Universitas Brawijaya (UB) through the Student Personality Development Unit (UPT. PKM) launched the “Religious Moderation House” at the Raden Wijaya Gazebo, Wednesday (11/12/2024).
Religious moderation can be understood as an effort and process of establishing an understanding and practice of religious teachings that are carried out correctly, in balance, and functionally. These efforts and processes are believed to be possessed by all religious teachings. Islam, for example, offers the concept of religious moderation, namely taking the middle path (tawassuth), being balanced (tawazzun), being straight and firm (i’tidal), tolerance (tasamuh), reformation (islah), and being dynamically innovative (tathawwur, ibtikar).
The chairman of the committee for the launch of Religious Moderation House or Griya Moderasi Beragama Universitas Brawijaya, In’amul Wafi, M.Ed. in his speech explained that the presence of this program is very relevant to campus life, especially for the younger generation such as students. Because only in this way diversity can be addressed wisely and tolerance can be realized.
“There are many characters of UB students that need to be continuously improved, especially regarding inter-religious tolerance,” said Wafi.
UB Rector, Prof. Widodo, said that the program initiated by the government through the Ministry of Religion is in line with UB’s objectives and ideals in forming the character of academicians who are tolerant, moderate, and committed to Pancasila as a consensus in the nation and state.
UB is committed to becoming an inclusive, dignified, and humanist university. In the future, UB will also fully support all programs that will be run by Griya Moderasi Beragama.
“Our existence will be a blessing for all if as individuals we are able to respect all creatures, including the universe,” said Widodo.
Dr. Mohamad Anas, M.Phil and Rector Prof. Widodo
In the launching event of Griya Moderasi Beragama, a discussion and book launch entitled “Realizing Social Harmony Strengthening Islam and Nationality. The book is a collection of writings by UB’s religious lecturers as a form of reflection on 70 years of thinking by Prof., Dr, Tohir Luth, M.A., the first professor in the field of Islamic Religious Education at UB who has just retired.
Present as a reviewer was Dr. Mohamad Anas, M.Phil, Head of UPT. PKM Universiats Brawijaya.
In his presentation, Mohamad Anas explained that reading Prof. Tohir’s thoughts regarding the discourse of Islamic law, for example, cannot be separated from the text and context.
He began with the assumption that religion and politics are two entities that cannot be separated. The uncertainty that occurs in seeing the relationship between the two is more due to colonial influence in the form of taming Islamic jurisprudence for political interests, in addition to the factor of nescience of Muslims.
According to Mohamad Anas, an important note of Prof. Tohir’s ideas regarding Islamic law lies in the moral ideas within it. He sees the maqasid of sharia as the embodiment of a harmonious social life and respects humanity universally.
“The interesting thing about Prof. Tohir, although he explicitly calls for the enforcement of Islamic law, he accepts Pancasila as a non-negotiable price since he considers that Pancasila already includes Islamic values,” said Mohamad Anas.
He added that the book writers and several participants also gave responses to Prof. Tohir’s thoughts. Some highlighted his thinking related to the themes of Islam, nationality, and humanity.
The launch of Griya Moderasi Beragama as well as the discussion and launch of the book was attended by 60 participants. In addition to the ranks of high-ranking UB officials, it also involved lecturers in charge of compulsory curriculum courses (MKWK) consisting of lecturers in Religion, Pancasila, Citizenship, and Indonesian. (ANS/UB PR/ Trans. Iir).
