Religious Fundamentalism and Violence in the Name of Religion

Abstract

This article aims to reveal the strengthening of the tendency of Islamic fundamentalism in Indonesia in the Action to Defend Islam that occurred during the period 2016 to 2018. In its implementation, this action always voices Islamic symbols in a textual and rigid manner, for example “non-Muslims who disbelieve” and the prohibition on making disbelievers as leaders. Uniquely, these actions were not carried out with any violence, neither did they trigger violence in the name of religion. Why did this action not lead to religious violence even though this action was clearly in the name of religion? This study finds that there are at least three factors that prevent this action of Islamic fundamentalism from acts of religious violence, namely: first, moderate Muslim infiltration in carrying out the actions, second, there is support from great scholars such as Ustadz Arifin Ilham and Ustad AA Gym who are known to be gentle and polite to all parties, and the third is the content of the Islamic Defense Action activity which is dominated by dhikr which is ritual prayer or a litany practiced by Muslims for the purpose of glorifying God and attaining spiritual excellence and general prayer.