Islam and the Pancasila within the struggles of the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU)

Abstract

Since Pancasila (the Five Principles) was established as the sole ideology of all social and political organizations, debates on the relationship between Islam and the state, particularly Islam and the Pancasila, have ceased. Or at least there are no more open attempts to confront these issues by Muslim community. Even Pancasila, as an ideology of the nation-state of Indonesia, has been viewed as the final consensus. Each Muslim community surely has its own arguments jor reaching the consensus, including the Nahdlatul Ularna (NU), the large Muslim organization that was established in 1926. Even theNO accepted Pancasila as its ideology prior to the national consensus, and called on all socio-religious organizations to follow this decision. This article attempts to describe the political struggle and the religious thoughts of the NU in order to answer why this organization reached this decision earlier than Gther similar organizations. Is NU historically consistent in solving the problems of the relationship between Islam and the state or Islam and Pancasila? What kind of Islamic thoughts make NU take decisions? According to the writer, the Islamic thoughts behind the NU's political decision are in fact the established ahl al-sunnah wa al-jama'ah which emphasizes social order. It is believed that Islam, motivates its followers to accept every thing that is good fmaslahah/ Pancasila and the Constitution oj 1945 are considered goody and therefore they are accepted. The nation-state of Indonesia, in which Pancasila is its ideological foundation, is considered a prerequisite /WasilahJ to implementation of Islamic values among the Muslim community within the Indonesian context. Pancasila is also accepted as it is a consensus between the Muslim community and other groups in this country towards building a nation-state. Because it is a consensus, Muslim and other groups are responsible for preserving. In responding to the socio-political problems of this country, NU usually avoids rigid or absolute attitudes. This is in line with the principle that stales: "'if all cannot be achieved what has been achieved will have to be preserved. This rule is used to explain the acceptance of Pancasila and the Consitution of 1945. Inducing all of Islam into the foundation oj the nation-state has not been possible nor will it ever be possible, because national disintegration would be at stake. If Islam had been forced to become the ideology it would not only have been dangerous to national integration but also to the existence of the NU itself and the Muslim community in general. In accepting Pancasila the NU also relies on a law, that says "avoiding the bad must be the priority instead of doing good", If it is harmful to do goody avoiding harm to the maximum possible and acting within capablities should be the priority. Pancasila has to be kept although it does not accommodate all of Islam, because Pancasila can in fact save Indonesia from the dangers of national disintegration. filled without certain prerequisites, these prerequisites will he also obligatoryBuilding social order is a prerequisite to undertaking religious obigations, therefore it is also obligatory. The social order at a certain stage should take the form of a nation-state, and therefore building a nation-state in that condition is also a must. There are some prerequisites to building a nation-state, including ideology and a constitution. Therefore it is necessary to establish an ideolog)f and a constitution for a nation-state. If a perfect ideology and perfect constitution cannot be formulated this does not mean that the obligation is invalid. What has been achieved, regardess of its imperfections, has to be kept along with attempts to improve it. Based on this argument, Pancasila and the Constitution of 1945 must be kept even they are claimed by some to be imperfect. This is because they are the maximal results of attempts to formulate the foundation of the nation-state of Indonesia as a prerequisite to implementing the religious teachings or values of Islam within this archipelago.