Percakapan Antara Intelektual Islam dengan 6th Grade

Sekarang banyak berita seperti ini di Amerika sejak Sep 11, 2001 lalu. Tumbuh banyak keingintahuan masyarakat Amerika tentang Islam, muslim, jihad dan peperangan/kekerasan, setelah pemerintah Amerika fokus pada teroris bukan pada islam dan muslim.
Ini kita dengar dari teman-teman mesjid di Indonesia Community di NY dan termasuk Imam/Ustadz (Syamsi Ali). Beliau ini sekarang lagi laku keras diminta hadir dan berbicara di acara peringatan Sep 11 di komunitas non-muslim, baik oleh pemerintah NY, komunitas kristen maupun media seperti TV berbincang dengan pendeta (kristen) maupun rabbi (yahudi).

Pak Syamsi sempat diminta melantunkan ayat qur’an di Yankee Giant Stadium dalam acara remembrance yang dilakukan NY state ada walikota NY dan gubernur NY juga; semua pimpinan agama yang ada didunia hadir, semua channel meliput acara ini waktu itu. Banyak – dalam arti dulu sama sekali enggak ada atau sangat sedikit – acara atau artikel tentang islam yang disajikan dengan lurus enggak
bengkak bengkok, kecuai CNN kali ya….Oprah Show juga meliput Islam dan muslim.

Memang demikianlah masyarakat amerika, kadang kita harus bedakan antara masyarakatnya dengan pemerintah nya Amerika. Coba juga lihat amazon.com, lihat 100 best seller. Banyak buku
tentang yang disebut diatas terjual, termasuk Al Qur’an terjemahan.
Minggu lalu sempat mereka kehabisan stok untuk The Qur’an, mungkin enggak kira kali ya?
Mungkin ini kayak hikmah namun dengan harga nyawa yang sangat mahal.

Assalamu’alaikum Wr.Wb.
salam sejahtera,

Siang tadi, pukul 12:45 -01.45, saya dan tiga orang dari Muslim Student Association [MSA], University of Maine diminta berbicara tentang Islam di hadapan anak-anak kelas 7-8, dan kelas 6.

Sejak peristiwa Sept 11, MSA kebanjiran permintaan untuk mengisi satu jam mata pelajarang “Social Studies” di beberapa sekolah. Tahun lalu, beberapa High School meminta Asian Student Association
bicara tentang South East Asia pada mata kuliah yang sama. Tahun lalu, saya bicara tentang Indonesia di beberapa HSs.

Tahun ini agak beda dengan tahun lalu. Guru pengarah menekankan kepada kami –MSA– agar dapat memberikan gambaran tentang Islam, kaitannya dengan Kristen, dan bagaimana Islam melihat kasus Sept 11.

Karena murid yang hadir itu masih sangat kanak-kanak [kelas 6 SD, hingga 2 SMP] maka kami harus memilih metode yg pas agar mereka mudah memahaminya. Saya dan Reza [juga dari Indonesia] kebagian anak-anak sixth Graders. Kammal [Egytptian] dan Hussein [Lebanese] kebagian 7th+8th
graders.

Saya mulai dengan pertanyaan siapa yang mengenal “Adam and Eve”. Hampir semua anak tunjuk jari. Pertanyaan selanjutnya, “Siapa yang tahu di mana Adam and Eve berada?”
Salah seorang siswa menjawab “In the garden of Eden”.
“What happened to them?” tanya saya mengejar.
“They ate the forbidden fruits,” jawab salah seorang siswi.
“What next?”
“They were expelled from the Garden of Eden.”
“Why?” tanya saya. Tidak ada yang menjawab. Saya lanjutkan, “Because they disobeyed God.” Anak-anak mengangguk-angguk mengiyakan.

“Do you know where will we go after we die?” tanya saya selanjutnya. Salah seorang siswi mengacungkan tangan, “We’re gonna go to the Heaven.”

