Hearing about Islam in Indonesia, what’s on your mind? Do you think of terrorist, suicide bombing, or radicalism? Foreigner might think Islam is the part of terrorist. This is the time for you to open up your mind about Islam, especially in Indonesia.
Indonesia has a really largest number of Muslims of over the word. Some hot news on TV might tell you some bad news from this country about suicide bombing or even radicalism. And all of the actors claimed they are parts of Islam. What are the facts of Islam in Indonesia? You can see these post in some minutes.
- Indonesia doesn’t use Islamic law
Even though 88% of Indonesia’s population is Muslim and is the largest Muslim country in the entire universe, Indonesia does not use Islamic law, Indonesia still uses laws made by the Dutch until now.
Muslims in Indonesia are known to be of a moderate nature that might occur due to the assimilation of national culture with Islam. The only province that uses Islamic law is Aceh because Aceh or Nangore Aceh Darussalam is one of the privileged provinces.
- Divided into two major groups called Nahdlatul Ulama and Muhammadiyah
In general, Islam in Indonesia is divided into two major groups namely Nahdlatul Ulama and Muhammadiyah. Between the two, there are sometimes very striking differences in religious worship (ritual). When examined more deeply, there will still be many groups found in Islam, and they are proud of their respective groups. Â The existence of all Islamic groups in Indonesia is recognized and protected by government except for Islamic groups who deviate morally, teachings, rituals, or do radical acts.
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- Islamic New Year in Indonesia
- Development of Islamic Finance in Indonesia
- List of Islamic Heritage in Indonesia
- Indonesia is not an Islamic Country
Indonesia is not an Islamic country at all. Indonesia is a democratic republic with the highest number of Muslims in the world. The number is around 225.25 million Muslims, or 87.2 percent of the total population of Indonesia (258.32 million people). With that many Muslim residents, it is only natural that you will find mosques and prayer times for Islam five times a day.
- Aceh is the only one province in Indonesia that apply Islamic law
There is only one province that uses Islamic law in the practice of everyday life, namely Aceh. But in practice, not all Islamic law is used because it is still mixed with customary law and Indonesian law. Very contrary to what exemplified by Rosululloh (Muhammad) who uses Islamic law in all aspects of life.
Muslims in Indonesia consider Islam the same as other religions which only regulate ritual aspects (prayer, zakat, fasting, marriage, hajj), and have no rules in people’s lives, even though Islam is a guide in the social, cultural, educational fields, economy, defense, politics and government.
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- The Muslims people must wait for announcement to determine Ramadan and Eid al-Fitr
Determining the beginning of Ramadan fasting and Eid is a difficult thing in Indonesia, there are even those who have a time difference of up to 2 days. Each party has its own calculation. This is unlikely to occur if Indonesia uses 2 calendars, a Christian calendar and an Hijri calendar. The process is very long and tiring. Muslims in Indonesia must wait for announcements from the government and scholars to determine Ramadan and Eid al-Fitr. What do you think?
- Indonesia is the country with largest number of Muslims in the world
In a Pew Research report, a global research institution, noted that in 2010 Indonesia did the first rank as the country with the largest Muslim population in the world. In that year there were 209.1 million more people in Indonesia than Muslims. The second position is India with a total of 176.2 million, followed by Pakistan and Bangladesh which ranks third and fourth. While Nigeria is in the top five. However, the formation of countries with the largest Muslim population is expected to experience significant changes.
- Only less than 5% of Muslims in Indonesia consistently do Islamic Prayer 5 times a day
Do you know that every Muslim must do a prayer 5 times every day? The findings of the research that made me surprised were that only 75% of the Indonesian population who are Muslim had established prayers. That is, if we assume the current population of Indonesia is 270 million, only 60,750,000 Muslims pray. Of that small amount, only 5% of them consistently establish five daily prayers. Still assuming numbers like the one above, it means that only 3,037,500 people are good at making five-time obligatory prayers.
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- In 2018, the population of Muslims in Indonesia is only 76 percent
Based on the findings reported by an accurate source, Inspector General of Police (Pur) Anton Tabah was a prominent observer, activist, columnist / writer and had been President Soeharto’s (source) aide that the number of Muslims in Indonesia now (in 2016) was 73% a gradual decline from year to year since 1950 which at that time amounted to 99% and Indonesia was known as a country with the largest Muslim population in the world.
If in the past apostasy in Indonesia tended to be due to economic factors, targeting the poor, but now what happens is that well-educated Muslims choose to become apostates.
- Terrorism is not the part of Islamic teaching
Islam is a religion that is full of love and grace, not a religion that teaches violence, suicide, or murder. This means that acts of terrorism which claim to have been carried out by Muslims are great because they are not in accordance with the goals and ideals of Islam. Islam has never taught hatred and killed fellow beings in the world.
Moreover, suicide bombings are often associated with Islam. In fact, Islam never taught a violence to kill themselves or others to fight immorality.
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- At least 300 deviant Islamic sects found in Indonesia
In recent years, cults in Indonesia have become increasingly widespread. With a variety of dogmas, they seemed to continue to race as many pilgrims as possible. And inevitably, Muslims who are the majority population are often targeted. Ironically, many of the Muslims who are trapped are even interested in following it. Data for 2016 found 300 cults in Indonesia. It is quite surprising that Indonesia could be one of the victims of cults attack.
Islam in Indonesia there are many sects or mazhab, but among the sects are the similarity about the aims and ideals of Islam. Thus, Muslims do not only have to respect each other, uphold tolerance to create peace, but are obliged to realize the ideals of Islam, namely as a religion which is rahmatan lil alamin (a gift for all the worlds nature).
Those are the facts of Islam in Indonesia. For those who don’t understand what kind of Islam in Indonesia, you must visit and see by yourself. Moslems here are nice and really welcome for other people.
