THE dissertation by Abdul Azis, a doctoral student of Interdisciplinary Islamic Studies in the postgraduate program at the Sunan Kalijaga State Islamic University (UIN), Yogyakarta, is a thesis that should be welcomed as putting forward a concept for an alternative idea. There is no need for the public to be angry, yet alone harassing the academic. The statement by the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) saying the dissertation was misguided is also o