In this discussion, I want to address the importance of studying philosophy as an academic foundation of being progressive Muslim and the significance of being involved in feminist movements as a basis of social movements or a basis of actions of a progressive Muslim. Additionally, since in this sub-topic I describe a field experience, I will not describe a more theoretical discussion of progressive Islamic idea.
Describing the field experiences also exhibits an important portrait about the process of transformation of being a progressive Muslim through feminism. From this transformation, I performed my personal reflection in experiencing the process of life from a monologist Muslim toward a dialogist and open-minded one. Therefore, I understand that being a Muslim is a dynamic and fluid. Muslim identities refer to not only symbolical piety in religious rituality, but also social piety in contributing to solving social problems. I reflect that, to some extent, social piety should be prioritized in expressing our Islamic religiosity. In this regard, I tried to connect my Islamic belief and academic interest in Islamic studies to the efforts of upholding women’s rights and eliminating violence and discrimination against women. In this reflection, I brought feminist issues as actual application of my progressive Islamic belief.
I want to begin describing my experience in traveling a process of being involved in women’s right issues as a progressive religious reflection with the importance of the academic tradition in the State Islamic University Syarif Hidayatullah, Jakarta in providing me a foundation for being involved in progressive Islamic movements. In 1994, I enrolled the university in the Department of Islamic Theology and Philosophy (Ushuluddin). This university is considered one of the most progressive Islamic educational institutions in Indonesia since it produced a number of Islamic thinkers who influence the discourse of Islam with the idea of Islamic renewals or pembaruan Islam. Professor Harun Nasution who served as a rector of the university in 1973-1984 has to be noted as a locomotive in leading the university toward a progressive Islamic educational system. He came up with the idea of rational Islam and sending students from the university to study in the United States, Canada and European countries, such as the Netherlands, Germany, and England.
I still felt the impacts of Nasution’s idea to introduce Islamic renewals through the university. For example, the tradition of discussions and debates were operated in learning Islamic theology (‘aqidah), Islamic jurisprudence (fiqh), the Koran and the Prophet Muhammad’s thoughts and customs (hadith). This tradition opened the gates to the customs of debating, questioning and criticizing some basic Islamic concepts. This tradition replaced the previous academic culture in the university that seemed to provide more taken-for-granted and dogmatizing methods of learning that referred to teachers as the monolithic source of knowledge.
Under such academic tradition, I had personal reflections to be involved in the grand agendas of Islamic renewal movements through performing critical and rational method in approaching Islamic teachings. The academic spirit of questioning established classical thoughts of Islam greatly increased within students of the university. Critical and reflective philosophical methods were imposed in searching for new perspectives and views of Islamic teachings. This academic tradition replaced the previous method of Islamic studies in the university that was based more on memorizing books and other resources and listening to teachers.
Unlike the old method of learning that limited students in striving for finding and developing new knowledge, critical and reflective philosophical method of Islamic studies fostered student in the university to use their rational and logic capability in studying Islam. A number of students had initiatives to found discussion forums and brought some particular issues as the subject of discourse. In the discussion forum, they tried to approach Islam with “secular knowledge”, such as sociology, philosophy, and anthropology. They proposed Marxism and other social theories from Emile Durkheim, Max Webber, Talcott Persons, Clifford Geertz, etc to observe and study Islam. To empower critical views, they also brought political issues as a part of the discussion. Indeed, in the end of 1990s, Indonesia faced a serious economic and political crisis that brought the country to the political transition. Students with their critical point of views against the corrupt and authoritarian government of President Soeharto in the university were important groups in leading the process of transition toward reform era or Era Reformasi. Hence, I view the crucial involvement of the students in the reform movement cannot separated from critical academic tradition in the university.
Furthermore, this academic tradition led some students to address feminism and women’s issues in the forum. They worked on discussing several women’s issues in Islam based on feminist theories. Additionally, they also tried to approach many women’s issues with critical Islamic views that they learned from the forums and classes in the university. Therefore, such academic tradition within students in the university was a very important cornerstone for developing Islamic feminism in Indonesia.
There are two importance values of the students’ forum in strengthening Islamic feminism and Islamic renewal movement. First, it brought Islamic renewal agendas into daily lives since the forum facilitated to discuss ordinary issues within Indonesian society, including domestic violence, violence in dating, polygamy, sexual harassment, and women’s participation in politics among others resulting from misunderstanding of Islamic teachings. Second, feminism became more popular within Muslim students, particularly from the university. There were number of students who were attracted for being involved in the discussions of feminist and women’s issues. Many activities, such as trainings, seminars, public speaking, and workshops, were conducted to spread women’s issues.
