Public Civility in Islamic Perspective
By: Musdah Mulia
Introduction
As an independent country, Indonesia is now almost 80 years old. However, the country with the largest Muslim population in the world has not been able to provide welfare for its people and the indication is very visible, namely in the very low level of public civility.
Does this have anything to do with the teachings of Islam which is the religion of the majority of its population? I am sure it is not because of the teachings of Islam, but rather because of the inability of the state, especially the government, to uphold good governance and manage its people. In addition, there are many intertwined factors that cause the decline of public civility.
Lack of exemplary examples from government officials in enforcing the values of justice, honesty, cleanliness and beauty. Just look at how strong the power of the oligarchy is, the rampant cases of corruption, nepotism, and abuse of power by certain state officials which lead to a weak economy. In addition, the government has not focused on developing critical and democratic education so that the level of public literacy is still very concerning. It is no wonder that the level of public civility in this country is still disappointing!
Understanding Islam as rahmatan lil ‘alamin
Islam is rooted in the word “salam” which means peace. So the goal of Islam is to realize peace for humanity and all creatures in the universe. True peace can only be realized through strengthening the nature of rahmah (love, affection and sincere respect without expecting anything in return). The Qur’an mentions the words rahmah, rahmân, rahîm and their derivatives repeatedly in such a large number, at least found in more than 90 verses. When appointing Muhammad as His messenger, Allah reminded that he was sent solely to spread mercy to all creatures in the universe (QS al-Anbiyâ, 21:107). This message of mercy is widespread not only in the Qur’an but also in the hadith of the Prophet SAW, for example a hadith qudsi reminds us of Allah’s statement: “Anâ ar-rahmân. Anâ ar-rahîm” (I am the Most Gracious. I am the Most Merciful). God emphasizes His existence with these two qualities of mercy.
The function of this mercy was elaborated by the Prophet Muhammad SAW with a clear statement: “inni bu’itstu li utammima makârim al-akhlâq” (I was sent by God solely to establish noble human morality). On this basis, the Prophet always rejected and fought firmly against various forms of injustice and barbarity (jahiliyah). To further emphasize the function of this mercy, he said: “I was not sent as a curser, but as a loving and merciful person.”
Allah has given testimony and approved the method of da’wah and the spread of Islam that prioritizes compassion, not coercion and oppression as His word says: “So thanks to Allah’s mercy, you are able to embrace them. If you were hard and harsh-hearted, they would have distanced themselves from you, so forgive them and ask forgiveness for them and consult with them in all your affairs” (QS Âli ‘Imrân, 3:159). The word of Allah should inspire every Muslim to prioritize the nature of mercy, and on the contrary avoid all forms of injustice and barbarity in social interactions. Because, that is the main basis in upholding the values of public civility so that all humans feel the beauty of peace and harmony in life together (Mulia, 2010).
Islam humanizes human beings
Islam teaches that humans were created with a clear vision, namely as khalifah fil ardh (moral agent). The main mission of humans is amar ma’rûf nahi munkar, namely making efforts for transformation and humanization in order to realize a civilized society (baldatun thayyibah wa rabbun ghafur), namely a society that consciously implements the values of public civilization (Mulia, 2020).
Upholding public civility requires respect for human dignity, in Islamic terms called karamatul insan. Islam strongly teaches respect for fellow human beings regardless of biological sex, social sex (gender), race, ethnicity, and various other primordial ties. Therefore, Islamic teachings can be seen from two aspects: teachings about divinity and humanity. The former contains a set of human obligations to God, while the latter contains a set of guidelines that regulate relationships between fellow human beings and human relationships with the surrounding environment (Madjid, 2000). Unfortunately, most Muslims focus more on practicing the teachings of divinity and tend to ignore the teachings of humanity. It is not surprising that some Muslims seem less humane.