“Are you sure?” tanya saya selanjutnya. “What make you think we will go to the Heaven?”
Anak-anak itu looked puzzled. Ketika saya minta tunjuk jari untuk bicara, tak ada yang angkat tangan.

“Yeah, we are sure that we’re going to go to the Heaven -when die- because we are good people. Because we follow the teaching of God.”

Mendengar apa yang saya katakan, anak-anak itu pada menarik nafas lega. “Now, what is the teaching of God?” tanya saya. Anak-anak itu tengok kanan-tengok kiri.

Saya pun melemparkan umpan. “Siapa yang mengenal Jesus.” Hampir seluruh kelas [nearly 40 murids] mengacungkan jari.
“Siapa yang rajin ke gereja?” tanya saya. Hanya beberapa yang mengacungkan tangan. Beberapa anak yang tak mengacungkan tangan berbisik “I used to”.

“Yang diajarkan Jesus itulah the teaching of God,” kata saya.
“If you want to go the the Heaven, as a Christian, you should study what Jesus teaches, understand them, dan follow them.”

Beberapa anak menggut-manggut, beberapa anak hanya nyengir kuda. Saya tak mengapa mereka meringis. Yang manggut-manggut itu anak-anak yang tadi tunjuk jari, ketika saya tanya siapa
yang rajin ke gereja.

Moses
Saya tanya siapa yang mengenal Moses, hanya beberapa orang yg angkat tangan. Tapi ketika saya tanya “The Ten Commandment”, semua anak tunjuk jari. Saya naik, nanya siapa yang mengenal
Abe [Abraham]. Hampir semuanya tunjuk jari.

Islam
“If the Islamic teachings are just like the Christian teaching, then, why some muslim do bad thing, like the Sept 11 -supposed the people who did it were Mr. Laden and his gangs?” tanya saya selanjutnya.
Memasuki daerah ini, anak-anak mulai rame. Mereka pada tunjuk jari ingin mengajukan pertanyaan. Tapi guru pengarahnya minta mereka bersabar, agas saya dapat selesaikan ‘speech’ yg akan selesai sekitar lima menit lagi.

“The truth is I don’t know why some people do bad things. What I could tell you, though… Islam forbids the killing of innocent people.”
“So, what happened last Sept 11 was totally wrong. There is no teaching in Islam to justify that action. And, I believe those who did it should be brought to justice.”

“I also ask you to remember this…please, make distinction between the guy who did bad things from the teahing of their religions. There are some bad guys out there, and they could be Moslems or Christians. There also some good guys out there which happen to be Moslems or Christians, like you
and I.”

Itulah pengantar ‘speech’ yang saya sampaikan kurang lebih dalam dua belas menit. Waktu selanjutnya, adalah tanya jawab. Pertanyaannya buanyaaaaaak sekali. Baik tentang Indonesia, Islam, maupun September 11. Reza dan saya team up menjawab pertanyaan murid-murid dan guru pengarah. Gurunya ada empat orang. Saya tak bisa tulis semua pertanyaan itu, di bawah ini hanya saya sampaikan beberapa yang relevan dengan topik-nya “Islam and September 11.”

Pertanyaan:
Q: “Why did they do the September 11?” tanya salah seorang siswi.
A: “I don’t really know. And, I don’t want to make any judgement on this. Let’s wait what the FBI find out.”

Q: “Do you know the guys who did it? You’re moslem.”
A: “Yes I am a moslem. But, I don’t know them. What I know about them is based on what the media told us.”

Q: “Does Sept 11. have a special meaning in Islam?”
A: “Not that I know off. To tell you the truth, The Sept 11 is nothing to do with Islam.”

Q: “Do you pray before going to bed? and how?”
A: “We pray when doing anything good, like eating, studying, taking a bath, helping friends, and going
to bed. My prayer before going to bed is very simple, ‘God, please take care everything while I am
dead during my sleep. And, if you decide to take me tonight, please bring me to the Heaven.’
Other than that, we have an obligatory prayer, which is done five times a day.”

