CORAK PEMIKIRAN TEOLOGI ISLAM (STUDI KASUS PADA TOKOH AGAMA DI BENGKULU UTARA)

Background: Mosques are the most holy places in the eyes of Allah-Exalted and Glorified, and the religious mosque leaders (Khateebs) who read 15-20 minutes Khutbah prior to Friday Prayers have great knowledge in religion of Islam and are considered the peace-building leaders through delivering the pertinent Friday sermons around the world.
 Objective: This online consenting cross-sectional survey explored the mental health awareness, perceptions, attitudes and practices of Khateebs of Riyadh region, Saudi Arabia.
 Methods: This survey used 14-items self-designed culturally competitive questionnaire and sociodemographic proforma to tap religious mosque leaders’ knowledge, perceptions, practices and attitude towards mental health.
 Results: Majority of mosque leaders were middle aged with higher education and extensive experience as a model of true interlocutor (Khateeb). Their knowledge and practices revealed were replete with religious and spiritual healing approaches but religious mosque leaders did not completely overlook the role of psychiatric medications and mental health professionals in the management of mentally ill persons. However, religious mosque leaders showed some negative attitudes towards patients with mental disorders, and recommended 10 corrective guides including integration of mosques and religious leaders into mental health system.
 Conclusion: Despite mosque leader’s good mental health literacy, they need further training to plug certain loopholes traced in their mental health literacy. Researchers should conduct further similar research overcoming the caveats of this survey not only in Saudi Arabia but also globally in Muslim world.

Muslim personal law (MPL) has been a controversial issue in South Africa. Proponents of it becoming legalized in South Africa, say that women would be handed benefits which they do not have because their marriages lack legal recognition. Women lack support from theological bodies which are largely male dominated. These bodies have been accused of adopting a conservative view of Islam and of wanting to maintain the patriarchal status quo. It can be argued that such views are culturally and structurally violent, as they lead to direct violence, as women are denied important resources such as divorce which could be legally ratified in a court where MPL is recognized. Religious leaders who are against MPL, are in a state of 'hysteresis' as Bourdieu would say. Theological bodies, on the other hand, state that MPL cannot be intertwined with secular laws that are contrary to Shariah (Islamic law). They criticize the clergy who were in favor of MPL becoming legalized. My doctoral research focused on religious leaders' views of domestic violence experienced by Muslim women. Using a qualitative research methodology, their views were obtained, using in-depth interviews. Thereafter, their opinions were organized in the form of themes. One of the core themes that emerged from the data, was Muslim religious leaders' views on MPL. In conjunction with the literature, it was found that there are religious leaders against the legalization of MPL and those who favor MPL becoming legalized.

It is worth repeating: “life begins at conception” is a religious, not scientific, concept

The views of Somali religious leaders on birth spacing – A qualitative study

Bengkulu Province is an area that according to a survey by the National Counterterrorism Agency (BNPT) in 2017 has the highest potential for radicalism in Indonesia. The BNPT data is quite surprising because Bengkulu province has never been recorded as a place of radicalism and terrorism. This research explores the causes of religious groups that are considered radical in Bengkulu province. The method used in this research is qualitative with a case study approach. The results of the study provide the fact that there is a growing discourse in society that creates the image of SS s as a radical group in North Bengkulu and Rejang Lebong districts. The SS label as a group that adheres to radicalism can be explained from two perspectives. First, from the internal side, this group lives exclusively and does not interact intensely with the surrounding community. This exclusive life makes the perspectives, attitudes and behavior of SS group members differ from those of society. Differences in viewpoints, attitudes and actions become the embryo for conflicts with the surrounding community, especially in terms of beliefs. Meanwhile, from the second point of view, the surrounding community has also labeled the SS group as adherents of radicalism without knowing what the meaning and limitations of radicalism itself are. The role of the mass media in reporting on radical groups with several easily recognizable symbols such as robes, veils and beards also influences people's perceptions of the SS groups around them. This condition was further strengthened by the labeling carried out by several religious and community leaders who were used as references to portray SS groups. The label and image of radicalism in the end make the SS group's relationship with the surrounding community social distancing and foster stereotypes and prejudice.
 Keywords: exclusivity, label, prejudice, radicalism, Bengkulu

The school of Kalam science and its respective main points of thought. Kalam science, or Islamic theology, is a scientific discipline that discusses Islamic beliefs using rational methods and logical argumentation. This article discusses various schools in Kalam Science and their respective main points of thought. Some of the main schools in Kalam Science include:• Mu'tazilah: Mu'tazilah believed that the human mind is capable of understanding Islamic teachings rationally and that human actions are free. • Asy'ariyah: Asy'ariyah believes that human reason needs to be assisted by revelation to understand Islamic teachings and that human actions are not completely free. • Maturidiyah: Maturidiyah believes that human reason has an important role in understanding Islamic teachings, but revelation remains the main source knowledge.• Salafiyah: Salafiyah believes that the main source of Islamic knowledge is the Koran and Hadith, and that the use of reason in understanding religion must be limited. This article explains the differences in views between these schools in various theological aspects, such as the nature of God, free will, and destiny.