The teachings of Islamic humanity have been elaborated well by the famous Sufi, Abu Hamid al- Ghazali (d. 1111 M) and further developed by his student, Abu Ishaq al-Syathiby (d. 790 H). The formulation of the teachings was later known as the concept of al-dlarûriyât al-khams (five forms of protection). Al Ghazali said that the main goal of Islamic law (maqâshid al-syarî’at ) is to realize social welfare or common welfare, this is what is meant by public civility. He wrote: “In my opinion, welfare is realizing the goal of religion which contains five forms of protection (al- dlarûriyât al-khams), namely first, protection of the soul or the right to life (hifdh alnafs); second, protection of the right to freedom of thought and opinion (hifdh al-‘aql); third, protection of reproductive health rights (hifdh an-nasl); fourth, protection of property rights and wealth (property rights) ( hifdh al mâl); and fifth, protection of the right to believe (hifdh al-dîn). Muslims, both as individuals and members of society, are obliged to uphold the five basic rights which are the forerunners of human rights protection (al-Ghazali, 1905).
Tawhid as a source of public civility teachings
The teachings about public civility in Islam are actually rooted in the practice of monotheism, the core teaching of Islam. This can be seen from Allah’s command to hablun minallah and hablun minannas. This means that a good relationship with the Creator is reflected in a good relationship with fellow humans, fellow creatures, including the environment in a broad sense. Individual piety must go hand in hand with social piety. Therefore, the piety and piety of a human being in Islam are measured by the extent to which he provides benefits to others. It is not seen from lifestyle, choice of clothing, way of worship and so on. But rather seen from the noble morals displayed in all aspects of daily interaction (Nasution, 1995).
Tawhid is the core of Islamic teachings, teaching how to believe in God correctly and at the same time guiding humans how to act in humanity correctly. Tawhid teaches that there is only one God who is worthy of worship and deification, the rest are creatures. In everyday life, Tawhid is the main guide that guides and directs humans to act correctly, both in their relationship with Allah, fellow humans, and with the universe. True Tawhid will lead humans to a good life in the world and true happiness in the afterlife.
The teachings of monotheism were implemented well by the Prophet in both individual and social life. With this teaching, the Prophet made radical changes in all areas, from the ideological level to the practical level. Belief in the oneness of Allah made the Prophet firmly forbid the practice of deifying anything other than Allah, such as idols, ideology, tribal greatness, leaders, rulers, including lust and ego that exist in humans. Thus, monotheism encourages humans to free others from the barbarity of slavery, practices of domination, discrimination, exploitation and all forms of violence. The teachings of monotheism made the Prophet brave enough to defend the mustadh’afîn group , namely those who are humiliated, persecuted and oppressed structurally and systemically, such as women, slaves, children, and other vulnerable groups (Mulia, 2005).
Tawhid gives birth to the view of human equality as fellow creatures of Allah. No human being should be deified in the sense of being made the goal of life and a place of dependence, feared, worshiped, and all his actions considered unconditionally right. The king is not a god to the people, a husband is not a god to his wife, a rich man is not a god to the poor. Because they are not gods, the people cannot deify kings and leaders, subordinates cannot deify superiors and wives cannot deify their husbands, and so on. Fear and unconditional obedience to a king, leader, superior or husband that exceeds obedience and fear of Allah is a denial of monotheism.
Tawhid is not merely a static religious doctrine but an active source of energy that enables humans to place God as God, and humans as humans. Embracing the meaning of Tawhid not only brings individual welfare and salvation, but also creates a moral and civilized social order. Tawhid encourages humans to realize public civility as practiced by the Prophet during his reign in Medina (Nasution, 1995).
However, in its implementation in society, monotheism is often devalued to such an extent that it becomes a doctrine that does not touch on humanitarian issues. Monotheism is often understood only as knowing the attributes of Allah, knowing the pillars of faith or the like. Monotheism no longer appears as a force for enlightenment and liberation of humanity from injustice, oppression and various forms of barbarity.
Public civility is a reflection of a developed country
Nations that inherit a great history and are considered to have a great civilization are generally built with a strong attitude of social civility. Developed countries are usually not only seen from the progress of their economy and trade as well as science and technology, but also reflected in the condition of public civility of their society. For example, countries in Northern Europe, more is revealed about environmental cleanliness, law enforcement and human rights, queuing culture, tolerance, empathy, solidarity and public services that humanize their citizens. The latter values are the pillars in building public civility.
