“Ukhuwah Islamiyah is not brotherhood among Muslims, but brotherhood between Muslims and non-Muslims. Brotherhood based on Islam to realize rahmat lil alamin,” emphasized KH Wahab Zarkasy responding to the views of a senior santri (ustadz) from a pesantren in Polmas in a cultural halaqah in Makassar in 2006. Controversy is the interpretation of the Kiai from the DDI Mangkoso pesantren, Barru, South Sulawesi; this is a general line of meaning that is always expressed by preachers, preachers, preachers, and most scholars.
But it also makes sense. Isn’t it from the point of view of language, for example, that ukhuwah Islamiyah is a series of two words intertwined with shifat-maushuf, meaning Islamic brotherhood, not brotherhood among fellow Muslims or among Muslims? It is a set of social and cultural ethics in accordance with the mission of the presence of Islam for the external life of Muslims.
Ukhuwah Islamiyah, in the sense of shifat-maushuf, is slang or etiquette that binds every Muslim when dealing with adherents of different religions and customary holders. Wouldn’t it be if what is desired is solidarity among Muslims, said the Muslim Brotherhood more accurately, once again from the point of view of language?
Thus, it is more for external interests, not for the internal interests of Muslims as has been interpreted and believed. How Muslims view, respond to and associate with anything and anyone different from themselves with the spirit of giving benefit and mercy (the most crucial mission of Islam) is the substance of ukhuwah Islamiyah. And gifts and graces here are not possible based on unilateral claims. Still, they are very touching or related to existence and rights that cannot be blocked or shackled and must be respected and their existence guaranteed.
Of course, the emphasis on giving benefit and grace is not in the sense of giving in and losing oneself. Precisely with that, a Muslim who consistently performs ukhuwah Islamiyah will show his Muslimness more. The most important sign of Islam itself is the grace of lil alamin and the establishment of akhlaq al-karimah.
Somehow the story started, ukhuwah Islamiyah now, as echoed by most preachers and Friday preachers, to build brotherhood and solidarity among Muslims. In fact, not infrequently, this expression is used when, as it were, facing other people or even [who are considered] external enemies. The series of shifat-maushuf is believed to be close, mutually supportive, and unity among fellow Muslims, which is theologically necessary. Don’t we often hear that expression from a Muslim during a conversation about Muslim-non-Muslim relations or anyone and anything (which is considered the enemy of Muslims)?
It is very political indeed that formulation and coercion and its implications also dive into the deepest recesses of Islam. Although to different degrees, the reasoning and psychology of most Muslims who hear the call to strengthen ukhuwah Islamiyah are led to formulate identity and are moved to affirm the imagination of ingroup and outgroup, “us” and “them”, or minna and mink[h]um, self and the other.
The two categories are not only different but also opposite and in a binary position. “We are …” and “they are …” is the final formulation of the implications of calling for the above expression, which is not impossible to affect social actions in more concrete life, a reality that in certain situations becomes very serious. Ukhuwah Islamiyah, then, turned out to be a kind of encouragement and even ethics to live divided, divided, and exclusive.
It could be that the expression has undergone such degradation of meaning. But it is also not impossible if the phrase itself does appear in certain political settings and political interests. Just like the concept of Khilafah Islamiyah emerged at the end of the Abbasid era or Daulah Islamiyah published after the Muslims suffered the defeat of the Ottoman Turks in the early 20th century. Just like ukhuwah Islamiyah, which gained theological legitimacy as an exclusive spirit generator, the last two expressions and concepts even then until now firmly believed to be the truth of the Islamic state.
It is not an exaggeration; in fact, ukhuwah Islamiyah, as stated by Kiai Wahab at the beginning of this paper, is very relevant when the barriers of human life today are becoming increasingly thin, and boundaries are boundaries crossed. Plural life and the strengthening of multicultural realities in all geographic areas challenge Islam – and we Muslims – to answer conceptual and practical economic and political issues and interact more humanely. The way Muslims associate with the dimensions of grace for the sake of humans and humanity as understood from the ukhuwah Islamiyah above is a must if Islam is desired to continue to exist as a mercy lil alamin.
Multiculturalism and pluralism are indeed considered to threaten, tear, and diminish the purity and authenticity of Islam, at least by some Muslims. But, for the sake of righteousness and authenticity that is entirely imaginary, do we sacrifice grace, including by maintaining ukhuwah Islamiyah as an exclusive spirit generator and calling for it every time? We should reflect on the interpretation and thesis of Kiai Wahab.
ilustration: radar kudus.