Religious Tolerance in Malang City: Overview of Mature Religious

Nikmatuz Zahroh, Aniek Rahmaniah

and Samsul Susilawati

Universitas Islam Negeri Maulana Malik Ibrahim Malang, Indonesia

Keywords: Tolerance, Religion,

Mature Religious.

Abstract: This study discusses religious tolerance in the city of Malang, using a review of mature religious. The

occurrence of several religious conflicts in Indonesia is one reason in this discussion. The city of Malang

was deliberately chosen in this discussion, because for the past decade the city of Malang has become a

relatively safe area of religious conflict that leads to violence. This research was conducted using

observation methods, interviews with various parties, and documentation both from television, media,

internet, bulletins, magazines, and so on informing religious life in the city of Malang. The purpose of this

study was to find out the conception of religious maturity in the city of Malang and to know about the

practice of religious maturity, to teach the younger generation about life in a better future. The results of this

study indicate that, the conception of religious maturity in the city of Malang influences social life. Mature

religiosity extends its attention to matters outside of itself, namely by maintaining religious tolerance and

enhancing synergic relationships among the components of society to create a harmonious life. This

harmonious religious practices, has provided a good example for the younger generation to continue to

study and work, for the sake of a better life and future.

1 INTRODUCTION

Life is peaceful, tolerant and side by side regardless

of ethnic differences, but power and is ideality

religion of every human being. Because it's not there

any social settings that are monolithic and

homogeneous in full, we must be in plurality and

plurality which is a reality and a necessity. Because

there is not a society that is single, still i always

contained to life's diverse, both ethnical, culturally

and religiously.

Ethnic conflicts everywhere still often occur both

on a global, regional, national scale and even later.

Indonesia as a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural and multi-

religious country experiences similar things, for

example, as happened in Ambon, Poso, Sambas,

Sampang, in a regional scale of conflict in the

Philippine Moro, Myanmar, and in other parts of the

world such as the Bosnian conflict, Afghanistan,

Pakistan, Iraq, Syria, Palestine-Israel.

Sociologically, conflict is a common thing that

happens and is believed to be part of human life. But

if the conflict has led to violence and carried out by

people who obey their religion, is considered a case

or a sad phenomenon (Ahnaf, 2013; Abdillah, 2013;

Makin, 2017; Aspinal, Dettman, and Eve, 2011).

In terms of religious life, there ambivalences,

differences often spark some conflicts and even wars

between religious communities. The 21st century

Megatrend as a "century of religious revival ",

makes the phenomenon of violence and war between

religions an irony, where religion should be a basic

mission to build a tolerant, peaceful and harmonious

human civilization (Nussbaum, 2012).

In the city of Malang, as one of the major cities

in Indonesia, as a city of education and a tourist city,

there are many urban communities consisting of

various ethnicities, religions and different cultures.

But this diversity is able to be maintained with

tolerance and harmony. This is interesting to study,

and is also related to how maturity in religion can

prevent violent conflicts in religion.

From the above background, the discussion has

focused on ask as follows: How does the conception

of religious maturity in Malang? How can religious

Zahroh, N., Rahmaniah, A. and Susilawati, S.

Religious Tolerance in Malang City: Overview of Mature Religious.

DOI: 10.5220/0009916107490752

In Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Recent Innovations (ICRI 2018), pages 749-752

ISBN: 978-989-758-458-9

 2020 by SCITEPRESS – Science and Technology Publications, Lda. All rights reser ved

749

maturity practice teach young people about a better

future in life?

2 METHOD

To answer the questions in the discussion above, a

qualitative approach is carried out. Data collection in

the field was carried out with several steps, namely

observing various religious activities, especially

those relating to efforts to maintain religious

tolerance and the involvement of young people in

religious activities in the City of Malang (Neuman,

2003).

The conception of religious tolerance, then for

retrieval of data obtained through interviews in

depth of various parties, and documentation from

various sources such as newsletters, magazines,

media, television, and the Internet. The key actor in

this study is the citizens who are around the place of

worship, religious leaders or active members of the

congregation, and be some a informant of the

general public who were selected purposively,

determined according to that the needs.

The theme in this discussion is (i) tolerance,

defined as an attitude of respect for others that are

different from oneself, while religious tolerance is

an attitude of mutual respect for others who have

different religions or understandings of religion. (ii)

mature religious, defined as mutual understanding,

respect, respect, humility, upholding the values of

morality and humanity, prioritizing common

interests over personal and group interests, love,

sensitivity in regard to values, always adjusting to

the will God.

3 RESULT AND DISCUSSION

Religious maturity is one of the discussions of

religious growth and development and personality.