Public civility is a characteristic of advanced societies and has a high level of literacy. On the other hand, nations that are not yet advanced and have low levels of literacy usually have a crisis of public civility. The condition of a nation’s public civility is usually not directly related to the level of education or religious obedience, but rather to mentality and culture and commitment to internalizing moral values in everyday life.
Civility in public spaces is built on the values of honesty, sincerity and responsibility. This is in line with the mandate of the constitution (Article 28J Paragraph (1) and (2) of the 1945 Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia). Every human being as a citizen has equal rights and freedoms based on a responsible attitude. Every human being must respect the human rights of others. Human rights are not limitless, but are limited by the human rights of others. Likewise, human freedom is not absolute but is limited by the freedom of other humans.
In essence, public civility is an attitude or behavior that respects, honors and cares for others, obeys social rules and norms and applies them in public life (society). Public civility must also be a guideline for state administrators in carrying out government activities. The principles of good governance , such as transparency, participation, and inclusive attitudes, must be a priority and truly implemented. In addition, public civility must be carried out continuously by democratic institutions, such as parliamentary institutions, political parties and all stakeholders amidst (concerns) of democratic regression that are occurring in Indonesia. Likewise, civil society groups should be pioneers in promoting public civility.
Why is there a decline in public civility?
It is important to underline that public civility also includes digital civility . If we take a quick look at the flow of communication that occurs in the digital space, whether through social media applications or digital search engines, it is immediately apparent how digital communication is filled with hoaxes, slander, insults, bullying, fraud, and other negative things. Although there are still positive things, providing benefits for the interests of science and education, religious preaching, economic affairs and so on, the negative side is more prominent.
In 2021, Microsoft released the Digital Civility Index , which assesses the behavior of internet users from 32 countries around the world. This index was compiled by surveying more than 16,000 internet users, including those from Indonesia. The results showed that Indonesian netizens are the internet users with the worst civility ranking in Asia. Meanwhile, two countries in the Asia Pacific, Singapore and Taiwan, occupy the top five positions in the world with the highest DCI scores, occupying fourth and fifth positions respectively. Indonesia is ranked 29th out of 32 countries studied, only better than Mexico, Russia and South Africa. It is interesting to note that in the survey, teenagers (13-16 years old) have a better level of politeness than adults.
Microsoft then introduced the term Digital Civility Challenge, containing four principles of civility in internet use. First, implementing the golden rule : treating everyone with respect, empathy, compassion, and kindness in every digital interaction. Second, respecting cultural differences and diversity of perspectives, interacting with each other while still considering the feelings of others and avoiding aggressive attitudes. Third, think carefully before responding to news. It is necessary to pause and think before responding or sending anything that could hurt others, damage someone’s reputation, or threaten their safety. Finally, defending the safety of yourself and others. It is necessary to remind someone when they feel unsafe, offer support to those who are the target of online harassment or cruelty, and report activities that threaten life (News, Microsoft.com, 05/25/2021).
The condition of declining public civility is not only visible in the digital world, but also real in everyday life. In Indonesia, especially since 1998 after the New Order came to power, the condition of the crisis of public civility has been found in various aspects of people’s lives. The spectrum is very broad, covering the world of politics, law, economics and even religious life. This is clearly seen in various news in the media, such as: Wijayanto Halim, an 89-year-old grandfather was driving a car in East Jakarta, without any clear fault, he was shouted at as a thief by a group of motorcyclists, then beat him to death (January 23, 2022). In other news, a Mercedes sedan driver in Bantul, DIY had an argument with a parking attendant who shouted at him as a thief; the mob then became violent and damaged his car (January 27, 2022). Next, a scavenger child scavenged for food scraps in a trash can and was arrested by officers because he was considered to have damaged public facilities. Reading the news is as if we are in a remote area, without clear legal rules, everyone can take the law into their own hands.