Q: “Do the women in Islam have to wear veil?” tanya salah seorang siswi sambil memperagakan,
pakaian wanita Arab yang hanya nampak matanya.
A: “Veil is a must in Islam. There is verse in the Koran about that. But, you have to differentiate
between culture and the teaching of Islam. The veil in Islam is like when you see a nun in the
church. All body, except face and your palms, is covered.”

Q: “Are all Arab are moslems?” tanya seorang Guru.
A: “Not all Arab are moslems. Some Arabs are Christians like Khalil Gibran, some are Jewish, or else.
Likewise, not all moslems are Arab. Almost 90{45db7a4250496fb5191597f6ce00b71a11d6d5f29d767412b57a54f3e1a092ac} of Indonesians are moslems, and there are about
210 M of Indonesians.”

Q: “Do you people of Indonesia also have holiday for Chiristmas and Easter?”
A: “We do have those. We also have a holliday for other religious holidays, like for the Hindus, Budhists,
and of course for the Islamic holidays.”

Q: “How did you react when you saw the Sept 11.?” tanya bu guru.
A: “I was angry, sad, and terrified. My first thought was the world is no longer safe. If they could do it
here, in the USA, they could do it anywhere else. I was angry at the guy who did the brutal action.
I was sad for knowing there would be lots of life loss. Children lost their dads or moms, husband
lost their wives, wives lost their love ones. We should take an action to prevent thing like this from
happening in the future.”

Q: “How does Islam see women. Are women alloed to work or to go to school?” tanya bu guru lain
merefer to situasi di Afghanistan.
A: “In Islam, women do not have to work. It’s the responsibility of the husband to support the family. If
the women happen to have a job, the money belong to her. The husband can not touch that
money. It’s up to the women to spend the money. However, if she decide to spend the money for
the family, she will get the reward from God. I would like to make a point here. In the eye of
religion, it’s okay for the women do not work. But, if the husband do not go to work, it’s considered
a sinner. He do not fulfill his responsibility. So, women are not forbidden to work.
Islam does not forbid women to get education. There in no teaching in the book…Koran.. or the
tradition of the Prophet forbiding women from getting education. They don’t have to work, yes, but
to raise children, we need smart moms too.” [audience tertawa..]

I don’t know what is the reason for women in Afghanistan were not allowed to work or go to
school. I have read some information about that too in www.RAWA.org, http://www.rawa.org/[saya
menulis di papan]. I have also read the speech one of Thaliban leader in California last March.

He said, in the beginning of Thaliban administration, women are indeed not allowed to work and go to
school. The reason was the situation was too dangerous for women to go out, because every
man had a gun, and tribal rivalry was still high. But, after Thaliban disarmed the people, now,
women go to work, and girl are going to school. And Thaliban just open medical school in every
province, most of the students are girl. [saya juga menambahkan, siswa laki-laki dan perempuan
dipisahkan, demikian juga dengan pekerja laki-laki dan perempuan; It’s just like in Iran].

Q: “Do all women in Indonesia wear veil?” tanya seorang siswi.
A: “Not all of them.”
Q: “Why?”
A: “I don’t know. It’s just like in Christianity, not all Christians follow the teaching of Jesus.”

Q: “You said that it’s about 6 M of moslems are Americans.”
A: “Yes about that number. And four thousands of them are serving in the military. They become
moslem right after they get contact with Islam either during or after the Gulf War, and when they
were sent to Somalia.”
[itulah sebagian pertanyaan yang saya ingat baik di dalam kelas maupun di luar kelas setelah speech; kepada para Guru saya tinggalkan fotocopy tulisan:
-Karen Armstrong “The True, Peaceful Face of Islam” [Time]
-Ira Rifkin “One Nation, Under Islam” [Time]
-Charless Kimball “Q&A: Islamic Fundamentalism” [Christian Science Monitor]

Wassalam,
=Usman Maine=
“Lord opens
our eyes to see what is beautiful, or
our minds to know what is true, or
our hearts to love what is good”
——————————————–
Usman Kris Joko Suharjo
Email: Usman.Suharjo@Umit.Maine.Edu

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