Hostname: page-component-745bb68f8f-l4dxg Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-02-11T08:14:05.646Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Dynamic Tolerance: Tolerance within Nahdlatul Ulama and Nahdliyin in Indonesia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 February 2025

Aisah Putri Budiatri
Aisah Putri Budiatri*
Affiliation:
National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN), Indonesia; Graduate School of Asian and African Area Studies, Kyoto University, Japan
*
Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), the world’s largest Islamic organisation, is renowned for fostering tolerance in Indonesia. However, recent studies have revealed that the degrees of tolerance NU displays are inconsistent, throwing the organisation’s reputation for acceptance into question. By adopting critical juncture and case study analyses, this article finds that tolerance within NU is dynamic for three reasons. First, it evolves depending on the social-political context of the time. Second, NU upholds tolerance within specific limits, extending it to those who do not contradict the Islamic values it upholds and who do not pose a threat to the unitary state of the Republic of Indonesia (NKRI). Third, the commitment to tolerance by NU’s membership, the nahdliyin, varies and does not always align with NU’s principles.

Keywords

Nahdlatul UlamanahdliyintoleranceIndonesia
Type
Original Article
Information
TRaNS: Trans-Regional and -National Studies of Southeast Asia , First View , pp. 1 - 17
Check for updates
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2025. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Institute for East Asian Studies.

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Akuntono, Indra. 2013. “NU dukung pembubaran FPI [NU supports the dissolution of FPI],” Kompas, 29 July. Available at: https://nasional.kompas.com/read/2013/07/29/0305379/NU.Dukung.Pembubaran.FPI (accessed 20 September 2023).Google Scholar
Alhafiz, . 2014. “NU tolak tegas gerakan HTI dan FPI [NU firmly rejects the HTI and FPI movement],” NU Online, 2 May. Available at: https://www.nu.or.id/nasional/nu-tolak-tegas-gerakan-hti-dan-fpi-NNiTy (accessed 27 September 2023).Google Scholar
Ali, Muhammad. 2020. “Between faith and social relations: The Muhammadiyah and Nahdlatul Ulama’s fatwas ideas on non-uslims and interreligious relations.” The Muslim World 110(4): 458-480.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Al-Anani, Khalil. 2016. Inside the Muslim Brotherhood. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Arifianto, Alexander R. 2017. “Practicing what it preaches? Understanding the contradictions between pluralist theology and religious intolerance within Indonesia’s Nahdlatul Ulama.” Al-Jami’ah: Journal of Islamic Studies 55(2): 241-264.Google Scholar
Arifianto, Alexander R. 2021. “Nahdlatul Ulama and its commitment towards moderate political norms: A comparison between the Abdurrahman Wahid and Jokowi era.” Journal of Global Strategic Studies 1(1): 77-114.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Athyal, Jesudas M., ed. 2015. Religion in Southeast Asia: An Encyclopedia of Faiths and Cultures. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, LLC.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barton, Greg. 2002. Abdurrahman Wahid: Muslim Democrat, Indonesian President: A View from the Inside. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press.Google Scholar
Buehler, Michael. 2019. “Review of: Jeremy Menchik, Islam and democracy in Indonesia: Tolerance without liberalism,” ASEASUK, 29 April. Available at: https://aseasuk.org/2019/04/29/menchik-buehler-islam-democracy-indonesia/ (accessed 26 September 2023).Google Scholar
Burhani, Ahmad Najib. 2019. “Lessons from Madura: NU, conservatism and the 2019 presidential election.” Perspective 72: 1-9.Google Scholar
Bush, Robin. 2009. Nahdlatul Ulama and the Struggle for Power within Islam and Politics in Indonesia. Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Capoccia, Giovanni. 2016. “Critical junctures,” In The Oxford Handbook of Historical Institutionalism, edited by Fioretos, Orfeo, Falleti, Tulia G., and Sheingate, Adam, 89-106. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Eck, Diana. 2005. “Is our God listening? Exclusivm, inclusivm, and pluralism,” In Islam and Global Dialogue: Religious Pluralism and the Pursuit of Peace, edited by Boase, Roger, 21-49. Burlington, VT: Ashgate.Google Scholar