Women’s limited access to top positions has become of particular interest in the last two decades. A small number of studies bring institutional barriers, attitudes and values in Arab countries into focus. Mostly they emphasize a functionalist perspective of religion as a structural principle; notably Islam is seen as a prevailing, if not as the foremost symbolic resource in Arab societies. Without neglecting the social relevance of religion in the Middle East, for example as an instrument of power maintenance, this article questions the notion of religion as an all-encompassing cultural value pool. Instead, culture is introduced as a pivotal frame of meaning providing individual action and thinking with basic orientation. I assume that these meaning patterns shape the forms of religious participation and leadership, the basis of their legitimacy as well as the direction of their transformation. This will be sketched by means of Arab Christian women in selected Middle Eastern countries. The central question is which meaning patterns are shaping the power structures in the religious field of Middle Eastern societies and how far do they leave a margin for a change of its gendered constitution? The article discusses this by means of Christian women’s religious authority in Middle Eastern churches. This will be done against the background of a qualitative data. This material sheds light on the generative principles of social interpretation and cognition in the religious sub-segment of Middle Eastern churches including culturally framed notions of religious authority and spiritual leadership. Like in Islam, this religious segment is contingent on a specific power structure between the institutionalized theological leaders and the community. Nevertheless, I suppose that Arab Christian women have started to challenge the institutionalised system of power relations. The hypothesis is that a critical reconstruction of gender inequality is invented precisely through the lens of the dominant web of meaning. While these orientation patterns ensure social coherence, they simultaneously form the cognitive background for a challenge of authority structures. They are the starting point for women’s growing aspirations towards participation in religious leadership. Keywords: Arab modernity, gender hierarchy, power relations, religion

Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans gender, Intersex, Queer plus is an emerging social issue in Nepal. Still Nepalese society has hardly accepted the issue yet. There might be various reasons; this concept has not earned priority in current social structure. Social structures are guided by the religious belief and practice. Religious leaders’ hold the governing positions to construct the perception of society. For the reason, it aims to explore the perception of religious leaders towards LGBTIQ. The religious leaders from Hindus (Sanatana Dharma), Buddhist, Islam and Christian around Kathmandu valley were selected as the respondents of the research. Qualitative data were collected through in-depth interview. In their own worshipping places through field visit. Respondents felt uneasy on the topic though they preferred to explain the good features of the religion rather than the issue. Hindus claimed that they respect third gender as the grace of the god, though they believe that it is against the rule and nature constructed by the god. Similarly, the devotees of Buddhism take oath to follow the ‘Eight-Fold-Path’ as their guideline which consist the five precepts. The Christians consider sexuality to be a divine gift, though it ignores the sexual orientation of LGBTIQ and there are significant disagreements among the Christian community in Nepal. Islamic faith is controlled by holy Quran, which does not give permission for unnatural sex. Though, in the holy text, the story of Luth is mentioned to aware the devotees from the sinful act performed by LGBTIQ. Though, the religious leader accepted the biological features of the LGBTIQ but they denied the sexual activities they perform or express. They perceive it as a sinful act of previous life. Moreover, they believe that the lesbian, gay issues were mostly influenced by western culture and the advancement of the modern technologies. Thus, the religion guided structure of Nepal left behind to address the LGBTIQ to struggle for decades to achieve the rights in the country.

Since the modern age the attacks against faith and religious belief have been raised. One of the major arguments against the existence of God who is described in theistic religious holy books as Almighty and all loving God come in terms of suffering in human life and the presence of evil in the world created by God. The challenge according to the critics against the religious life and faith is how a believer can be considered rational in his faith while there are many suffering in human life and evil in the world. The aim of this paper is to deal with this challenge and the solution is given on the basis of Islamic teachings. There are different responses for this challenge both in Islamic theology and Christian theology. This research is limited to Quranic teachings and the main claim as one possible response and defense for the presence of evil in human life is to point out that evil plays a main role in provoking inborn knowledge of God in human nature. Keywords - life, inborn, faith, Quran, evil

This article tries to identify in depth about the ontology of science, the epistemology of science, and the axiology of science. In reviewing the three, here tries to display the ontology of science, epistemology of science, and the science of axiology in the perspective of Islamic education. This becomes important to be studied in the realm of Islamic education because it has differences with ontology, epistemology, and axiology studies in other studies. Ontologies in Islamic education try to bring education to know about the nature of everything that is the goal of Islamic education, which is to know the nature of God. In the study epistemology is directed to understand the source of science. Of course, in this case the source of Islamic knowledge is different from the source of knowledge in general. For this reason in this study the Islamic epistemology, especially in Islamic education, tries to provide an explanation of the sources of knowledge in Islamic education which is certainly different from the source of education in general. The axiology of Islamic education in this study is the last to try to see the value of Islamic education as a whole. The aim is to find answers to the uses and values ​​inherent in the context of Islamic education.

