"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"
 

 

 

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 untukmengisi 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".

o Jesus

"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 ganna 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.

o 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.

"Do you know that Abraham had two sons?" tanya saya.
Anak -anak itu tidak ada yang tahu. Gurunya yang menjawab.
"Yes, they were Isaac and Ishmael."

Di papan tulis, saya buat chart, Abraham: Isaac +
Ishmael. Dari Isaac saya turunkan: Moses + Jesus; dari Ishmael
saya turunkan Muhammad. Pada Moses saya beri tanda "David
Star",pada Jesus saya beri tanda "Cross", pada Muhammad saya
beri tanda "Bulan Sabit."

Dari situ saya mulai masuk informasi tentang Islam.
Kepada kelas, saya tunjukkan hubungan antara
Islam-Kristen-Jahudi. Saya tunjukkan kepada kelas, itulah serangkaian "the Teaching of God". God memberikan Torah kepada Moses, Gospel kepada Jesus, dan Qur'an kepada Muhammad. Teaching itu diturunkan untuk menuntun manusia supaya bisa kembali ke Heaven. "If you read Bible, any good teaching you find in it, you will also find it in the Koran," kata saya. "The only
major differences between Christianity and Islam are that
Christian see Jesus as the Savior, we -muslim- see him just as a
Prophet. And we respect him. And that we -muslim- do not
believe in the sin for newly born baby. All babies are born
innocent, in Islam." Saya tidak menjelaskan bahwa Islam tak mengenal konsep Trinitas.Menurut saya, konsep itu terlalu komplek
untuk diangkat buat anak-anak kelas 6 SD. Menurut saya, cukuplah buat mereka jika mereka tahu bahwa Islam dan Kristen-Jahudi itu berasal dari the same root .Dan, moral teaching yang didapati di Bible juga ada di al Qur'an.

o 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  g angs?" 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 905 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
heppening 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 [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=

--------------------------------------------
Usman Kris Joko Suharjo
Dept. of Applied Ecology and Environmental Sciences
University of Maine
Deering Hall, Orono, ME 04469
USA
phn: 207-866-5935
fax: 207-581-2999 [off]
207-866-5935 [home]
Email: Usman.Suharjo@Umit.Maine.Edu