In the situation of the rise of discussion forums, I dove myself in women’s issues after I thought to be more involved in more practical movements rather than theoretical interests. Indeed, at that time, I experienced self-struggle of thinking between praxis and theory after I learned about the discourse of this issue in philosophy from Plato, Hegel and Max Horkheimer of the Frankfurt Schools. Particularly, my understanding to critical theory of the Frankfurt School as a method of social critiques really influenced me in strengthening the academic perspectives toward the involvement in more social praxis rather than theoretical one. This theory inspired me to view that knowledge is interested; knowledge has main interest to emancipate people from any form of inequality. Knowledge has to be devoted for the purpose of building social justice. Knowledge has to participate in contributing to better social change (see Held, Introduction to Critical Theory: Horkheimer to Habermas). Finally, my academic reflection led me to address feminism and women’s issues in applying my interests in social praxis and empower my progressive and liberal religiosity. It can be stated that feminism and women’s issues were a foundation for my academic and religious reflection of being a progressive-minded Muslim. First, I understand that several Islamic teachings from the Koran, hadith, and classical Muslim scholars’ thoughts are deviated to be a reason of perpetrating violence and discrimination against women. Islam and Muslim community in Indonesia have great potentials in upholding women’s rights. Both clarification of the deviation and misinterpretation and the actualization of these potentials insist efforts to reconstruct religious perspectives toward more progressive and liberal views.
An important phase of my earlier involvement in Islamic feminist issues was when 1998 with other students in the university, I introduced the initiative to conduct a research on Islamic universities female students’ gender awareness. The research observed the influences of Islamic views and the method of learning in Islamic universities to female students’ perspectives on women’s issues. In this regard, this research is important since it exposed how Islamic teachings were used to create gender biases and how Islamic educations became a source of institutions in producing Islamic-based gender biases. Therefore, the research implemented the idea of critical religious views in order to reconstruct understanding and interpretation of Islamic teachings toward more gender sensitive perspectives. The research found an important fact that the process of learning Islam in Islamic universities played a significant role in causing gender biases within female students of the universities. Additionally, the research provided an evidence of the influence of religious misinterpretation in developing biases and stereotypes. Hence, to some extent, the information resulting from the research is important as a basis of action to approach Islamic teachings as a foundation of social movements to change Muslims’ perspectives on women’s rights.
For my personal career in women’s issues, the research played a crucial role in strengthening my academic interests and social sensitivities to deeper involved in women’s rights issues as a critical reflection of religiosity. I went to several activities related to feminist movements, including these were conducted by non governmental organizations, such as Kalyanmitra and Perhimpunan Pengembangan Pesantren dan Masyarakat (P3M) or the Union for the Pesantren (Islamic traditional schools) and Society Development. Finally, in 2001, six months after graduating from the university, I had a chance to be more actively involved in upholding progressive Islamic feminist agendas when I started working at PUAN Amal Hayati that was established by a number of academicians and activists from progressive Muslim links, such as Sinta Nuriyah Abdurrahman Wahid, Mansour Fakih, Husein Muhammad, Farha Ciciek and Badriyah Fayumi. I will address wider information about PUAN Amal Hayati and its importance in spreading progressive Islamic feminism in Indonesia in the next chapter.
On one hand, the involvement in PUAN Amal Hayati gave me wide opportunities to understand deeper the colors of progressive Muslim feminist groups in Indonesia. It gave a chance to have intimate interaction with Islamic-based groups and individuals promoting women’s rights based on Islamic perspectives. On the other hand, this involvement sharpened my progressive religious vision and led me to participate in several controversial issues for Muslims in Indonesia, such as homosexuality, women’s capability to lead multi gender prayer, critical approach against the Prophet’s polygamy, and critical views against religious leaders who prefer using Islamic teachings as a legitimacy of perpetrating violence against women. The reason of being a part of the discourse of these issues is that based on a religious understanding, I see Islam is a religion of justice and humanity and it is a religious deviation if a Muslim refers to Islamic teaching to legitimize violence and discrimination.
