Religious Anthropocentrism

Name: Religious Anthropocentrism
Uploaded: 2018-07-04T05:34:05Z
Duration: 20 min 32 s
Description: A series of suicide bombings in Surabaya and Sidoarjo as well as the violence carried out by terrorism prisoners at the penitentiary in the Brimob Headquarters represent the theocentric religious profile, which at the same time ignore the religious anthropocentrism dimension.

A series of suicide bombings in Surabaya and Sidoarjo as well as the violence carried out by terrorism prisoners at the penitentiary in the Brimob Headquarters represent the theocentric religious profile, which at the same time ignore the religious anthropocentrism dimension.

Masdar Hilmy

· 5 minutes read

A series of suicide bombings in Surabaya and Sidoarjo ahead of Ramadhan, as well as the violence terrorism inmates instigated at the detention center of the Mobile Brigade (Brimob) headquarters in Depok, West Java, represent a theocentric religious profile that, at the same time, neglects the dimension of religious anthropocentrism.

Imagining (the hand) of God behind the perpetrators’ motives not only lowers humans as a religious subject and humanitarian values, but also renders religious life meaningless. However, religious anthropocentrism in this context must be distinguished from anthropocentrism as an eco-theological concept.

As is commonly known, many scientists view the cause of environmental damage as the dominance of anthropocentrism in religion (Gotlieb, 2006; Boddice, 2011). More precisely, the exploitation of natural resources and the environment is directly proportional to efforts made to satisfy human libidinal desires based on human hedonism and pragmatism.

Paradox of religiosity

Of course, acts of violence that have a religious aspect must be placed in the perspective of the value of religion’s use, benefits and advantages for human life. This dimension is often absent from the imaginings of theocentric people (read: terrorists) in their religiousity. They interpret religious worship and faith merely from the perspective of "satisfying divine desires" while ignoring their usefulness for human beings (anthropocentrism).

In the language of religion, the concept of worship is interpreted narrowly as an effort to make God "happy" through various ritualistic activities (vertical worship/mahdlah). Meanwhile, doing good to fellow human beings (horizontal worship/ghayru mahdlah) is not included as part of worship. For terrorists, making God "happy" is an absolute, even though it must be done in a way that ignores humanitarian values or spills the blood of fellow human beings.

Therefore, terrorists call suicide bombs amaliyah istisyhadiyah, which carries the value of worship (mahdlah). Mentioning of suicide bombings in this context applies only to anthropocentric people. In carrying out suicide bombings, the acts are designed to defend or assist God against His enemies, that is, people of a different faith. In their imaginings, God could "lose" to His enemies, especially if no Muslims are there to help Him.

At a glance, these violent terrorist acts appear to comply with the instructions of religion and God. However, the terrorists’ concept of divinity is of course full of paradoxes.

First, has God not created religion so that human life is ordered, peaceful and prosperous (called rahmatan lil alamin in Islamic terminology)? In Islam, eliminating a single life is considered equal to eliminating all humanity on earth. This means religion greatly values and upholds the sanctity of life.

Second, God is positioned as weak, so that He needs help or to be defended. Such a concept of the divine is contrary to God that is Almighty, Mighty, All-Sufficient and Supreme. In Islam, theocentric people’s concept of the divine is the opposite of God as defined in the 99 al-asma al-husna (the names of God).

Third, worship is separated from human beings and humanity. This concept of worship follows the concept of devotion in the sense of offerings and sacrifices. In fact, anthropocentric worship requires worship to be useful and to benefit the perpetrators. Human beings need to worship not because God needs to be worshipped, but because every aspect of worship is useful, benefits and poses advantages for human beings.

Religious humanism

In this context, let us criticize the model of theocentric religiosity in our religious landscape: Are our rituals entirely separate from the human beings and humanity? Do prayers, fasting, zakat and alms, for example, have no relevance or significance for human values? Does worship as a whole imply the destruction of humanity? Such a reflection is important because theocentric religiosity tends to annihilate human beings and universal human values (humanism).

Islam possesses many key concepts that imply the importance of human existence and universal human values. The primary concept is advantage and benefits that connote the usefulness of every religious teaching, including mahdlah worship, for human beings. The various prohibitions (such as banning alcohol) are not solely because God desires the prohibition, but because the objects contain mafsadat (harm).

It is likewise with other prohibitions such as eating corpses and drinking (human) blood. Many Muslims understand these bans only from a theocentric perspective; that they are prohibited simply because God forbids them. In fact, these prohibitions are very close in concept to humanistic religiosity: respecting God for His human characteristics. God forbids human beings from eating corpses because He respects them. The same applies to the prohibition on drinking blood, because God sanctifies it.

The other key concept is al-dhaririyat al-khams (five tenets) in religious life as Al-Shatibi (w 790H) formulated in Al-Muwafaqat fi Ushul al-Shari\'ah: nurturing religion, nurturing the soul, nurturing reason, nurturing offsprings and nurturing property. Scholars of Islamic law frequently mention these five tenets as maqashid al-shari\'ah, or the goals of establishing Islamic law, that human beings are the subjects of religion. Unfortunately, the way of theocentric followers does not incorporate humanity and human values as an integral part of every act of worship. For them, worship is the devotion, offerings or sacrifices people give to God. As a consequence, this kind of religiosity tends to ignore the sacredness of the soul and life, two important aspects – other than human beings – that compose the tripod of religion.

Therefore, it can be understood that perpetrators of radicalist and terrorist violence include those who are very devout in their worship (mahdlah). Abdullah bin Muljam, who murdered Ali\'s friend, is said to be a very devout Muslim who had memorized the Quran! Consequently, theocentric religiosity occurs because such people imagine God\'s interests vis-à-vis human interests, which should never meet.

As Ramadhan passes, this is the greatest blessing behind the forms of worship that Allah has prescribed for Muslims: religious anthropocentrism; that human interests and God\'s interests are not mutually separate, but that the two are one and the same.

Masdar Hilmy, Social Sciences Professor and Rector of Sunan Ampel State Islamic University, Surabaya

Editor:

Masdar Hilmy anthropocentrism religious anthropocentrism religious life