Ellison, Christopher G., and Musick, Marc A.. 1993. “Southern intolerance: A fundamentalist effect?” Social Forces 72(2): 379-398.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Esposito, John L. (ed.) 2009a. The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Islamic World (Vol. 1). Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Esposito, John L. (ed.) 2009b. The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Islamic World (Vol. 4). Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Facal, Gabriel. 2020. “Islamic defenders front militia (Front Pembela Islam) and its impact on growing religious intolerance in Indonesia.” TRaNS: Trans-Regional and -National Studies of Southeast Asia 8(1): 7-20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fatiara, Nabilla. 2020. “FPI dan HTI, ormas yang dibubarkan di era pemerintahan Jokowi [FPI and HTI, mass organizations that were disbanded during the Jokowi era],” Kumparan, 30 December. Available at: https://kumparan.com/kumparannews/fpi-dan-hti-ormas-yang-dibubarkan-di-era-pemerintahan-jokowi-1usekNqvI3A/full (accessed 17 April 2024).Google Scholar
Fealy, Greg. 2004. “Islam radicalism in Indonesia: The faltering revival?” Southeast Asian Affairs: 104-121.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fealy, Greg. 1998. “Ulama and Politics in Indonesia: A History of Nahdlatul Ulama, 1952-1967.” PhD diss., Monash University.Google Scholar
Fealy, Greg, and Bush, Robin. 2014. “The political decline of traditional Ulama in Indonesia.” Asian Journal of Social Science 42(5): 536-560.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Feillard, Andree. 1999. NU Vis-a-vis Negara. Yogyakarta: LKiS.Google Scholar
Ghani, Ruhaizah Abdul, and Awang, Jaffary. 2020. “Tasamuh versus tolerance as practical approach to encounter the conflicting issue.” Akademika 90(1): 15-23.Google Scholar
Guiora, Amos N. 2014. Tolerating Intolerance. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hamayotsu, Kikue. 2017. “Islam and democracy in Indonesia: Tolerance without liberalism. By Jeremy Menchik.” Politics and Religion 10(1): 247-250.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hefner, Robert W. 2000. Civil Islam: Muslims and Democratization in Indonesia. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Hendrick, Joshua D. 2013. Gülen: The Ambiguous Politics of Market Islam in Turkey and the World. New York: New York University Press.Google Scholar
Hosen, Nadirsyah. 2021. “Perbedaan pendapat di NU itu biasa [Differences of opinion in NU are common],” Jabar NU, 18 October. Available at: https://jabar.nu.or.id/hikmah/perbedaan-pendapat-di-nu-itu-biasa-zJbNq (accessed 10 June 2022).Google Scholar
Jurnaliston, Reza, and Galih, Bayu. 2018. “GP Ansor desak pemerintah dan polri pulihkan hak jemaah Ahmadiyah [GP Ansor urges the government and police to restore the rights of the Ahmadiyya congregation],” Kompas, 6 June. Available at: https://nasional.kompas.com/read/2018/06/06/22410311/gp-ansor-desak-pemerintah-dan-polri-pulihkan-hak-jemaah-ahmadiyah (Accessed 27 September 2023).Google Scholar
Kadir, Suzaina Abdul. 1999. “Traditional Islamic Society and the State in Indonesia: The Nahdlatul Ulama, Political Accommodation, and the Preservation of Autonomy.” PhD diss., University of Wisconsin-Madison.Google Scholar
Kayane, Yuka. 2019. “The rise and limits of the anti-Shi‘a movement in contemporary Indonesia.” Asian and African Area Studies 19(1): 28-48.Google Scholar
Kayane, Yuka. 2020. “Understanding Sunni-Shi‘a sectarianism in contemporary Indonesia: A different voice from Nahdlatul Ulama under pluralist leadership.” Indonesia and The Malay World 48(140): 78-96.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Keren, Arif. 2008. “Kiai NU Cirebon dipanggil MUI karena dianggap bela Ahmadiyah [NU kyai in Cirebon summoned by MUI for allegedly defending Ahmadiyya],” NU Online, 11 June. Available at: https://nu.or.id/warta/kiai-nu-cirebon-dipanggil-mui-karena-dianggap-bela-ahmadiyah-UguOB (accessed 19 March 2024).Google Scholar
