Religious rituals : Where God’s love actually is..

Religious rituals : Where God’s love actually is.. Khairil Azhar ;   A Researcher at the Paramadina Foundation, Jakarta, and Ciputat School for Democratic Islam

JAKARTA POST, 28 Desember 2012

Every Christmas, looking at the police everywhere — standing by every church gate or on patrol in their cars — I wonder, “How come we as a nation have arrived at this situation?” Why has a piece of peace become so precious? We have lately also found similar situations on Muslim holy days. Police and soldiers must willingly or unwillingly take on additional work to ease the minds of the people instead of staying in their barracks. The fear of bombings or mob attacks haunts us on the days we are praying for peace.  First of all, as a Muslim, I actually keep asking myself when I pray in a big grandiose mosque, “Does God Himself need this superfluous exhibition?” Does He not teach us simplicity in every recognized religion? Is it not His command to help the needy above all else? At this point, we come to a simple conclusion that we ourselves have partly contributed to creating this undesirable situation. We, for instance, are more willing to build an extravagant house of God at any cost instead of trying to distribute economic resources more equally.  Did Jesus ever tell his followers to build a grandiose church in his simple and loving lifetime? What did the Prophet Muhammad most frequently ask of Muslims, to help the needy or to build a golden mosque? It has been men’s interpretations that have diverted the divine examples of the collective into an individualist way of life. It is very rare for a cleric to reject an offer to lavishly build up his church or mosque or to ask, “How about if that amount of money was spent for communal purposes such as capacity building for disadvantaged people?” In Islam, it is often said that, “building a mosque on earth means building a palace in heaven.” I do not know if this is said in other religions but I am convinced that there is a similar way of believing and thinking, which actually has been molded as the molders wish. Simply said, we tend to be individually pious but not communally. We spend millions to hail God for our personal satisfaction but tend to be reluctant to make Him happy through what He actually has asked from us.  Furthermore, the bristling security situation on Christmas Day and other holy days is also made possible by a “weak” state. We can start from what Charles Tilly wrote, “Over and over again, effective nongovernmental specialists in violence have made alliances with governments, become parts of governments, taken over existing governments, or become governments of their own (Tilly 2003). In other words, it is the state that has contributed significantly to this feeling of unease. The police and soldiers, for instance, on whom we depend to a great extent to enjoy peace, are no longer the only players in the “business” of the commodity we call “safety” or “peace”. We have to pay more than the official taxes the state takes if we want to be really safe. Many examples, in fact, can tell us about how ironic the situation is. If we have a shop in a mall we have to prepare a certain amount of money for illegal levies. If we open a church at a business complex, we will be safe as long as the local racketeers receive their tribute. And more ironically, the racketeers are mostly working hand in hand with local state security officers. Even groups with religious labels, such as the Islam Defenders Front (FPI), do similar things. There are no indicators that they are struggling for pure religious purposes. Instead, they eventually fight for something secular: the recognition of their existence as a native community or at least the claim that they are the representatives of the larger community. So, as long as the state is weak, where order and law are only concepts on paper or in minds, we will still have the same situation on Christmas, Idul Fitri or other holy days. The mosques and churches, if safety and peace are wanted, must always prepare extra money for tribute.  However, the situation is actually solvable. If the economic resources to be used to build grandiose churches or mosques or for other individual exhibitions of piety were rerouted for the political or economic capacity building of society, for example, things would change, no matter how small it might be. We do need a stronger civil society to force the state to run as it should be. God’s love is therefore sought through a different perspective from how it has usually been. Our wish to be blessed should be realized through more contextual and meaningful ways: the examples given by Jesus himself and other world religious figures. ●