Many cases of violence against women, particularly domestic violence that I found when I worked at PUAN Amal Hayati increased my progressive orientation since several cases occurred in the name of religious teachings. Additionally, I sought that the use of Islamic teachings as a legitimacy of discrimination against women still pervasively existed within Muslim communities, including religious leaders as I found in pesantren. Some kyais or pesantren leaders appeared to show their gender biases since they viewed that it was based on Islamic teachings to do so. This situation indeed led me to think for being more religiously progressive.
At that time, I meant being more religiously progressive as a religious perspective viewing religious-based gender biases as a religious deviation as a result of religious conservatism that overwhelms religious thoughts of Muslims. Religious conservatism leads Muslim to taken-for-granted embrace religious thinking year-by-year without critical views and being aware to actual social problems. In a religious conservatism, Muslims prefer to blindly follow ancient Islamic traditions and Islamic thoughts produced by several classical Muslim scholars. Indeed, these classical Islamic thinking made in different cultural contexts with our contemporary social-cultural situations. It can be stated that religious conservatism estrange Muslims from critical and rational religious thought tradition that brought Islam as a symbol of civilization in a period of history of mankind. Additionally, religious conservative way of thinking hides the spirit of Islam as the religion of justice and humanity. Instead of providing solutions of several social problems, including discrimination against women, religious conservative Muslim groups often use Islamic teachings as foundation of violence. Therefore, progressive Islamic ideas are an epistemological and axiological foundation to reform religious conservatism to direct Muslims to be more contributive to solve problems of social inequalities. In progressive idea, Muslims are greatly eager to search for new creative Islamic views that can inspire them to participate in the process of upholding human’s rights and reducing discrimination and inequality. Finally, the involvements in women’s movement through PUAN Amal Hayati and the interactions with Muslim feminists at that period greatly influenced me to develop deeper understanding of religious progressivism.
It is important to mention that the target of critiques of progressive Muslim feminist groups is not only religious institutions, such as ‘ulama (Muslim clerics) but also State that appears to show the silent conspiracy when the government does not take important policies to eliminate violence and discrimination against women through the politics of religion. Instead of showing strong political will to reduce violence, the government often supports religious-based biases obscurely or silently. For instance, the government of Indonesia issued the Act No. 1/1974 on Marriage and Kompilasi Hukum Islam (KHI) or the Compilation of Islamic Law that formalize religious misinterpretation as legitimacy for discrimination against women. In this regard, the government is along with conservative Muslim groups to deviate Islamic teachings for violence and inequality. Another important example is when a member of the Indonesian House of Representatives from Partai Kebangkitan Bangsa (the National Awakening Party) was subjected of perpetrating serious domestic violence, the government did not take serious political and legal steps.
The event of Polygamy Award initiated by Puspo Wardoyo, a restaurant businessman who has four wives, to acknowledge and award national leaders from both governmental institutions and Muslim groups who were viewed as successful in polygamy really challenged my personal religious progressivism and shifted my orientation toward more social movements. On one hand, with this event, I view Puspo Wardoyo has declared his tendencies to religious-based discrimination against women in public spheres. Puspo Wardoyo used religion to legitimize his social insensitivity to the facts that several polygamy marriages created problems of violence and inequality against women. It is interesting to me that although Puspo Wardoyo does not have academic background of Islamic studies that gives him bigger authority to interpret Islamic teachings, he often referred to the Koran and the Prophet’s hadith as a basis of his actions. In this regard, it can be mentioned that the event of Polygamy Award emphasized that the problems of using Islamic teachings for violence is not only problem of religious understanding, but also problem of social insensitivity that encouraged me to be more involved in critical social movements as the expression of religious progressivism.
I want to end description of personal reflection in the journey of progressive Islamic idea with a story when I was interviewed to pursue scholarship from Ford Foundation. For me, this story shows an important portrait of being a progressive Muslim. An interviewer, Professor Mohammad Jacob from Gadjah Mada University, Yogyakarta, challenged me a question about polygamy. “What is your opinion if a woman finally chose to receive her husband’s polygamy based on her belief in Islam? Will you still force her to divorce or let her follow her belief?” The question was really challenging for a progressive religious perspective since, on one hand, this related to the use of Islamic teaching as a religious foundation for polygamy and, on the other hand, this also insisted my consistence to acknowledge freedom of thinking to honor people who have different religious view. I responded this question with an opinion that I have two obligations for the wife. First, I have to provide an adequate explanation that living in polygamy possibly causes violence and inequality against wife; and it is a misinterpretation of Islamic teaching that polygamy is acceptable for a Muslim. Second, if she still decides to accept her husband’s polygamy, it is my obligation to honor her decision in the name of freedom of thinking. Therefore, based on my personal reflection, being a progressive Muslim insists of efforts both to reconstruct new religious perspective and to respect different religious understanding.
