To Preserve the Glory of the Scripture
Four Fatwas of the Council of Indonesian Ulama on the Qur’an
J. A. Rohmana, R. Anwar, M. Zuldin, A. Muhammad, and M. Solihin
UIN Sunan Gunung Djati Bandung, Bandung, Indonesia
Keywords: The Qur’an, MUI, fatwa, considerance, dictum.
Abstract: This study focuses on the attitude of the Council of Indonesian Ulama (MUI) in order to preserve the glory
of the Qur'an in Indonesia. It is a study of four MUI’s fatwas relating to the Qur'an between 1975-2017 using
the critical discourse analysis. This study states that there is political change influence towards opened up a
space for MUI religious attitudes in establishing relationships with government and society. This can be seen,
for instance, in the use of the sentence of the MUI’s fatwa. In the New Order era, MUI used a normative,
suggestive and infirm language in its three fatwas. This is different from the fatwa in the period of
“Reformation” which shows much more firmly with the phrase “obligatory to preserve the glory of the
Qur'an” and placed on the part of the dictum or the content of its fatwa. It is a change in the use of language
of fatwa decisions that indicate the turn of the MUI fatwa along with changes in its increasing position in
society and tend to keep the distance from the government.
1 INTRODUCTION
Ulama play an important role in the historical
dynamics in Indonesia. There are a variety of
characters Ulama possess in it; some of them are
government supporters, some of them of the society
leaders, and some are in opposition. As they keep
having an important role in changing situations, it is
safe to call them custodians change (Zaman, 2002: 2).
In politics, their role is getting more important since
the rise of Council of Indonesian Ulama (MUI) on
July 26, 1975 or Rajab 17, 1395 Hijri. The “birth” of
MUI was aimed to support government agenda in
terms of religious affairs during Soeharto’s
administration. Consequently, there are several
fatwas and preaches by MUI attached by the
government interests. The government also
encourages MUI to get involved in socio-cultural
aspects so that Islam is becoming not only political
power, but also cultural one (Effendy, 2011: 25-50;
Hefner, 1987: 535). However, this situation has
changed as the “reformation” era began. MUI has
kept their distance from the government an instead
took the so-called conservative turn, or some might
call the symptoms of Islamic authoritarianism
(Ichwan, 2014: 102-3; Olle, 2009: 95-116). Thus,
MUI declare that they are no longer government
servants, yet they are public servants. One of their
most obvious changes lies in their fatwa related to Al-
Qur’an within the years of 1975-2017.
The study focuses on the changes of MUI’s
attitude described in their four fatwas in relation to
Al-Qur’an, including the transliteration of Al-Qur’an
in non-Arabic letters (1977), fatwa on Qira’at
Sab’ah, the seven variations of Al-Qur’an recitation
(1983), singing Al-Qur’an verses (1983), and photo
sticking on Al-Qur’an mushaf (book) (2005). Using a
critical discourse analysis approach, this study tries to
reveal the mechanism of internal texts of MUI’s
fatwas in the process of their wording (Eriyanto,
2001: 7). This discussion is of an important matter
since the change of the fatwas’ wording is in
separable with the relationship between the religious
institution and the government in viewing the socio-
political and cultural issues. The change can also be
seen by MUI’s attitude which is getting stronger in
giving pressure to the government related to the issue
controversial issue of Al-Qur’an, particularly that of
in relation to the statement of former Governor of
Jakarta, Basuki Tjahaja Purnama (Ahok) about Al-
Ma’idah/ 5:51 in 2016.
350
Rohmana, J., Anwar, R., Zuldin, M., Muhammad, A. and Solihin, M.
To Preserve the Glory of the Scripture - Four Fatwas of the Council of Indonesian Ulama on the Qur’an.
In Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Sociology Education (ICSE 2017) - Volume 1, pages 350-353
ISBN: 978-989-758-316-2
Copyright © 2018 by SCITEPRESS – Science and Technology Publications, Lda. All rights reserved

2 MUI’S FATWAS ON AL-
QUR’AN
Since its birth in 1975, MUI has had 249 fatwas.
Those fatwas are made by the Commission of Fatwa
and the National Sharia Board of MUI. The
commission focuses on schools of thoughts in
religion, worship, socio-culture, food, medicine, and
cosmetics and also science and technology. In the
meantime, the board focuses on fatwas on sharia
economy. In addition, there is also ijtima’, a
collection of decisions by the fatwa commission of all
the commissions all over Indonesia in 2003. Ijtima’
fatwas include issues on nation (masā’il asasiyyah
wathaniyyah), contemporary fiqh (masā’il fiqhiyyah
mu’āṣirah), and also law(masā’il qānūniyyah). Some
of the fatwas by MUI can sometimes trigger
controversies such as those related to Christmas
celebration, pluralism, liberalism, secularism,
Ahmadiyah, abortion, economy, and so on (Sirry,
2013: 100-17). Generally MUI’s early fatwas did not
refer to official letters. This fact can be seen from the
format of each fatwa which did not pay attention to
the number of the fatwas. Of those many fatwas by
MUI, there are four of them related to Al-Qur’an.
