SOCIAL DISTANCING POLICY AND RESPONSES BY INDONESIAN MUSLIM INTELLECTUALS

The Covid-19 pandemic has affected Muslim religious practices. Social distancing policy, which requires not to gather for any activities, are contradictory to the Muslim’s religious ritual which promotes congregational worship. It accidentally becomes concerns of Muslim intellectuals. Therefore, they publish their thoughts in either national or international journals. This article focuses on the results of the intellectual thoughts published in national journals. It employs descriptive qualitative method through journal searches. There are 16 related journals deemed to meet the requirements. The results of the study show that the social distancing policy is responded in pros and cons. Those who go with cons do not intend to refuse the government policies but to purely adhere to religious tenet because religion has long been believed while Covid-19 is perceived as a threat. In this sense, they are afraid of religion more than the Covid-19. Meanwhile, those who are pro are subject to not only government regulations but also religion. Therefore, the Covid-19 pandemic has brought about an adaptive attitude of Muslims to remain obedient to the government regulations by carrying out independent religious practices or through virtual spaces. Pendemi Covid-19 telah berdampak pada praktik keagamaan umat Islam. Kebijakan Social Distancing yang menghendaki tidak berkumpul, bertentangan dengan ritual umat Islam yang mewajibkan ibadah berjemaah. Inilah menjadi daya tarik kaum intelektual. Oleh karena itu, mereka mempublikasikan pemikirannya di berbagai jurnal baik internasional maupun nasional. Artikel ini berfokus pada hasil pemikiran intelektual yang dipublikasikan di jurnal nasional. Penelitian kualitatif deskriptif diperoleh melalui penelusuran jurnal, terdapat 16 jurnal bertema Islam yang dianggap memenuhi persyaratan. Hasil pemikiran kaum intelektual menunjukkan bahwa Kebijakan Social Distancing direspons pro dan kontra. Golongan yang kontra dalam hal ini bukan menolak kebijakan pemerintah tetapi lebih pada menunjukkan ketaatan pada agama yang jauh sebelumnya diyakini, sedangkan Covid-19 adalah ancaman. Dalam posisi ini mereka lebih takut pada agama daripada Covid-19. Sedangkan yang pro tidak hanya tunduk pada peraturan pemerintah, tetapi juga tunduk pada agama. Dengan demikian, pandemi Covid-19 membawa sikap adaptif umat Islam untuk tetap patuh pada peraturan pemerintah dengan menjalankan praktik keagamaan secara mandiri atau melalui ruang virtual.

Implementation of The Mui’s Fatwa No.14/2020 Concerning Worship During Pandemic: Study on Muslim Society in Ternate

This article describes how Muslims deal with fatwa through examining the extent to which Muslims in Ternate (North Maluku) respond to MUI’ fatwa concerning the application of ibadah (worship) during the Covid-19 (Coronavirus) pandemic. In order to control and prevent the infection of the virus widely, people are required to stay at home and to keep their distance from crowds, including attending congregational worship (shalat jamaah) in mosques as issued in the MUI’s fatwa. The fieldwork was conducted in Ternate between March-May 2021, using qualitative research methods through participatory observation and interview. This article shows that the obedience of Muslim society in Ternate to the MUI’s fatwa is not only determined by aspects of the religious authority of the MUI, but also by local government, local religious leaders, and pragmatic considerations of the society as well as their perception about the dangerous impact of the Covid-19.

Pandangan Tokoh Agama Islam dalam Menyikapi Pandemi Covid-19

The Covid-19 problem that continues to haunt public life impacts the implementation of religion in society. For this reason, faith has moved itself to overcome the prevention that has been carried out. Religion plays a significant role in regulating human life, so religious leaders are always expected to provide guidance and religious doctrine in responding to covid 19. The purpose of this study was to find out about the views of Islamic religious leaders and from religious doctrine itself in responding to the Covid pandemic. -19. The method used is the descriptive qualitative research method. Primary data sources are sources taken directly from religious organization figures such as Nahdlatul Ulama, Persatuan Islam, and Muhammadiyah. The secondary data sources are literature such as books, journals, and other scientific works to collect data systematically. Data analysis was carried out in several ways, namely data reduction, data presentation and verification. Religious institutions also have a role in the community in responding to the Covid-19 outbreak, namely moving in helping the community, providing solutions and contributing according to government regulations to the community. In matters of worship, the community must know whether the rules of congregational worship are allowed or not and whether other sacred places are allowed to be visited. It all goes into the role of religious institutions in guiding the community.