Kingston, Jeff. 2019. The Politics of Religion, Nationalism, and Identity in Asia. Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield.Google Scholar
Kurtz, Lester R. 2005. “Gülen’s paradox: Combining commitment and tolerance.” The Muslim World 95: 373-384.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kusuma, A.B. 2009. Lahirnya Undang-Undang Dasar 1945 [The Establishment of the 1945 Constitution]. Depok: Badan Penerbit Fakultas Hukum Universitas Indonesia.Google Scholar
Lembaga Ta’lif wan Nasyr PBNU. 2016. Hasil-Hasil Muktamar ke-33 Nahdlatul Ulama [Results of the 33rd Nahdlatul Ulama Congress]. Jakarta: Lembaga Ta’lif wan Nasyr PBNU.Google Scholar
Lev, Daniel. 1966. The Transition to Guided Democracy in Indonesia 1957-1959. Ithaca: Cornell University.Google Scholar
Lindsey, Tim. 2016. “Blasphemy charge reveals real fault lines in Indonesian democracy,” Indonesia at Melbourne, 25 November. Available at: https://indonesiaatmelbourne.unimelb.edu.au/blasphemy-charge-reveals-real-fault-lines-in-indonesian-democracy/ (accessed 19 June 2022).Google Scholar
Maarif, Ahmad Syafii. 2006. Islam dan Pancasila sebagai dasar negara: Studi tentang perdebatan dalam Konstituante [Islam and Pancasila as the State’s foundation: Study of debates in the Constituent Assembly]. Jakarta: LP3ES.Google Scholar
Mahoney, James. 2000. “Path dependence in historical sociology.” Theory and Society 29(4): 507-548.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Martudji, Tudji. 2011. “Hasyim Muzadi: Ahmadiyah harus bubar [Hasyim Muzadi: Ahmadiyya must disband],” Viva.co.id, 23 February. Available at: https://www.viva.co.id/berita/nasional/205985-hasyim-muzadi-ahmadiyah-meresahkan-bubarkan.Google Scholar
Melani, Agustina. 2020. “Mengenang 20 tahun Riyanto, anggota GP Ansor yang meninggal saat malam Natal [Remembering 20 years of Riyanto, member of GP Ansor who died on Christmas eve],” Liputan 6, 25 December. Available at: https://surabaya.liputan6.com/read/4442250/mengenang-20-tahun-riyanto-anggota-banser-yang-meninggal-saat-malam-natal (accessed 19 June 2022).Google Scholar
Menchik, Jeremy. 2016. Islam and Democracy in Indonesia: Tolerance without Liberalism. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Menchik, Jeremy, and Pepinsky, Thomas B.. 2018. “Islam, identity, and the organizational roots of political tolerance,” Social Science Research Network (SSRN), 15 August. Available at: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3232834 (accessed 17 February 2024).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mietzner, Marcus. 2018. “Fighting illiberalism with illiberalism: Islamist populism and democratic consolidation in Indonesia.” Pacific Affairs 91(2): 261-282.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mietzner, Marcus, and Muhtadi, Burhanuddin. 2020. “The myth of pluralism: Nahdlatul Ulama and the politics of religious tolerance in Indonesia.” Contemporary Southeast Asia 42(1): 58-84.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mudzakkir, Amin. 2020. “Mobilisasi Islam dan politik di Jawa Barat: Sebelum dan sesudah rangkaian aksi 212 [Islam and political mobilisation in West Java: Before and after the 212 series of action].” In Intoleransi dan Politik Identitas Kontemporer di Indonesia, edited by Pamungkas, Cahyo and Permana, Yogi S., 173-196. Jakarta: LIPI Press.Google Scholar
Mujani, Saiful, and William Liddle, R.. 2004. “Indonesia’s approaching elections: Politics, Islam, and public opinion.” Journal of Democracy 15(1): 109-123.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nahdlatul Ulama (NU). 1954. Notulen/Verslag Sementara Muktamar Nahdlatul Ulama ke 20 di Surabaja [Temporary Minutes/Verslag of the 20th Nahdlatul Ulama Congress in Surabaya]. Surabaya: Nahdlatul Ulama.Google Scholar
Nahdlatul Ulama (NU). 1967. Keputusan Muktamar ke-XXIV Partai NU [Decision of the XXIV Congress of the NU Party]. Jakarta: Nahdlatul Ulama.Google Scholar
Nahdlatul Ulama (NU). 1972. Keputusan Mu’tamar NU ke 25 di Surabaya [Decision of the 25th NU Congress in Surabaya]. Jakarta: Nahdlatul Ulama.Google Scholar