2.1 Transliteration of Al-Qur’an in
non-Arabic Letters (1977)
MUI’s fatwa on transliteration of Al-Qur’an in non-
Arabic languages was set on June 27, 1977 by the
head of the commission, K.H. M. Syukri Ghozali and
the secretary, H. Amiruddin Siregar. In conclusion,
the fatwa said that 1) there are some ulama allowing
the transliteration of Al-Qur’an in non-Arabic letters
and there are some that do not; 2) the pronunciation
of Al-Qur’an should follow the Arabic one no matter
in what letters it is written; 3) the transliteration of Al-
Qur’an in non-Arabic letters often lead to difficulty
of learning and reading it; 4) the transliteration in
non-Arabic letters, since some think it is necessary,
should be limited in certain contexts and should be
written after the original Arabic version (The
arranging team, 2015: 323-4). Based on those fatwas,
it can be inferred that the transliteration is actually
allowed as long as there is the Arabic version along
with it.
What can also be implied from the fatwas is that
there are two opposite opinions about the
transliteration. It seems that they are fully aware the
rejection is based on the worry of false Al-Qur’an
recitation. Thus, the decision making of the fatwas
refer to the substantial essence of Al-Qur’an
transliteration, which is to be recited accordingly.
This is actually a realistic idea to promote the
messages of the holy book in the real life that keeps
changing (Kaptein, 2004: 1).
2.2 Qira’at Sab’ah (1983)
The fatwas on Qira’at Sab’ah, the seven variations of
Al-Qur’an recitation, were born on Jumadil Awal 17,
1403 Hijri or March 2, 1983 by Professor Ibrahim
Hosen, LML as the head of the fatwa commission of
MUI and H. Musytari Yusuf, LA as the secretary. The
fatwa was actually the result of ‘communication’ and
‘interaction’ with the national Al-Qur’an Recitation
Development Board (LPTQ). The decree number was
53/LPTQNAS/ IU’83 set on February 5, 1983. Not
only did the participants in Indonesia get involved,
but some experts in Cairo, Egypt were also invited to
contribute by having a meeting there. Regarding the
fatwa, there are several important points related to the
importance of Qira’at Sab’ah and LPTQ as the
official board studying and developing it: 1) that
Qira’at Sab’ah is knowledge that, like other ones,
LPTQ should take care of; 2) LPTQ should obey the
decisions made by experts in Cairo. In the meantime,
there are two fatwas about Qira’at Sab’ah as follows:
1) it is one of the branches of knowledge about Al-
Qur’an, thus its existence needs to be preserved; and
2) reading it is nor prohibited as long as it is done by
legal people (those who really master it (Team, 2015:
172-3). Unlike the previous fatwas on the
transliteration of the holy book, which accommodates
the new tradition, fatwas on Qira’at Sab’ah appear to
strengthen the old tradition of Al-Qur’an recitation
since the recitation using the seven variations are
limited in several areas and several people.
2.3 Singing Al-Qur’an Verses (1983)
MUI’s fatwas on singing Al-Qur’an verses were set
on Shafar 27, 1404 H/ December 3, 1983 by the head
of the commission at that time, Prof. Ibrahim Hosen,
LML and his secretary, H. Mas’ud Saiful Alam. BA.
There are four fundamental considerations on the
fatwas covering: 1) that Islam basically accepts
artwork that is relevant to the teaching and law of
Islam; 2) that da’wah, calling people to the religious
ways of life, can also be done through art; 3) that there
have been several musical groups whose lyrics are
taken from Al-Qur’an; and 4) that to glorify the
holiness of Al-Qur’an, it is necessary to make fatwas
about it. Other consideration is Al-Qur’an itself;
Yasin// 36:69 and Al-Muzzammil/ 73:4. Based on
that, MUI has finally come to two points: 1) singing
To Preserve the Glory of the Scripture - Four Fatwas of the Council of Indonesian Ulama on the Qur’an
351

the verses of Al-Qur’an should strictly follow the
rules; and 2) it is free to sing the translation of Al-
Qur’an (The team, 2015: 355-6). In comparison with
the previous fatwas on Al-Qur’an, this fatwa is
relatively complete, particularly in terms of
considerance. Besides normative points of view of
Al-Qur’an and some of hadith in relation to that, the
fact that there are some musical groups singing verses
from Al-Qur’an is also taken as consideration. In this
context, there is even a statement that the holiness of
Al-Qur’an needs to be maintained as considerance.