The UN System and Religious Actors in the Context of Global Change Josef Boehle Introduction Past political efforts of achieving large‐scale global systemic change have been successful if they have been rooted in and supported by large alliances of non‐governmental and civil society organizations. The examples of the movements for banning land mines and for the establishment of an International Criminal Court, the Jubilee 2000 campaign and the Make Poverty History campaign are some of the more recent examples. The fall of the Berlin Wall in Germany caused by a grassroots citizen movement, supported by Christian communities in the former East Germany, as well as the Solidarnosc trade union movement supported by the Catholic Church in Poland, are among the best known examples of recent history where citizen movements and religious actors joint forces. Given that the pre‐eminent global forum, where regular interactions of NGOs, transnational civil society networks and governments take place is the UN System and given the importance of citizen movements and religious actors for sustainable global change, a closer look at how civil society and religious actors engage with the UN System can make an important contribution both to analysis and strategic planning when responding to contemporary global challenges. In this article, I will look at religious actors in the wider context of global civil society and in the context of the UN System, then look at the pioneering programs for engaging with religious actors that have been developed within UNESCO, and finally reflect on the crucial contribution that religious actors are making to development cooperation and the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Alliances between grassroots movements, non‐profit organizations, religious communities, and spiritual organizations, supported by religious and spiritual leaders, can have an immense global impact. The Jubilee 2000 debt relief campaign for poor countries is one example of such an alliance across a great diversity of participating groups that had won the support of many religious leaders and communities. Other less well‐known examples of the influence of global movements of religious NGOs are, for example, the participation of religious and spiritual organizations in the UNESCO led Global Movement for a Culture of Peace and the support of religious and spiritual organizations for the 2001‐2010 UN Decade for a Culture of Peace and Non‐violence for the Children of the World (Boehle, 2001, p. 217–218). NGOs often start the initial initiatives that result years later in changes in national and international law, in (re)forming international values and norms, and in (re)shaping international institutions and their programs. For example, seen from a long‐term perspective, it can be argued that it was the over 100‐years‐old international interreligious movement with its countless events and activities throughout the last century that prepared the ground for the major international interreligious events during the last decade like the Millennium World Peace Summit held in New York in 2000 or the “High‐level Dialogue on Interreligious and Intercultural Understanding and Cooperation for Peace” of the UN General Assembly in 2007 (http://www.un.org/ga/president/62/issues/hld-interreligious.shtml). The “Millennium World Peace Summit” (28–31 August 2000) brought together more than 1,000 senior religious, spiritual, and indigenous leaders from over 50 countries at the UN to address together major world problems and increase interreligious understanding and cooperation (Boehle, Josef 2001, p. 230ff). In Development and Faith, a book of case studies from around the world of religious organizations engaging with development and peace issues, Marshall and van Saanen point to the Millennium World Peace Summit and its impact: Yet since that meeting in 2000, faith groups have steadily intensified their engagement in the MDG framework, and religious actors are now poised to play even more significant roles. The major areas of engagement include national, regional, and global advocacy and mobilization around the MDGs; implementing specific programs to help fulfill them; and monitoring progress. (Marshall and van Saanen, 2007, p. 24) More recently, a major global event was the “High‐level Dialogue on Interreligious and Intercultural Understanding and Cooperation for Peace” (4, 5, and 8 October 2007), the first formal high‐level session of the UN...

In recent years, we see religion playing a leading role in some communities, and an important factor in people’s lives. Iran is dominated by the Muslim religion and the character of the country is strongly marked by Islam. In rural areas, where the majority of the population resides, religious leaders are considered as opinion makers. Therefore, identifying those behaviours is important. The theory of planned behaviour is a psychological model that has been used to understand behavioural beliefs and to provide a framework for using those beliefs as intervention targets. The aim of this study was to determine the behaviour of religious leaders participating in agricultural educational programmes (AEPs) in Iran. A survey research approach was chosen to collect data from 260 religious leaders selected using a random simple sampling method. Multiple regression analysis was used to predict the variables effect on behaviour. The findings revealed that religious leaders have high intention to participate in AEPs. The results also provided an expanded understanding of the factors that shaped these religious leaders behaviour towards participation in AEPs and the implications of these findings are discussed.