Nahdlatul Ulama (NU). 1979. Keputusan Muktamar N.U. ke XXVI [NU Congress XXVI Decision]. Jakarta: Nahdlatul Ulama.Google Scholar
Nahdlatul Ulama (NU). 1984. Keputusan Muktamar NU 1984 [Decision of the 1984 NU Congress]. Jakarta: Nahdlatul Ulama.Google Scholar
Nakamura, Mitsuo. 1981. “The radical traditionalism of the Nahdlatul Ulama in Indonesia: A personal account of the 26th National Congress, June 1979, Semarang.” Southeast Asian Studies 19(2): 187-204.Google Scholar
Nasution, Adnan Buyung. 1995. Aspirasi Pemerintahan Konstitusional di Indonesia [Aspirations of Constitutional Government in Indonesia]. Jakarta: Pustaka Utama Grafiti.Google Scholar
Nuryanti, Sri. 2021. “Populism in Indonesia: Learning from the 212 movement in response to the blasphemy case against Ahok in Jakarta.” In Populism in Asian Democracies: Features, Structures, and Impacts, edited by Wu, Chin-en, Bandyopadhyay, Kaustuv Kanti, and Lee, Sook Jong, 165-175. Leiden and Boston: Brill.Google Scholar
Osman, Mohamed Nawab Mohamed. 2010. “Reviving the Caliphate in the Nusantara: Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia’s mobilization strategy and its impact in Indonesia.” Terrorism and Political Violence 22: 601-622.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Osman, Mohamed Nawab Mohamed. 2018. Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia and Political Islam: Identity, Ideology and Religio-Political Mobilization. Oxon: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pelletier, Alexandre. 2021. “Competition for religious authority and Islamist mobilization in Indonesia.” Comparative Politics 53(3): 525-547.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pengurus Besar Nahdlatul Ulama (PBNU). 1989. Hasil-Hasil Muktamar Nahdlatul Ulama ke-28 [Results of the 28th Nahdlatul Ulama Congress]. Jakarta: PBNU.Google Scholar
Pengurus Besar Nahdlatul Ulama (PBNU). 1994. Hasil-Hasil Muktamar ke-29 Nahdlatul Ulama Results of the 29th Nahdlatul Ulama Congress. Jakarta: PBNU.Google Scholar
Peterson, Daniel. 2020. “The Ahok show trial and Indonesia politicisation of religion,” Asialink, 8 May. Available at: https://asialink.unimelb.edu.au/insights/the-ahok-show-trial-and-indonesias-politicisation-of-religion (accessed 10 June 2022).Google Scholar
Peterson, Daniel, and Schafer, Saskia. 2021. “Who are Indonesia’s Islamist majoritarians and how influential are they?” In Religion and Identity Politics: Global Trends and Local Realities, edited by Tay, Melvin, 96-129. Singapore: World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte.Ltd.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pierson, Paul. 2000. “Increasing returns, path dependence, and the study of politics.” The American Political Science Review 94(2): 251-267.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Platzdasch, Bernhard. 2013. “Religious freedom in contemporary Indonesia: The case of the Ahmadiyah.” In Encountering Islam: The Politics of Religious Identities in Southeast Asia, edited by Yew-Foong, Hui, 218-246. Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies.Google Scholar
Ramage, Douglas E. 1995. Politics in Indonesia: Democracy, Islam and the Ideology of Tolerance. London: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rochmat, , Muchlishon, , and Fathoni, . 2017. “PBNU dukung pemerintah bubarkan HTI [PBNU supports government to disband HTI],” NU Online, 8 May. Available at: https://nu.or.id/nasional/pbnu-dukung-pemerintah-bubarkan-hti-NBba8 (accessed 23 September 2023).Google Scholar
Rohman, M. Saifullah. 2020. “Intoleransi dan radikalisme di Jawa Timur: Studi tentang dinamika di NU dan pembangunan narasi positif grassroot NU [Intolerance and radicalism in East Java: A study of dynamics in NU and building a positive narrative of NU grassroots].” In Intoleransi dan Politik Identitas Kontemporer di Indonesia, edited by Pamungkas, Cahyo and Permana, Yogi S., 261-298. Jakarta: LIPI Press.Google Scholar
Rosyidi, , Ahmad, , and Anam, . 2013. “PWNU Jateng: Ahmadiyah tidak harus dibubarkan, tapi dibina [PWNU Central Java: Ahmadiyya must not be disbanded, but fostered],” NU Online, 20 October. Available at: https://nu.or.id/nasional/pwnu-jateng-ahmadiyah-tidak-harus-dibubarkan-tapi-dibina-0zQsO (accessed 19 March 2024).Google Scholar