The crisis of public decency is also clearly visible in cases of sexual violence. Once the Law on the Crime of Sexual Violence was passed, a number of cases of sexual violence -which were previously taboo to mention-were revealed to the public. Like opening Pandora’s box, one by one the moral depravity of society was revealed. Fatally, not a few perpetrators of sexual violence were those who had been glorified because their profession was considered holy and sacred. Several leaders of Islamic boarding schools raped their female students, like the fence eating the plants.
The decline in public decency that is most often shown in the media is in the form of corruption crimes or more completely KKN (corruption, collusion, nepotism). What is often sad is that many people justify this barbaric behavior under the pretext of religion. For example, corruption is allowed as long as it is used for charity to help build Islamic boarding schools, places of worship, nursing homes and orphanages. I often hear the words, “we give this money with sincerity.” It is not surprising that collective corruption is still a trend that is prominent in various government agencies.
The decline in public decency also concerns areas of life that are basically considered ‘minor crimes’, but are no longer considered violations of the law. This reality can be seen from the low discipline of citizens in traffic and maintaining environmental cleanliness. A number of drivers tend to behave barbarically, ignoring the people on their right and left.
The low level of public decency is also seen in the habit of throwing garbage carelessly in various places, such as highways, rivers, and public places or facilities. As a result, Indonesia’s environment is one of the dirtiest in the world.A critical question arises, why have Indonesian citizens who have been claimed as a religious nation become uncivilized? A number of factors are suspected as the cause of the decline in public civility in Indonesia. First, there is religious intensification but minus the strengthening of morals. Second, the rise of Islamist projects without improving the quality of religious literacy. Third, the strengthening of conservatism that prioritizes intolerant and exclusive Islamic views.
1. Religious intensification without ethics
Since the 1980s, Indonesian people of various religions have experienced religious intensification, especially among Muslims, because they are the majority and therefore more prominent. Sociologists of religion call this phenomenon ‘conversion,’ but not in the sense of ‘changing religion’, but rather moving from not practicing religious teachings (non-practicing or ‘abangan’) to intensive practitioners of religious teachings (practicing or ‘santri’).
In the intensification of religious understanding and practice, many people experience a ‘rebirth’ as reflected in the phrase ‘born again Muslim’ or ‘born again Christian’ (this term was first popular in the US since the 1970s). Those who experience a ‘rebirth’ as believers, then practice religious doctrine strictly and rigidly. Such religious attitudes often cause discomfort for other groups. This is because, with a rigid and rigid religious understanding and practice, they tend to be indifferent to the values of civilization that are the essence of religious teachings, such as being inclusive, tolerant, respecting differences, prioritizing brotherhood and so on, both towards those of the same faith and those of different religions. Indonesia with an absolute majority of its population is Muslim, the intensification of religion is clearly visible with the widespread use of the hijab, even the use of the niqab is already widely seen. The increasing number of Islamic preaching and education infrastructure, such as mosques, prayer rooms, madrasahs, Islamic schools, Islamic boarding schools, hospitals, orphanages, and so on.
The intensification of religion coincided with the improvement of the economic conditions of Muslims so that the number of the Muslim middle class increased. The indication is that there has been a phenomenal increase in the number of hajj pilgrims which has resulted in an extension of the waiting period for departure for dozens to tens of years. Likewise, the increase in the number of umrah pilgrims from year to year. Indonesia continues to extend its record as the largest sender of hajj and umrah pilgrims among the OIC member countries. The Muslim middle class is also an instrumental factor in increasing Islamic philanthropy.
The collection of zakat, infaq and waqf funds from Muslims almost always increases from year to year. The distribution is not only to underprivileged Muslims in the country, but also abroad, such as the construction of hospitals and schools in Palestine or Myanmar. Oddly enough, the increase in the expression of intensification of understanding and practice of religion does not go hand in hand with the increase in public civility. Just look, cases of corruption, violence based on religion and gender and various forms of crime continue to be present in the news of various media every day.