There can be little doubt that without Spinoza, German Idealism would have been just as impossible as it would have been without Kant. Yet the precise nature of Spinoza's influence on the German Idealists has hardly been studied in detail. This volume of essays by leading scholars sheds light on how the appropriation of Spinoza by Fichte, Schelling and Hegel grew out of the reception of his philosophy by, among others, Lessing, Mendelssohn, Jacobi, Herder, Goethe, Schleiermacher, Maimon and, of course, Kant. The volume thus not only illuminates the history of Spinoza's thought, but also initiates a genuine philosophical dialogue between the ideas of Spinoza and those of the German Idealists. The issues at stake - the value of humanity; the possibility and importance of self-negation; the nature and value of reason and imagination; human freedom; teleology; intuitive knowledge; the nature of God - remain of the highest philosophical importance today.

My rst task, before launching into a discussion about the motives underlying acts of violence that, in peacetime, rise to the level of evil-is to offer my denition of “evil.” Throughout long periods in our history, the term evil remained the preserve of religion and philosophy-often enough of men who were religious leaders and philosophers at the same time, such as St. Augustine, St. Thomas Aquinas, Maimonides, Pierre Bayle, Spinoza and in our day, Reinhold Niebuhr. One of the most vexing religio-philosophic problems in the Judeo-Christian tradition was to answer the question: Why a good God permits the existence of evil? The answer was provided during the Enlightenment period by Leibniz, who coined the term theodicy-in which he attempted to reconcile the traditional view of God as omnipotent and benevolent with the obvious existence of suffering and evil in the world. Leibniz’s 1710 essay was a responsum, in effect, to an earlier work by the Calvinist Pierre Bayle (1647-1706) in his 1696 commentary on evil. Bayle’s criticisms, reminiscent of Epicurus’ writings two millennia earlier, were framed as follows: “God is either willing to remove evil and cannot; or He can and is unwilling; or He is neither willing nor able to do so; or else, He is both willing and able.” Bayle continues: “If He is willing and not able, then He must be weak-but that cannot be afrmed of God. If he is able and not willing, He must be envious-which is contrary to the nature of God. If he is neither willing nor able, He must be both envious and weak. If he is both willing and able-which is the only possibility that agrees with the nature of God as benevolent and omnipotent-then where does evil come from?” Bayle continued to believe in the divinity of Christ, whom he regarded as important for His moral example and His message of toleration. A radical thinker in his day, Bayle opposed the notion that unbelief led to immorality, since from what he could observe, there were many believers who were in no way deterred from cruel and destructive behavior out of any fear of divine punishment. And, mutatis mutandis, there were many atheists who, despite their freedom from fear of punishment in the Hereafter, behaved in a consistently scrupulous and moral manner. At all events, the Holocaust put paid to any idea that human suffering was somehow merited by oursinfulness as God’s punishment, since the genocidal massacres of the twentieth century were obviously not prompted by the sins of the victims; rather by the evil actions of their oppressors. The Holocaust was bookended on either side-by the earlier massacre of the Armenians by the Turks, and by the Chinese in Nanking at the hands of the Japanese-and by the later massacres of the eastern Nigerian Ibos by the northern Moslem Nigerians, of the Bosnian Moslems by the Serbians, of the Tutsis by the Hutus in Rwanda. All this-preceded by still earlier pogroms, inquisitions and institutionalized massacres going back to the rst days of our recorded history-has left theodicy an empty vessel and has shorn religious and philosophical explanations of evil of any utility and have rendered them airy and unconvincing. So how are we to understand evil?

This research aims to identify the abundance, diversity, dominance and evenness of gastropods at the mouth of the Ketahun River, North Bengkulu. The method used is the "purposive" method. The sampling location was divided into 4 (four) stations, namely in the tidal area and on the right and left in the downstream part of the estuary. The sampling technique uses transects, at each station measuring 20m. Gastropod data analysis uses the Shannon Wiener index, Simpson index, and Pielou index. The research results showed that at the mouth of the Ketahun river, 18 species of gastropods were obtained consisting of 7 genera and 3 families. The diversity index shows, a) station I has an index value of 1.81 (medium category); b) station II has an index value of 0.49 (low category); c) station III has an index value of 1.89 (medium category); d) station IV has an index value of 0.82 (low category). The dominance index shows, a) station I has an index value of 0.23 (low category); b) station II has an index value of 0.70 (medium category); c) station III has an index value of 0.19 (low category); d) station IV has an index value of 0.63 (medium category). The evenness index shows, a) station I has an index value of 0.62 (high category); b) station II has an index value of 0.17 (small category); c) station III has an index value of 0.65 (high category); d) station IV has an index value of 0.28 (small category). The most common gastropod found is the genus Clithon with a total of 1369 individuals. Abundance, diversity, dominance and evenness are determined by abiotic parameters and environmental conditions such as substrate and water quality. Keywords: Bengkulu, Gastropods, Ketahun River