I haven’t been able to post for the last few days. Last weekend was spent in Montreal leading an LTP (Leadership Training Program) offered by MAC Youth for the Montreal area MSA’s. Inshaa Allah this weekend we’ll have another one at McMaster for the MSA’s of Southwest Ontario. More on LTP’s later inshaa Allah – it was fun! So Thursday & Friday were prep days, and Monday was catch-up day. Now I have to catch-up with my blog and the wheel keeps turning
I picked up a book that I had gotten sometime ago but hadn’t had a chance to go through it yet. It’s written by Abdullah Al-Aqeel, an Iraqi scholar educated in al-Azhar and living in Riyadh. The book is a collection of biographies, a genre that was pioneered by our scholars of old to serve the dual sciences of history and the narration and verification of traditions. In this case, he’s dedicated the book to biographies of the leaders of Islamic revival, each in his own way scholarly, activist, or otherwise, from different parts of the World. Looking at his table of contents, he has 71 biographies. I counted 37 names that I had never heard before. Says something about my ignorance
But it also, and more importantly, says something about how little we who have benefited from the legacy of these scholars, activists, and thinkers, celebrate that legacy. As our scholars of old taught us, the least we can do is make du’aa for these individuals that committed themselves to the service of God and the illumination of His path. Many of us read the books of Dr. Tariq Ramadan, but how many of us know something about the life of his father, Dr. Said Ramadan (rahimahullah)? How many of us have read the biography of Sh. Mohamed al-Khidr Hussein, the Tunisian scholar who became one of the most influential, most courageous, and most outspoken rectors of al-Azhar? Or Sh. Abdelfattah Abu Ghudda who combined eminence in the scholarship of the sciences of hadeeth and other Isalmic sciences with his activism and leadership of the Islamic movement in Syria?
I can’t translate the entire book – I don’t believe in promising myself impossible achievements. I can inshaa Allah, every once in a while, pick one of the biographies and give an abridged translation on my blog.
So here goes. For this entry, I chose Dr. Mohammad Natsir, one of the founders of the modern Islamic movement in Indonesia and the leader of the only party in Indonesian politics that took a clear stand against Sukarno when he sought to move away from a democratic parliament (it appears that Sukarno appealed to Indonesian “custom” but effectively created a dictatorship under the euphemism “guided democracy”). Because I knew so little about Indonesia, I spent some time reading about the history of Indonesian politics, and in particular the work of Sukarno and Suharto, before I put together the summary below. Any comments below on the role of Masjumi in Indonesian politics come not from the text but from my limited research. For those interested in more information I would recommend starting with Wikipedia’s entry on the history of Indonesia and a critical reading of some of the scholarly literature on Masjumi.
Dr. Mohammad Natsir
Born in 1908 in Sumatra, Dr. Natsir was influenced by his father’s scholarly pedigree. He combined religious and public education, received an ijazah from the Faculty of Tarbiya (Education) in Bandung and subsequently an honorary doctorate from the Islamic University in Jakarta. He worked as a teacher, educator, and administrator during the years of Dutch occupation. In 1945 he was approached by Dr. Mohammad Hatta (then Vice-President of Indonesia under Sukarno; Hatta would later resign in protest of Sukarno’s move towards a more autocratic rule) to help with anti-colonial efforts. He became a member of the Indonesian parliament, founded Masjumi (Council of Muslim Associations of Indonesia) in 1946, and was Minister of Information for four years. During his tenure, Masjumi opposed proposals to turn Indonesia into a confederacy and championed the unity of the republic.
In 1950, Dr. Natsir became Prime Minister of Indonesia. Within the year he had clashed with President Sukarno and resigned, remaining as a member of parliament and the leader of Masjumi, which was the 3rd largest party in Indonesian politics at the time.
Sukarno steered the country into a more autocratic direction and allied himself with the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) througouht the 1950’s. By the late 1950’s he had banned Masjumi, and in 1961 he imprisoned Dr. Natsir together with other leaders of the movement. In 1965 a military coup led by Suharto led to the deposition of Sukarno and Dr. Natsir was released together with other political prisoners. With the leadership of the banned Masjumi, they now formed the Indonesian Council for the Islamic Call (DDII) and focused on public education, establishing masajid througouht Indonesia and supporting associations for students, labourers, farmers, and professionals.
Dr. Natsir was highly respected in international Islamic circles for his scholarship, oratory, intellectual output, role in the resistance against occupation, and principled engagement in Indonesian politics. In 1967 he was selected as vice-president of the International Islamic Conference held in Pakistan.
Sayings
“Islam is not merely a faith where the work of the Muslim is limited to worship in the narrow sense of the word; rather, Islam is the path of life for the individual, the community, and the state. Islam stands against the oppression of humanbeings by their brethren, making it imperative for Muslims to struggle for their independence. Islam also provides foundations for a free state, so that it is imperative for Muslims to run their state post-indpendence according to Islamic values.”
In 1989, in an interview he gave to a visiting reporter he said, “I do not fear the future. There is no danger from the future – it belongs to Muslims provided they are upright, and provided they exert themselves to their capacity to be upright in ourselves and in our societies.”
Asked about the people that had considerable influence upon him he said, “Haj Amin al-Husseini, Imam Hassan al-Banna, and Imam Hassan al-Hudaibi. Those are from outside Indonesia. From within it, there are Sheikh Agus Salem and Sheikh Ahmad Sarkati.”
He also has several published essays, articles, and books, mostly dealing with questions of Islam and modern civilization, the foundations of Islamic government, Islam and World peace, and similar topics. He passed away (rahimahullah) on the 15th of Sha’ban 1413, 5th of February 1993.
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