Describing the field experiences also exhibits an important portrait about the process of transformation of being a progressive Muslim through feminism. From this transformation, I performed my personal reflection in experiencing the process of life from a monologist Muslim toward a dialogist and open-minded one. Therefore, I understand that being a Muslim is a dynamic and fluid. Muslim identities refer to not only symbolical piety in religious rituality, but also social piety in contributing to solving social problems. I reflect that, to some extent, social piety should be prioritized in expressing our Islamic religiosity. In this regard, I tried to connect my Islamic belief and academic interest in Islamic studies to the efforts of upholding women’s rights and eliminating violence and discrimination against women. In this reflection, I brought feminist issues as actual application of my progressive Islamic belief.
I want to begin describing my experience in traveling a process of being involved in women’s right issues as a progressive religious reflection with the importance of the academic tradition in the State Islamic University Syarif Hidayatullah, Jakarta in providing me a foundation for being involved in progressive Islamic movements. In 1994, I enrolled the university in the Department of Islamic Theology and Philosophy (Ushuluddin). This university is considered one of the most progressive Islamic educational institutions in Indonesia since it produced a number of Islamic thinkers who influence the discourse of Islam with the idea of Islamic renewals or pembaruan Islam. Professor Harun Nasution who served as a rector of the university in 1973-1984 has to be noted as a locomotive in leading the university toward a progressive Islamic educational system. He came up with the idea of rational Islam and sending students from the university to study in the United States, Canada and European countries, such as the Netherlands, Germany, and England.
I still felt the impacts of Nasution’s idea to introduce Islamic renewals through the university. For example, the tradition of discussions and debates were operated in learning Islamic theology (‘aqidah), Islamic jurisprudence (fiqh), the Koran and the Prophet Muhammad’s thoughts and customs (hadith). This tradition opened the gates to the customs of debating, questioning and criticizing some basic Islamic concepts. This tradition replaced the previous academic culture in the university that seemed to provide more taken-for-granted and dogmatizing methods of learning that referred to teachers as the monolithic source of knowledge.
Under such academic tradition, I had personal reflections to be involved in the grand agendas of Islamic renewal movements through performing critical and rational method in approaching Islamic teachings. The academic spirit of questioning established classical thoughts of Islam greatly increased within students of the university. Critical and reflective philosophical methods were imposed in searching for new perspectives and views of Islamic teachings. This academic tradition replaced the previous method of Islamic studies in the university that was based more on memorizing books and other resources and listening to teachers.
Unlike the old method of learning that limited students in striving for finding and developing new knowledge, critical and reflective philosophical method of Islamic studies fostered student in the university to use their rational and logic capability in studying Islam. A number of students had initiatives to found discussion forums and brought some particular issues as the subject of discourse. In the discussion forum, they tried to approach Islam with “secular knowledge”, such as sociology, philosophy, and anthropology. They proposed Marxism and other social theories from Emile Durkheim, Max Webber, Talcott Persons, Clifford Geertz, etc to observe and study Islam. To empower critical views, they also brought political issues as a part of the discussion. Indeed, in the end of 1990s, Indonesia faced a serious economic and political crisis that brought the country to the political transition. Students with their critical point of views against the corrupt and authoritarian government of President Soeharto in the university were important groups in leading the process of transition toward reform era or Era Reformasi. Hence, I view the crucial involvement of the students in the reform movement cannot separated from critical academic tradition in the university.
Furthermore, this academic tradition led some students to address feminism and women’s issues in the forum. They worked on discussing several women’s issues in Islam based on feminist theories. Additionally, they also tried to approach many women’s issues with critical Islamic views that they learned from the forums and classes in the university. Therefore, such academic tradition within students in the university was a very important cornerstone for developing Islamic feminism in Indonesia.
There are two importance values of the students’ forum in strengthening Islamic feminism and Islamic renewal movement. First, it brought Islamic renewal agendas into daily lives since the forum facilitated to discuss ordinary issues within Indonesian society, including domestic violence, violence in dating, polygamy, sexual harassment, and women’s participation in politics among others resulting from misunderstanding of Islamic teachings. Second, feminism became more popular within Muslim students, particularly from the university. There were number of students who were attracted for being involved in the discussions of feminist and women’s issues. Many activities, such as trainings, seminars, public speaking, and workshops, were conducted to spread women’s issues.
