The chairman of Indonesia's highest authority on Islam said Sunday that the organization's controversial call for jihad should not necessarily be seen as a call to arms.
The jihad call -- widely interpreted as a call for holy war -- was based on the spirit that Muslims should not stay idle if Washington attacked an Islamic country, Antara news agency quoted Indonesian Council of Ulemas (MUI) deputy chairman Nazri Adlani as saying.
"The call was made to open a world discourse," Adlani said.
"If they interpret jihad as war, it is up to them. The MUI only warns that Muslims everywhere have the same feeling, solidarity."
Adlani said the MUI's statement should be read more carefully.
"Jihad will only be done when the US has really attacked Afghanistan. If it has not, it will not be done."
His call echoed those of other MUI leaders who have said that Jihad Fisabilillah, or fight on the path of God, did not mean physical war but a struggle for goodness as reflected in God's teachings.
"We cannot, and may not, stay idle to see the US plan to attack Afghanistan indiscriminately," Adlani said.
The MUI statement, issued on Tuesday, read in part: "[We call] on all Muslims of the world to unite and mobilize their forces to fight in the path of Allah should the aggression of the United States and its allies against Afghanistan and the Islamic world take place."
The MUI, an umbrella group of Islamic organizations that represents the mainstream Muslim community in Indonesia, also urged Muslim countries not to fall under the "influence of subjective US interests."
At the same time it also strongly condemned the attacks on New York's World Trade Center and the Pentagon in Washington, describing them as a "criminal act" that violated Islamic teachings.
Indonesia is the world's largest Muslim-populated country with more than 80 percent of its 210 million people following Islam.
The MUI's jihad call was widely criticized by some Muslim groups, including some of its own member organizations.
The chairman of the country's second largest Muslim organization, the Muhammadiyah, Syafii Maarif, was quoted by the Koran Tempo as saying the MUI's call "can become the dry grass for a fire" and risked igniting an emotional response among the more radical Muslim groups.
The Muhammadiyah and the largest Islamic organization in Indonesia, the Nahdlatul Ulama, both members of the MUI, have refrained from calling for jihad.
Religious Affairs Minister Said Aqil Munawar accused the MUI of playing practical politics and said Saturday that jihad should not always be understood as taking up arms and mass mobilization.
Munawar said he had already met with the MUI chairman Ahmad Sahal Mahfudz and had received an explanation that the jihad mentioned in the MUI's statement had to be understood like that.
The Muhammadiyah and the Nahdlatul Ulama have also opposed plans by more radical groups to conduct sweeps to drive out citizens of countries that support a US attack.
One group has threatened US Ambassador Robert Gelbard's life if Afghan civilians are killed.
There have been daily protests outside the US embassy against any plans to attack Afghanistan, where Washington's chief suspect in the September 11 terror attacks on New York and the Pentagon, Osama bin Laden, is believed to be hiding.
Despite the absence of reports of attacks on foreigners so far, the US State Department has told all Americans to consider leaving the country and has authorized non-essential diplomatic staff to leave -- JAKARTA (AFP)
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