In my opinion, it is most likely because religious intensification tends to be focused only on the practice of mahdhah worship with personal piety, but has not optimally practiced ghairu mahdhah worship which leads to social piety in public life. It is not wrong to conclude that Muslims generally only become Muslims in mosques, but have not been seen as Muslims on the highway, in markets, or in offices. Muslims are generally fixated on ritualistic things, legal-formal things, fiqhiyah law (halal-haram), ignoring the application of ethics, even though the end of all these rituals is to uphold ethics or noble morals.
2. Increasing Islamism, but neglecting to strengthen religious literacy
The rise of religious life in the country is also influenced by the penetration of transnational Islamic organizations such as the Muslim Brotherhood from Egypt and Hizbut Tahrir from Lebanon. The penetration of their teachings has run smoothly, piggy backing on the democratization efforts after the New Order. It is ironic that in the name of democracy, this group loudly voices their Islamic views which are anti-democratic, anti-Western and anti Pancasila. Since the presence of the transnational Islamic group, various Islamic institutions, banking institutions, fatwa institutions, educational institutions, have mushroomed. women ‘s and youth organizations. Almost all of these institutions do not support the implementation of Islamic humanist values so that efforts to strengthen religious literacy are not achieved.
If someone practices religion merely by undergoing rituals and things that are legal-formal, then there is no spiritual strengthening process in him. On the other hand, if someone makes religion a medium for cleansing the soul, then the religious process that he goes through has an impact on spiritual strengthening and cleanliness of the soul, the indications of which will be seen in his behavior which increasingly shows noble morals in all things. So, efforts to purify the soul as part of religious teachings are expected to have implications for public civility.
In Islam, a number of rituals are also taught, such as fasting. Fasting as guided by the Prophet, is more than just abstaining from eating, drinking, and sex, but also as a spiritual activity that can cleanse the soul from various desires and lusts that pollute the soul, strengthen human spirituality with strong implications on the social dimension that leads humans to maintain the values of public civility.
Revitalization of public civility requires consolidation and revitalization of the holistic unity of Islamic understanding and practice to become kaffah or syumul (perfect). The gap in Islamic practice results in a deficit in public conditions with all its negative impacts on the lives of the nation. The gap between personal piety and public piety reflects a split personality . That is the danger of the process of Islamization without being followed by efforts to strengthen religious literacy.
3. Increasing Islamic conservatism
Conservatism is a political philosophy that supports traditional values. The term comes from the Latin conservāre, meaning to preserve, guard, maintain, practice. Because different cultures have different established values, conservatives in different cultures have different goals. Generally, conservatives seek to preserve the status quo, while others seek to return to values from the past.
In Islam, conservative understanding maintains the Islamic view based on the literalist understanding formulated by medieval scholars, which is largely irrelevant to the current conditions because it ignores the principle of maqasid shari’ah (the objective goals of Islamic law) and universal human values.
The findings of the PPIM (Center for Islamic and Community Studies) UIN Syarif Hidayatullah in 2020 concluded that the religious portrait of society is dominated by conservative religious understanding.
Religious conservatism is the dominant narrative on television with the highest figure of 46.3%, followed by moderate narratives of 33.4%, liberal 0.6%, Islamist 0.4%, and radical 0.1(https://www.cnnindonesia.com/nasional/20210429155711-20-636526/riset-ppim-narasi- konservatif-agama-dominasi-siaran-tv .
Although conservative religious narratives can generally be called safe, their position is more vulnerable to approaching radical patterns, and usually from the radical level it is only one step away from terrorism. In general, conservative narratives are not political, do not violate the rule of law and do not prioritize violent actions. However, it should be noted that someone who has a conservative religious understanding tends to be intolerant so that if provoked even a little, they will immediately shift to being radical. And that is only one step away from terrorism.
