Nahdlatul Ulama (NU): A Grassroot Movement Advocating Moderate Islam

Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), Indonesia’s largest Muslim organisation, has sponsored an international conference as part of its strategy to promote Islam Nusantara worldwide. However, the concept remains deeply contested, even within the NU itself.

ISLAM NUSANTARA:Journal for the Study of Islamic History and Culture

Islam spread throughout the “Nusantara”, one of which was through the missionary work of Wali Songo and other clerics, who accepted, inserted and integrated Islamic teachings with the original pre-existing culture which was then known as “Islam Nusantara” which was characterized by moderation, justice, progress, middle ground and harmony. Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) can be classify as the largest Islamic organization worldwide, with around 121 million members. NU upholds Pancasila and the unity of diversity, namely religious and cultural pluralism. This is the line of indigenization and Indonesianization of Islam that was propagated by Gus Dur. Gus Yahya's new leadership acknowledged as able to absorb Gus Dur's ideology of tolerance, openness, the middle way, gradualism, pluralism, humanity, and the flexible application of Islamic law (fiqh). Gus Yahya was also able to take charge of Abdurrahman's controversial visit to Israel and has toured to promote dialogue between the two ...

Indonesia at Melbourne, 2021

Nahdlatul Ulama, Indonesia's largest Islamic organisation, plans to hold its long-postponed National Congress (muktamar) later this month. The muktamar is held once every five years, and is the organisation's most important leadership meeting. Its primary agenda is to elect the organisation's next chairman, who will then select members of NU's leadership board (PBNU).

東南アジア研究, 1981

Synopsis Two years after it was first introduced, the Islam Nusantara theology of Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), the largest Indonesian Islamic organisation, continues to face opposition from more conservative factions. This is casting a shadow over NU's effort to promote the middle ground and toleration in Indonesia. Commentary TWO YEARS after the idea of Islam Nusantara was first introduced as a reinterpretation of the Nahdhlatul Ulama's basic theological tenets, it continues to face opposition from conservative factions. Backing the resistance are theological critiques from younger clerics who seek to eradicate liberal influences from the organisation, the largest in Indonesia. The rift between the factions of NU current chairman Said Aqil Siradj and former general chairman Hasyim Muzadi can be seen in the East Java strongholds of NU. The opposition by NU Garis Lurus (NU True Path), consisting of influential young clerics, constitutes a serious challenge to NU's theological frame that had been instituted by former President Abdurrahman Wahid and his followers over three decades. These popular young clerics argue that Islam Nusantara is an invention of " liberal " thinkers while there is only one universal Islam for all Muslims that does not require " localised " intepretations such as Islam Nusantara.

Istinbath | Jurnal Penelitian Hukum Islam, 2017

In line with the socio-religious dynamics in society, various problems surrounding fiqh have also developed, most of which have not been absorbed in the legal thinking of the scholars. Concerning issues commonly referred to as masa’il fiqhiyyah al-hadithah, scholars have institutional mechanisms to solve these problems. Nahdlatul Ulama, the most prominent Islamic religious organization in the country, is also concerned with masa’il fiqhiyyah al-hadithah through the Bahtsul Masa’il (BM-NU) mechanism. However, the BM-NU legal istinbath framework is unique, because it is different from the legal istinbath framework that previous scholars had—such as the legal istinbath framework used by Abu Hanifah and Muhammad Ibn Idris al-Syafi’i, also different from the legal istinbath framework with mass organizations. Other Indonesian Islam—such as the legal istinbath framework of the Persis Hisbah Council and the legal istinbath framework of Majlis Tarjih and the Development of Muhammadiyah Islam...

Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Social Sciences (ICSS 2018), 2018

Nahdatul Ulama (NU) is currently the largest Muslimbased community organization in Indonesia. Looking at the historical view, that NU used to be a political party, even winning the election in Sidorajo, East Java. This study uses a methodological approach of history to see the uniqueness of NU in winning the election in 1955. Authentic documents and indepth interviews were conducted to gain a past representation far beyond the discourse that developed in society.

Jurnal Pendidikan Islam, 2017

Indonesia is a country which not only consists of various tribes, ethnicity and religions, but also established on multi-cultural element. The plurality, on one hand, is a social strength and a wonderful aspect of diversity if each of those aspects makes synergy and works together to build the nation. On the other hand, the plurality, if it is not managed and nurtured properly, will trigger and ignite a conflict and violence that could destabilize the joints of the state and nation. In this case, Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) has a strategic role in building a moderate Indonesian Muslim community because NU offers a model of integration, namely the integration of Islam into nationalism. It is the integration of Islamic visions of life into the main objectives of the establishment of nation-states. The idea departs from the principle of al-Ghayah wa al-Wasail (the objectives and the methods) that NU puts the state as an instrument for achieving the goal of Islam. Thus, since the aim of Islam ...

2021

The Islamic fundamentalism movement has metamorphosed into a serious threat to the existence of multiculturalism in Bandar Lampung. This movement turned into a social and educational movement that penetrated educational institutions in Lampung. It transformed into a campus organization. Not only the state, Islamic religious-based civil society organizations with moderate views such as Nahdlatul Ulama often intersect directly with Islamic fundamentalism groups. The Islamic purification brought by this group has often become a space for friction with Nahdlatul Ulama (Henceforth: NU). Moreover, there are study forums on-campus that discuss Islamic law and the caliphate (Khilafah) system as the Unitary system of the Republic of Indonesia. This has become a point of controversy with NU groups that accept Pancasila as the final foundation of the state. This study aims to find out how Nahdlatul Ulama Bandar Lampung City through its basic philosophy faces the contradiction of the Islamic fu...

This article is aimed to discuss the change shades of thought in Nahdhatul Ulama (NU) organization, from traditionalist to modernist. This is a literature study on thought that develop within related to NU bodies with Islamic cosmopolitanism discourse for interact and absorb of various element manifestation cultural and insight scientist as a part from discourse of modernism. This study put any number figures of NU as subject. The results of the study show that elements thought from figure of NU, like Gusdur which includes effort eliminate ethnicity, strength plurality culture, inclusive, liberal, heterogeneity politics, and life eclectic religion, has been trigger for the birth of the modernism of thought in the body of NU. It caused change of religious thought from textual to contextual, born in freedom of thinking atmosphere.