In the situation of the rise of discussion forums, I dove myself in women’s issues after I thought to be more involved in more practical movements rather than theoretical interests. Indeed, at that time, I experienced self-struggle of thinking between praxis and theory after I learned about the discourse of this issue in philosophy from Plato, Hegel and Max Horkheimer of the Frankfurt Schools. Particularly, my understanding to critical theory of the Frankfurt School as a method of social critiques really influenced me in strengthening the academic perspectives toward the involvement in more social praxis rather than theoretical one. This theory inspired me to view that knowledge is interested; knowledge has main interest to emancipate people from any form of inequality. Knowledge has to be devoted for the purpose of building social justice. Knowledge has to participate in contributing to better social change (see Held, Introduction to Critical Theory: Horkheimer to Habermas). Finally, my academic reflection led me to address feminism and women’s issues in applying my interests in social praxis and empower my progressive and liberal religiosity. It can be stated that feminism and women’s issues were a foundation for my academic and religious reflection of being a progressive-minded Muslim. First, I understand that several Islamic teachings from the Koran, hadith, and classical Muslim scholars’ thoughts are deviated to be a reason of perpetrating violence and discrimination against women. Islam and Muslim community in Indonesia have great potentials in upholding women’s rights. Both clarification of the deviation and misinterpretation and the actualization of these potentials insist efforts to reconstruct religious perspectives toward more progressive and liberal views.
An important phase of my earlier involvement in Islamic feminist issues was when 1998 with other students in the university, I introduced the initiative to conduct a research on Islamic universities female students’ gender awareness. The research observed the influences of Islamic views and the method of learning in Islamic universities to female students’ perspectives on women’s issues. In this regard, this research is important since it exposed how Islamic teachings were used to create gender biases and how Islamic educations became a source of institutions in producing Islamic-based gender biases. Therefore, the research implemented the idea of critical religious views in order to reconstruct understanding and interpretation of Islamic teachings toward more gender sensitive perspectives. The research found an important fact that the process of learning Islam in Islamic universities played a significant role in causing gender biases within female students of the universities. Additionally, the research provided an evidence of the influence of religious misinterpretation in developing biases and stereotypes. Hence, to some extent, the information resulting from the research is important as a basis of action to approach Islamic teachings as a foundation of social movements to change Muslims’ perspectives on women’s rights.
For my personal career in women’s issues, the research played a crucial role in strengthening my academic interests and social sensitivities to deeper involved in women’s rights issues as a critical reflection of religiosity. I went to several activities related to feminist movements, including these were conducted by non governmental organizations, such as Kalyanmitra and Perhimpunan Pengembangan Pesantren dan Masyarakat (P3M) or the Union for the Pesantren (Islamic traditional schools) and Society Development. Finally, in 2001, six months after graduating from the university, I had a chance to be more actively involved in upholding progressive Islamic feminist agendas when I started working at PUAN Amal Hayati that was established by a number of academicians and activists from progressive Muslim links, such as Sinta Nuriyah Abdurrahman Wahid, Mansour Fakih, Husein Muhammad, Farha Ciciek and Badriyah Fayumi. I will address wider information about PUAN Amal Hayati and its importance in spreading progressive Islamic feminism in Indonesia in the next chapter.
On one hand, the involvement in PUAN Amal Hayati gave me wide opportunities to understand deeper the colors of progressive Muslim feminist groups in Indonesia. It gave a chance to have intimate interaction with Islamic-based groups and individuals promoting women’s rights based on Islamic perspectives. On the other hand, this involvement sharpened my progressive religious vision and led me to participate in several controversial issues for Muslims in Indonesia, such as homosexuality, women’s capability to lead multi gender prayer, critical approach against the Prophet’s polygamy, and critical views against religious leaders who prefer using Islamic teachings as a legitimacy of perpetrating violence against women. The reason of being a part of the discourse of these issues is that based on a religious understanding, I see Islam is a religion of justice and humanity and it is a religious deviation if a Muslim refers to Islamic teaching to legitimize violence and discrimination.
Many cases of violence against women, particularly domestic violence that I found when I worked at PUAN Amal Hayati increased my progressive orientation since several cases occurred in the name of religious teachings. Additionally, I sought that the use of Islamic teachings as a legitimacy of discrimination against women still pervasively existed within Muslim communities, including religious leaders as I found in pesantren. Some kyais or pesantren leaders appeared to show their gender biases since they viewed that it was based on Islamic teachings to do so. This situation indeed led me to think for being more religiously progressive.