However, this is viewed as normative since the word
used is ‘need’ instead of ‘should’ or must’. As a
matter of fact, considerance is usually a main idea or
background of a fatwa making. This is different from
the content of the fatwa which is the core.
2.4 Sticking photos of Al-Qu’ran book
(mushaf)
MUI’s fatwa on sticking photos on mushaf was
officially applied in Jakarta on May 12, 2005 or
Rabiul Akhir 1426 Hijri by KH. Ma’ruf Amin as the
head of MUI’s Fatwa Commission and Drs. H.
Hasanuddin, M.Ag. As the secretary. In the
considerance part, this fatwa explains that the
background of the fatwa includes 1) the fact that
lately people start to stick several things including
photos on their mushaf; 2) the issue has raised a
controversy among them on whether that is allowed
or not; 3) starting for the controversial phenomenon,
MUI finally agrees to make a fatwa on it; 4) in
Indramayu, there was a fatwa about this No.1 2005;
and 5) the meeting on this was held on Rabi’ul Akhir
10, 1426 Hijri.
In relation to that, the fatwa came up with two
main decisions covering 1) it is compulsory to glorify
Al-Qur’an; and 2) sticking stuffs on mushaf are
strictly prohibited (haram) if a) there is a tendency of
harassment towards Al-Qur’an; b) it has potentials to
raise war and conflict (Fatwa team, 2015: 488-91).
In comparison with the previously-discussed
fatwa on singing the verses of Al-Qur’an, fatwa on
sticking things on mushaf appears to be tougher. This
indicates that MUI is getting better in positioning
themselves particularly in maintaining the glory and
holiness of Al-Qur’an.
The shift of MUI’s fatwa tone to be tougher also
shows that MUI is making distance with the
government. This means that the conflict of interest
between MUI and the government is getting lesser.
Politically, when MUI declared the fatwa on sticking
things on mushaf, they were in the new order era.
Meanwhile, the previous fatwa on singing the verses
of Al-Qur’an happened when they were in the old
order era. This clearly proves that MUI is turning
from the servant of the government into the servant of
the society.
3 POLITICAL CHANGE AND
SHIFT OF FATWAS
From the four fatwas by MUI related to Al-Qur’an, it
can be seen that political situations from the new
order era to the reformation era play an important role
for MUI to declare their religious points of view. In
the new order era, it was obvious that MUI is the
government’s political vehicle so that their fatwas are
always supportive of the government no matter how
the situation was (Reid, 2009: 70; Hefner, 2000: 121).
However, in the next era, the reformation era, their
fatwas started to be more objective; they do not
belong to the government’s representation anymore.
The fatwas are actually the representation of ummah,
the society (Ichwan, 2005: 71-2; Hosen, 2003: 68-
80).
Thus, the socio-political context does influence
fatwa making. The process of discussion even debate
usually the process of conflict of interest fight.
Fairclough names this situation sociocultural
practice. Even though the practice does not directly
relate to the fatwa making, it does influence the whole
process of fatwa declaration in situational,
institutional, and even social levels (Eriyanto, 2001:
320-2).
The strength of MUI position among the society
can lately be seen in the recent case of Ahok’s
statement (the former governor of Jakarta) about Al-
Ma’idah 51 on October 11, 2016. MUI has a very
strong tone about this case. The word “compulsory”
is repeated six times in the fatwa (MUI, 2016). This
is totally different from the previous fatwas in which
bold words such as compulsory are not repeated very
often, either in the fatwa on singing the verses of Al-
Qur’an or that of sticking things on mushaf (Fatwa
team, 2015: 491). This fatwa is believed to be one of
the biggest triggers of several big demonstrations
such as “Aksi Bela Islam 411” and “Aksi Bela Islam
212”. This finally ends up with a trial of the former
governor the harassment of Islam case attended also
by the head of MUI as one of the witnesses. As the
court decided, Ahok was sentenced two-year
imprisonment. This shows that MUI’s fatwas have
strength to legitimize the law in Indonesia (Ichwan,
2016: 87).
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4 CONCLUSIONS
This paper shows there is a shift of MUI’s attitudes
and perspectives in the effort of glorifying Al-Qur’an.
The shift is revealed in four fatwas of MUI declared
in different eras (1975-2017). This paper also
emphasizes that the political situations from the new
order era to the reformation era influence MUI in
making decisions. They turn from the agents of the
government into the agents of the citizens, even the
agents of justice. In fatwas, the change or the shift can
be identified in the wording. The first three fatwas,
that were declared in the new order era, were
normative yet the last fatwa appears to be a lot
tougher in terms of the language by using bold words
such as compulsory, mandatory, and so on.
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