Multicultural Type Of Da’wah: Abdurrahman Wahid On Islamic Transformation To Indonesian Multicultural

Abstract

This paper studies the thoughts of Abdurrahman Wahid (Gus Dur) who has a keen interest on the da'wah movement in Indonesia. According to Gus Dur, Indonesia whose very diverse background socially and culturally, needs a model of thought in paving the way of the Islamic transformation movements. For Gus Dur, the teachings of Islam must be implemented in such a friendly and tolerant manners. The Islamic moral enforcement activities, therefore according to him, ought to be carried out for the sake of all human beings and its entirety regardless of ethnicity, race, gender, and or particular groups.The transformation of Islam for him is the way how Islam is conveyed in a peaceful manner, without discrimination, not forcing one's will, and by all no means of violence. This study aims to see how the type of da'wah propagated by Gus Dur so that Islam can still thrive in the midst of the diversity of Indonesian society by which is multi-cultural. This da'wah thoughts were introduced by Gus Dur who was broadly known to have a very extensive and thorough understanding about the substance of Islamic teachings. Hence, this also demonstrates his concern to  keep Indonesian Muslims away from practicing the politic of identity that has re-emerged in the era of democratic transition.This paper utilizes a descriptive method, by using bibliographic sources from most of Gus Dur's works and various research works on Gus Dur's thoughts and movements written by several researchers. As the results, it is concluded that Gus Dur strongly opposed any attempts and efforts to formalize Islam because this method was considered to be abandoning the important pillars of the life of the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia, whose people are multi-cultural. This form of transformation efforts put Gus Dur's da'wah type in the category of the Multicultural Da'wah Type.