Religious conservatism also dominates people’s lives on social media. PPIM research was conducted by collecting data from Twitter and YouTube as well as in-depth interviews with several key figures to obtain qualitative data. During 2009-2019 there were 1.9 million tweets and filtered into 458,582 tweets from 100,799 users with 7,367,190 followers. The results, conservative views dominate the virality of religious tweets by 67.20%, Islamic understanding 4.50%, moderate understanding 22.20% and liberal understanding 6.10%. It is clear that moderate accounts are far behind conservative accounts.
The question is, where are those who claim to be moderate Muslims? Although moderate understanding has a larger proportion than Islamists, their participation tends to be silent, far defeated by the more militant and very active Islamic movement. This finding strengthens the position of the Islamic group as a noisy minority , a group with a small number, but its echo is greater on social media and greatly colors the religious portrait of society.
The religious portrait of the millennial group is not much different, in fact it looks even more blurred. PPIM’s 2018 research in 18 cities revealed that extremist narratives and hate speech circulated very massively among millennial, changing their way of practicing religion, which basically relies more on digital references than more authoritative academic references. The presence of social media has significantly replaced the role of religious education in families, educational institutions, and religious organizations. This weak religious literacy is what contributes greatly to the vulnerability of the millennial generation to tendencies of intolerance, radicalism, and religious extremism.
The study also confirmed that gender-just religious narratives have not yet become mainstream narratives. Religious narratives on social media are still dominated by conservative understandings of women, reinforcing patriarchal cultural views that are highly gender-biased, perpetuating the subordination of women, rejecting the idea of gender equality, let alone the idea of feminism.
Narratives about women only revolve around the domestic space, even only revolving around the bed, well and kitchen and their roles as children, mothers and wives. There are strong indications that women are more vulnerable to exposure to religious fanaticism than men. The dominance of conservative narratives in gender issues and the high proportion of conservative narratives among women give rise to intergenerational transmission of conservatism, and this is very dangerous for the future of the nation because it really erodes women’s humanity (Mulia, 2020).
This conservative religious pattern supports the Pew Research Center’s research, religious exuberance does not provide significant benefits for the growth of community welfare and happiness. A conservative understanding of religion only sees religion as merely worshiping God in a narrow sense, carrying out rituals as ceremonial activities. The religious teachings that are developed do not accommodate universal human values. It is not surprising that the majority of Muslims uphold prayer only as a ritual, prayer has not been interpreted as an effort to strengthen the spiritual quality of the self. Prayer should end in an effort to control oneself and free humans from the shackles of ignorance, making humans avoid all vile and reprehensible behavior. People who consistently uphold prayer should be committed to supporting the realization of public civility.
Then, who is influential in spreading the conservative religious narrative? The results of the study show that anyone can have the authority to spread religious narratives even with a small follower base or without legitimate religious authority. The negative impacts of digital disruption include the strengthening of conservative and radical religious understandings so that it is not surprising that on religious grounds society is increasingly intolerant, exclusive, easily judging other groups that are different and indifferent to efforts to build civilization for human welfare and peace (Jalaluddin, 1994).
In principle, all religions grow based on faith or belief. Belief should be equipped with rational explanations or justifications for the existence of obligations and prohibitions, good and bad moral values, and ritual ceremonies that must be carried out. However, the fact is that more religious adherents do not need rational reasons for their religious actions. As a result, they do not easily change their views even though they seem unreasonable even though millions of rational arguments are presented with visible evidence or are very logical. They will only change if they get doctrine from a spiritual leader they believe in.
Fatally, for conservatives, the doctrine of religious teachings is sometimes more authoritative than the holy book. They believe more in the views of their group’s imam even though it is irrational. They do not want to listen to the views of clerics who have authority and expertise in the field of religion. Whether or not the understanding of the text of the holy book is reasonable is sometimes not important, what is most important is the opinion, understanding and interpretation of the person they have made an imam or role model. This is where inhumane religious attitudes often emerge, far from critical and rational attitudes, even far from the principle of rahmatan lil alamin which is the core of Islamic teachings. As a result, adherents of conservative views tend not to be critical and rational in understanding religion so that it is difficult to accept ideas of renewal, such as thoughts on human rights, democracy , and pluralism. Moreover, feminist thinking that prioritizes the principle of gender equality for all humans.