Covid-19, Congregational Worship, and Contestation over 'Correct' Islam in South Africa

In response to the global Coronavirus pandemic, South African President, Cyril Ramaphosa declared a national lockdown on March 26, 2020, which suspended, among other things, congregational worship. A group of Muslims made an urgent court application for permission to pray in mosques, which was dismissed on April 30, 2020, with the judiciary weighing in on the side of the public health good. This struggle over congregational prayers brought into the open, differences among Muslims in South Africa that have been simmering for several decades and raised questions as to how to balance the post-apartheid Constitution's accommodation of religious practices with the needs of a secular state1. Conversely, what should Muslims do when they are required to follow the secular rules of a non-Muslim country that contradict their obligations to the tenets of their faith? The court case underlined the deep divides amongst Muslims and the changing structures of authority. In the absence of a central doctrinal authority the Ulama terrain is highly competitive and fraught with antagonistic doctrinal differences. It remains to be seen whether these divisions will boil over into physical confrontation among Muslims, and, with trust in the state dissipating, how Muslims will manage their relationship with the secular state.

Christian Missions and Covid-19 in Africa and Latin America: A Case Study of Brazil, Nigeria, and South Africa

Congregational worship among the religious organizations in Africa and Latin America, particularly the rapidly expanding Christian missions, has been of significant consideration in the light of medical recommendations involving social distancing and avoidance of large social gatherings concerning the coronavirus pandemic. This is among recent observations and has attracted more focus following an acute controversy over the role of the Church in Brazil vis-à-vis government policies on the Covid-19 pandemic and the fact that a number of churches in Nigeria were allegedly initially reluctant to respond to the government lockdown declaration and the resultant ban on congregational worship. Simultaneously, the agenda of financial and material assistance to the poor by the large Christian denominations in South Africa as one means of sustaining the lockdown rather attracted criticism, as they were unable to sustain the project. Furthermore, the role of religious bodies came to the fore as global surveys demonstrated that, on average, the masses in these two continents are among the most religiously observant people in the world. As we shall see in the concluding section, this is the major consideration of Idayat Hassan, Director of the Abuja-based Centre for Democracy and Development, in his assessment of the African context.

To Open or Close? COVID-19, Mosques and the Role of Religious Authority within the British Muslim Community: A Socio-Legal Analysis

A whirlwind of developments have unfolded in the UK since the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has subsequently instigated an intensely animated debate among British Muslim religious leaders about the contentious and sensitive topic of mosque closure, producing a rich and sophisticated spectrum of responses. These responses emerged within the dramatic global background of an imminent closure of Islam’s most cherished mosque to international pilgrims, namely the sacred precinct in Mekkah. The stakes were, therefore, high for British Muslim religious leaders considering mosque closure, facing the stark dilemma of compromising the sacrosanct status of the mosque and congregational worship in Islam or putting the lives of British Muslims in their hundreds of thousands at risk. This paper seeks to analyze the role of religious authority within the British Muslim community through the lens of the responses of the community’s religious leaders to the COVID-19 closure of mosques. It builds upon a Special Issue published by this journal on leadership, authority and representation in British Muslim communities. The issue of COVID-19 mosque closure in the UK presented an excellent case study for this paper’s analysis, manifesting as it does the dynamic way in which religious authority in the British Muslim community continues to evolve. This paper thus seeks to use this case-study to further enrich the literature on this topic.

Introduction

The introduction sets out the book’s scope, argument, and goals; places the exploration in historical and cultural context; and frames the study in relationship to recent scholarship in ethnomusicology, evangelical studies, and congregational music studies. It first defines contemporary worship music from both North American and global perspectives and discusses that music’s relationship to closely related Christian popular-music genres. The chapter then situates the rise of contemporary worship music in relationship to several important social developments, including the widespread conflicts over music and worship in evangelical churches (the “worship wars”), the development of the Christian-music recording industry, the adoption of new technologies within congregational worship, and the influence of pentecostal-charismatic practices. Finally, in describing the book’s research methods, the introduction identifies several challenges the author faced in navigating distance and proximity in the field as a result of her own religious upbringing as an evangelical and her complex relationship to communities in her study.

The Implementation of Character Education Based on 2013 Curriculum in the Elementary and Secondary Schools of Kupang Nusa Tenggara Timur Indonesia

This research aimed to know the implementation of character education based on the 2013 curriculum in Kupang City, Nusa Tenggara Timur. The research approach used to obtain the data was qualitative by using survey and descriptive designs. The research was conducted at SD and SMP in Kupang City of (1) SDN Osapa Kecil 2, (2) SD Inpres Osapa, (3) SDN Kelapa Lima 1, (4) SD 2 Don Bosco, ( 5) SD Don Bosco (6) SMPN 5 Kota Kupang, (7) SMPN 8 Kota Kupang. The data were collected using: (1) questionnaire, (2) document, (3) interview, and (4) observation. The research results indicated that the implementation of character education in Kupang City has been integrated as: (1) the teacher has implemented character education as stated in the lesson planning activities. (2) School culture in the effort to support the implementation of character education such as (a) discipline of school attendance, flag ceremony, school rules (b) religiously through greetings, smiles, congregational worship, (c) school programs through the socialization of character education either orally or in writing, (e) clean and healthy life in the form of cleanliness concern towards the school environment, (f) the students’ culture of queuing up for any activity performance.