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ENGLISH
ILMU AGAMA ISLAM
UNIVERSITAS NEGERI JAKARTA
NAMA : RYAN ZEINI ROHIDIN & YUSUF MAULANA R
Learning universal `Salaam', making peace on Earth
If one walks along the Ganges River in Benares, India, one keeps
hearing the phrase
"Shanti, shanti, shanti", meaning "peace, peace, peace", and
when used in English, one
understands it as "farewell", or "Rest in Peace", or in Hawaii,
Aloha. When one sees Jews
greeting each other, one hears, "Shalom", and from Muslims, one
hears "Salam" or "Al-salaam
mu *alaikum: "Peace be upon you." Salaam has many meanings:
safety, welfare, prosperity,
security, fortune, friendliness, and peace.
There is no religion, faith, or spiritualism that does not
preach peace, yet one or some
religious traditions are singled out as "a religion of the
sword", "a religion of violence or
terrorism", whereas others as "religion of peace", religion of
pacifists, and so on.
It is often forgotten that religions and ideologies have to face
occasions when tensions,
conflicts, violence, and sometimes wars become inevitable for
complicated different reasons:
Political, economic, cultural, as well as religious.
Peace is sometimesunderstood as an absence of aggression, war,
violence, or hostility.
Peace is when there are healthy interpersonal, inter-group,
inter-family, inter-church,international relationships. The causes
for the absence or lack of peace can be insecurity, social
injustice, economic inequality, ignorance, religious fanaticism,
or chauvinist nationalism.
Indeed, some Muslim groups use the sword either in defending or
expanding their
universalizing faith. But Islam, like any other religion and
ideology, can be used for that
expansionist zeal as well as for protecting, supporting, and
making a difference to make a world
a better place to live.
A violent leaderismore likely to see the texts such as the Koran
as justifying his violent
acts against the others he sees as "the enemy".
A peaceful, tolerant leaderwill see the Koran in an entirely
different way. For him and
many others the Koran is an inspiration for love of others,
coexistence, and peace. They cultivate
the ethos of tolerance and non-violence.
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Therefore, for us, it is a time to choose whether we act as a
loving, peaceful personality
or otherwise. As a rabbi Jonathan Sacks in his book "the Dignity
of Difference", says, "if
religion, or faith, cannot be part of a solution, it will
certainly be part of the problem."
Islam shares such common values as love, compassion, freedom,
responsibility, and
interconnectedness. A Muslim is anyone who loves his or her
brothers and sisters and does not
kill nor incite killings of self or others.A Muslimis someone
whose heart fluctuates but remains
controllable and peaceful.
Peaceis not a state where there is no noise, trouble or hard
work: peace is in the midst of
those things and still to be calm in our heart. Islam also
endorses "no coercion in matters of
faith", because a coerced faith is neither genuine nor sincere.
Islam emphasizes that mankind is
made up of brothers and sisters, regardless of religion, race,
gender, politics, and economic
standing.
Note :
Bold = verb
Italic = subject
Underline = object
Vocab :
Welfare = kesejahteraan, keselamatan.
Prosperity = kemakmuran
Fortune = untung, nasib baik.
Preach = mengajarkan.
Occasions = saat, kesempatan, kejadian.
Tensions = tegangan.
Chauvinist = orang berlebihan patriotism.