Conclusion
Islam views humans with a positive and optimistic view, humans are noble creatures, created with dignity and honor (karamatul insan). The vision of the creation of humans (women and men) is very specific and honorable, namely to become khalifah fil ardh or moral agents (al-Baqarah, 2:30). In carrying out his duties as a khalifah, he must prioritize love as the essence of Islam, both for fellow humans and fellow creatures in the universe (al-Anbiyâ, 21:107). The mission of humans is amar ma’ruf nahy munkar, making efforts for transformation and humanization so that baldah thayyibah wa rabbun ghafur is realized, a developed, prosperous, peaceful country.
The objective goal of Islam is “rahmatan li al-‘âlamîn ” spreading love, compassion and goodness to all creatures in the universe. The essential meaning of the verse is that Islam must be felt to be beneficial, not only by those who claim to be Muslims, but also by all humans wherever they are. In fact, also for all creatures in the universe.
To realize these objective goals, humans are required to work to build culture and civilization through transformation and humanization efforts, such as improving science, technology and strengthening the economy and various other positive, productive and constructive activities. These humanization efforts are carried out continuously to humanize others, enlighten society or defend vulnerable groups who experience oppression and unfair treatment, such as the poor, minorities, women and children, especially abandoned children, disabled groups and HIV/AIDS sufferers and so on.
Islam as a religion does not provide detailed provisions on how to manage public civility. However, Islam sufficiently explains the basic principles that must be adhered to in managing life together in society, namely the principle of brotherhood, the principle of equality and justice and the principle of human freedom. In this regard, religion plays a dual function, namely the function of legitimacy and at the same time the function of criticism. The first is in the form of justification from the perspective of religious teachings regarding efforts to realize public civility in order to build a civilized society. While the second is the critical function of religion. Through this critical function, the role of religion as a moral, ethical and spiritual foundation in life together becomes a reality.
Islam came to free humanity from all tyrannical, despotic, and totalitarian systems. Islam came to build a civilized civil society, a society that practices universal human values, such as justice, honesty, truth, welfare, equality, and cleanliness. That is the prophetic task carried out by the Apostle. The prophetic task did not end with the death of the Prophet, but was placed on the shoulders of all of us as believers, both women and men. In order to carry out the prophetic task optimally, all Muslims: men and women, need to be equipped with strengthening religious literacy in order to carry out their humanitarian vision and mission optimally.
It is not fair if only religion, including its institutions, has to bear the burden, because outside of religion, there are actually other determining elements that play a role, especially the state. In a “hegemonic” position, the state and its apparatus should be able to take a bigger role in efforts to foster public morals and enforce social order and legal order. The low level of public civility in society is actually a real reflection of the attitude and behavior of the state which has never been serious in obeying the various provisions of the regulations it has made itself.
For that, the revitalization of public civility can be done through the following concrete efforts. First, efforts to reconstruct culture through education in the broadest sense, starting from education in the family to higher education. Education must mean strengthening literacy, including religious literacy. Therefore, education should be able to instill critical thinking skills and inclusive attitudes so that society is accustomed to being critical, open and tolerant in all things, including in religious life. Second, efforts to strengthen law enforcement, the state must be firm in enforcing the law fairly without compromise, in addition it is also necessary to reform laws, regulations and public policies that are still discriminatory. Society needs concrete examples from the ruling elite in implementing public civility values. Third, efforts to reinterpret religious teachings to prioritize humanist values so that society is aware that the ultimate goal of religion is to humanize humans. Religion must be able to free humans from injustice and barbarity.
Strengthening religious literacy will make people aware of the important function of religion in building human culture and civilization. At least three important functions of religion, namely humanization, namely humanizing humans by elevating human dignity. The function of liberation, namely freeing humans from all forms of injustice and public civilization crises. Finally, the function of transcendence, strengthening human spirituality so that their lives are more meaningful for others, as well as for all creatures in the universe.
