indonesian-English).

I meant it to those who e.g; didn’t know Islam, didn’t read Qur’an completely, didn’t have the knowledge about Islam; even she/he is a moslem. For example, my maid is a moslem, but what she knows about Islam is all about shalat (daily pray), puasa (fasting at Ramadhan) and Lebaran (Ied Fitr Holy-day). She can’t read Al-Qur’an, she never read one, even its translation. She didn’t know about zakat, one of moslem’s obligations. She didn’t know much about sunnah, things that ‘recommended’ to do. I can’t guarantee that she’s able to explain about polygamy, hijab, jihad, or else matters in Islam.

So I think it’s clear about those who “didn’t fully understand Islam”. I also think that no one can fully understand Islam 100%. That’s why moslems are obliged to learn Islam as long as they live. If a person takes Islam as his/her religion and understand it, he/she must apply Islam in his/her relation to Allah (ibadah—hablumminnallah) and to human and environment as well (hablumminnanas). Take our Rasullullah, Muhammad SAW as a perfect example. We can’t say that someone that good in his/her ibadah but corrupt either is a good moslem, can we?

If the matter is about what is sin/not, halal/haram, wajib/sunnah/makruh/mubah etc, that is a clear fact, I’d say that possibly one understanding is better/more correct than others. Example; A knows that adultery in Islam is a sin, so he didn’t do it. B doesn’t know, so he did it anyway. I’d say that A’s understanding is better than B. Off course, it’s about adultery.

Other things such as khitan (circumcision), jihad or polygamy, we can’t say that someone’s understanding is better-or-less. I’ll say it as: “different”, depend on which kilafiyah that she/he believes. Example; there’s ulama believes that circumcision is a must to women, but others think the contrary, depends on certain condition. A believes first opinion, B believes the second one. It’s not better or correct, but just different. But if A knows the ‘knowledge’ about khitan while B doesn’t, can we say that A is better than B?

Aah.. I know. I forget to mention the “about” thing on my letter!