Javanese-Inspired Recitation
DURING the fasting month, conflicts and controversies are put aside. But one dispute, which reflects the two expressions of Islamone oriented to the Middle East and the other identifying itself with the Indonesian Archipelago (Nusantara)did not stop. The performance of Muhammad Yasser Arafat, a lecturer at the Sunan Kalijaga Islamic State University, who recited the first 15 verses of Chapter 23 of the Qur'an in the style of a Javanese song during a commemoration of the the Isra Mir'aj (the Prophet's Night Journey) at the State Palace on May 15, has led to a public debate full of political nuance.
The Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) organization, through the central board of its professional organization for Qur'an reciters and memorizers, the Jamiyyatul Qurra wal Hufadz, felt that this was permitted according to Islam, as long as it did not violate the rules for the proper recital of the Qur'an. When the four-day 33rd NU Conference in Jombang, East Java, was opened on August 1, it went with the theme of Islam in the Archipelago: 'Edifying Indonesian Islam for Indonesians and World Civilization'.
July 14, 2015
DURING the fasting month, conflicts and controversies are put aside. But one dispute, which reflects the two expressions of Islamone oriented to the Middle East and the other identifying itself with the Indonesian Archipelago (Nusantara)did not stop. The performance of Muhammad Yasser Arafat, a lecturer at the Sunan Kalijaga Islamic State University, who recited the first 15 verses of Chapter 23 of the Qur'an in the style of a Javanese song during
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