At that time, I meant being more religiously progressive as a religious perspective viewing religious-based gender biases as a religious deviation as a result of religious conservatism that overwhelms religious thoughts of Muslims. Religious conservatism leads Muslim to taken-for-granted embrace religious thinking year-by-year without critical views and being aware to actual social problems. In a religious conservatism, Muslims prefer to blindly follow ancient Islamic traditions and Islamic thoughts produced by several classical Muslim scholars. Indeed, these classical Islamic thinking made in different cultural contexts with our contemporary social-cultural situations. It can be stated that religious conservatism estrange Muslims from critical and rational religious thought tradition that brought Islam as a symbol of civilization in a period of history of mankind. Additionally, religious conservative way of thinking hides the spirit of Islam as the religion of justice and humanity. Instead of providing solutions of several social problems, including discrimination against women, religious conservative Muslim groups often use Islamic teachings as foundation of violence. Therefore, progressive Islamic ideas are an epistemological and axiological foundation to reform religious conservatism to direct Muslims to be more contributive to solve problems of social inequalities. In progressive idea, Muslims are greatly eager to search for new creative Islamic views that can inspire them to participate in the process of upholding human’s rights and reducing discrimination and inequality. Finally, the involvements in women’s movement through PUAN Amal Hayati and the interactions with Muslim feminists at that period greatly influenced me to develop deeper understanding of religious progressivism.
It is important to mention that the target of critiques of progressive Muslim feminist groups is not only religious institutions, such as ‘ulama (Muslim clerics) but also State that appears to show the silent conspiracy when the government does not take important policies to eliminate violence and discrimination against women through the politics of religion. Instead of showing strong political will to reduce violence, the government often supports religious-based biases obscurely or silently. For instance, the government of Indonesia issued the Act No. 1/1974 on Marriage and Kompilasi Hukum Islam (KHI) or the Compilation of Islamic Law that formalize religious misinterpretation as legitimacy for discrimination against women. In this regard, the government is along with conservative Muslim groups to deviate Islamic teachings for violence and inequality. Another important example is when a member of the Indonesian House of Representatives from Partai Kebangkitan Bangsa (the National Awakening Party) was subjected of perpetrating serious domestic violence, the government did not take serious political and legal steps.
The event of Polygamy Award initiated by Puspo Wardoyo, a restaurant businessman who has four wives, to acknowledge and award national leaders from both governmental institutions and Muslim groups who were viewed as successful in polygamy really challenged my personal religious progressivism and shifted my orientation toward more social movements. On one hand, with this event, I view Puspo Wardoyo has declared his tendencies to religious-based discrimination against women in public spheres. Puspo Wardoyo used religion to legitimize his social insensitivity to the facts that several polygamy marriages created problems of violence and inequality against women. It is interesting to me that although Puspo Wardoyo does not have academic background of Islamic studies that gives him bigger authority to interpret Islamic teachings, he often referred to the Koran and the Prophet’s hadith as a basis of his actions. In this regard, it can be mentioned that the event of Polygamy Award emphasized that the problems of using Islamic teachings for violence is not only problem of religious understanding, but also problem of social insensitivity that encouraged me to be more involved in critical social movements as the expression of religious progressivism.
I want to end description of personal reflection in the journey of progressive Islamic idea with a story when I was interviewed to pursue scholarship from Ford Foundation. For me, this story shows an important portrait of being a progressive Muslim. An interviewer, Professor Mohammad Jacob from Gadjah Mada University, Yogyakarta, challenged me a question about polygamy. “What is your opinion if a woman finally chose to receive her husband’s polygamy based on her belief in Islam? Will you still force her to divorce or let her follow her belief?” The question was really challenging for a progressive religious perspective since, on one hand, this related to the use of Islamic teaching as a religious foundation for polygamy and, on the other hand, this also insisted my consistence to acknowledge freedom of thinking to honor people who have different religious view. I responded this question with an opinion that I have two obligations for the wife. First, I have to provide an adequate explanation that living in polygamy possibly causes violence and inequality against wife; and it is a misinterpretation of Islamic teaching that polygamy is acceptable for a Muslim. Second, if she still decides to accept her husband’s polygamy, it is my obligation to honor her decision in the name of freedom of thinking. Therefore, based on my personal reflection, being a progressive Muslim insists of efforts both to reconstruct new religious perspective and to respect different religious understanding.