Rizqo, Kanavino Ahmad. 2021a. “Jokowi: Terima kasih NU terus mengawal toleransi hingga NKRI [Jokowi: Thank you NU for continuing to guard tolerance for the Republic of Indonesia],” DetikNews, 22 December. Available at: https://news.detik.com/berita/d-5865456/jokowi-terima-kasih-nu-terus-mengawal-toleransi-hingga-nkri (accessed 29 May 2022).Google Scholar
Rizqo, Kanavino Ahmad. 2021b. “Said Aqil: 212 bukan kebangkitan Islam tapi politik mengatasnamakan agama [Said Aqil: 212 is not Islamic wakening but politics in the name of religion],” DetikNews, 13 December. Available at: https://news.detik.com/berita/d-5853193/said-aqil-212-bukan-kebangkitan-islam-tapi-politik-mengatasnamakan-agama (accessed 29 May 2022).Google Scholar
Saenong, Farid F. 2021. “Nahdlatul Ulama (NU): A grassroots movement advocating moderate Islam.” In Handbook of Islamic Sects and Movements, edited by Upal, Muhammad Afzal and Cusack, Carole M., 129-150. Leiden and Boston: Brill.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sekretariat Jendral Pengurus Besar Nahdlatul Ulama (Setjen PBNU). 2000. Hasil-Hasil Muktamar XXX Nahdlatul Ulama [Results of the XXX Nahdlatul Ulama Congress]. Jakarta: Setjen PBNU.Google Scholar
Sekretariat Jendral Pengurus Besar Nahdlatul Ulama (Setjen PBNU). 2005. Hasil-Hasil Muktamar XXXI Nahdlatul Ulama [Results of the XXXI Nahdlatul Ulama Congress]. Jakarta: Setjen PBNU.Google Scholar
Sekretariat Jendral Pengurus Besar Nahdlatul Ulama (Setjen PBNU). 2010. Hasil-Hasil Keputusan Muktamar XXXII Nahdlatul Ulama [Results of the XXXII Nahdlatul Ulama Congress]. Jakarta: Setjen PBNU.Google Scholar
Sitompul, Einar Martahan. 1989. NU dan Pancasila [NU and Pancasila]. Jakarta: Pustaka Sinar Harapan.Google Scholar
Sobary, Mohammad. 2010. NU dan Keindonesiaan [NU and Indonesianess]. Jakarta: Kompas Gramedia.Google Scholar
Sudrajat, Azka. 2020. “Lakpesdam NU dan CRCS UGM kerjasama riset advokasi dengan pendekatan inklusi sosial di tasikmalaya [Lakpesdan NU and CRCS UGM collaborate on advocacy research with a social inclusion approach in tasikmalaya],” Atmago, 19 December. Available at: https://www.atmago.com/berita-warga/lakpesdam-nu-dan-crcs-ugm-kerjasama-riset-advokasi-dengan-pendekatan-inklusi-sosial-di-tasikmalaya_b7dd53f9-b8c4-4ab8-b371-cd15925f9428 (accessed 10 June 2022).Google Scholar
Suryana, A’an. 2020. The State and Religious Violence in Indonesia: Minority Faiths and Vigilantism. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Triyana, Bonnie. 2011. “Ahmadiyah di Indonesia [Ahmadiyya in Indonesia],” Historia, 11 February. Available at: https://historia.id/agama/articles/ahmadiyah-di-indonesia-vV4k6 (accessed 9 September 2023).Google Scholar
Van Bruinessen, Martin. 1994. NU: Tradisi, Relasi-Relasi Kuasa, Pencarian Wacana Baru [NU: Tradition, Power Relations, Search for New Discourse]. Yogyakarta: LKiS dan Pustaka Pelajar.Google Scholar
Van Wichelen, Sonja. 2010. Religion, Politics and Gender in Indonesia: Disputing the Muslim Body. London: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wahid, Abdurrahman. 1989. “Kata pengantar [Foreword].” In NU dan Pancasila, edited by Sitompul, Einar Martahan, 1-11. Jakarta: Pustaka Sinar Harapan.Google Scholar
Wickham, Carrie Rosefsky. 2011. “The muslim brotherhood and democratic transition in Egypt.” Middle East Law and Governance 3: 204-223.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yavuz, M. Hakan. 2013. Toward an Islamic Enlightenment: The Gülen Movement. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Google Scholar
Interview with Achmad Suaedy (the Head of PBNU), 23 September 2021, Jakarta, Indonesia.Google Scholar
Interview with Ahmad Zainul Hamdi (a Professor at Sunan Ampel State Islamic University/UIN Sunan Ampel), 21 October 2021, Jakarta, Indonesia.Google Scholar
Interview with Effendy Choirie (a politician with an NU background), 1 April 2022, Jakarta, Indonesia.Google Scholar
Interview with Ilham Khoiri (a journalist at Kompas), 21 October 2021, online.Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Anonymous interview with a religious leader, 30 November 2021, Banten, Indonesia.Google Scholar