Therefore, religious maturity is a religious

development that has a positive meaning. Besides

covering the concept of personality, religious

maturity is also related to social, political and

cultural maturity (Clark, 1968)

By paying attention to Islamic civilization in the

past, the true maturity of religion cannot only be

seen in one dimension, but in terms of social life,

political life, and also cultural life. The process of

Islamization in Indonesia cannot be separated from

the acceptance of Islam in the social life of the

people in Indonesia. The arrival of Islam was able to

foster new kingdoms characterized by Islam. In the

field of culture, before the teachings of Islam were

practiced by the Indonesian people, Islamic culture

was known first (Reid, 2015)

In the city of Malang, historically evidence of

religious maturity can already be seen directly,

namely the existence of places of worship around

Malang City Square. The existence of the Great

Mosque and the adjoining Cathedral Church became

a symbol that religious practices among his

followers did not experience obstacles. This also

occurs in behavior among the worshipers of each

religion in their social life. They respect each other,

tolerate and respect the followers of religion. When

the religious holidays are each, often congregations

are solid and must use the yard and facilities of

places of worship among them.

This happened also among several Islamic

boarding schools, for example, between salafi huts

and traditional huts, which happened to be close

together, they socially still showed a mature life,

mutual respect for each other. They help each other

by providing existing facilities such as parking lots

and security officers.

"Tolerance is teaching of Islam" according to the

opinion of religious leaders and several active

worshipers. Islamic teachings have advocated to

doing good to fellow humans, so "do not teach us

about tolerance", so the title of a monthly magazine

published by one of the huts in the city of Malang.

There is a synergy relationship in the City of Malang

between the government, ulama, and the

community, about the importance of maintaining an

attitude of mutual respect.

In everyday life, a person who has religious

maturity is also characterized by an awareness of his

purpose in life, and awareness that the life he is

living in requires people around him, therefore

maintaining harmony in the community and the

surrounding environment is a must.

The role of the Indonesian Ulama Council (MUI)

of Malang City is to establish dialogical

relationships, hold joint meetings with community

organizations, attend invitations from various

circles, joint activities such as the Muharram parade,

halal bi halal and so on.

The role of the government is in activities that

are in direct contact with the community, such as

blusukan, anjangsana, safari ramadhan and other

activities that are often attended by government

figures. This activity turned out to make a

harmonious atmosphere among the people, because

they could immediately state the problems they

faced. This is able to minimize the potential conflicts

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and disharmony in the community, because the

problems in the community immediately get a

response from the government.

The role of the Ulama is to hold recitals,

istighosah, tabligh akbar, which involve many

parties including among others, government

officials, ulama, community leaders, and involving

all communities around the venue. This activity is

routinely held in every sub district in Malang City.

In fact, there are so many numbers of these

istighosah groups that are very well known by the

wider community in Malang City. Often their

activities are also broadcast on Local Television in

the City of Malang so that it can be seen by all

citizens.

The role of community leaders is their

involvement in various community activities,

helping to be able to understand psychologically

from each community member. So if there is a

problem or conflict between the community

members, because their experience is in direct

contact with the community, they find solutions

faster to overcome these problems. So there is a

need for synergy between community leaders and

the government, especially those related to several

problems that occur in the community.

The role of Schools and Colleges is to maintain

the school and campus environment from

fundamentalist ideologies that tend to be anarchic,

carry out activities with the community, and carry

out community service. These activities in addition

to being part of the responsibility of educational

institutions to the surrounding community, also aims

to help solve various problems that exist in the

community. It is expected that the establishment of

cooperation between educational institutions and the

community, can minimize the various problems that

exist in the community.

Community Participation is to participate in

various activities that are often carried out jointly,

especially in August, or clean village warnings such

as healthy roads between region, work, participating

in various competitions. These activities were able

to foster a spirit of togetherness among the

community. It is hoped that activities like this will

establish an attitude of mutual respected, helping

and can minimize the potential for conflict in the

community.

Religious practice has directly provided learning

for the younger generation. By seeing the practice of

harmonious diversity around it, the younger

generation can feel the benefits. They can do

activities well and can design their future according

to their interests and talents. Learning about how to

live well can be obtained from the social

environment. Therefore the young generation must

be involved in various activities in the community

and to them the future of social life and civilization

will be built.

4 CONCLUSIONS

Conception of religious maturity in the city of

Malang can be concluded as follows; first, a mature

religion will affect its social life or it can be seen

from its religious practices in social life. Second,

mature religiosity extends his attention to things

outside himself; the more a person has a mature

understanding of religion, the more they respect

others and their neighbors. Third, someone who has

religious maturity, he does not only carry out his

religious rituals, but does a lot for others and is

beneficial for a common life.

In connection with the efforts carried out to

maintain religious tolerance in the city of Malang is

by increasing synergic relations between

components of society (local government,

Indonesian Ulama Council, Islamic boarding

schools, schools, colleges and community leaders).

Harmonious religious tolerance practices have had a

broad impact, especially for the younger generation.

They get examples from the surrounding social

environment. They realize that a harmonious life

must be built from a situation of tolerance and

mutual respect.

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from Sampang, Newsletter in Religious Life, 3, Center

for Religious and Cross-Cultural Studies and

Indonesian Consortium for Inter religious Studies,

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Afdillah, M., 2013. From the Mosque to the Political

Stage; Case Study the Role of Religious Leaders and

Politicians in Conflict of Religious Violence between

Sunni and Shia Communities in Sampang, East Java,

the Religion and Cross-Cultural Study Program,

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Anthony R., 2015. “Religious Pluralism or Conformity in

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Aspinall, E., Dettman, S., Warburton, E., 2011. "When

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