Dessy Sagita & Anita Rachman, Jakarta – Nahdlatul Ulama, the country's biggest Islamic organization with as many as 30 million members, has drawn a mostly negative response from religious scholars after it called for corruption convicts to be denied prayers at their funerals.
Din Syamsuddin, the chairman of Muhammadiyah, the country's second-biggest Islamic group, said on Friday that while he respected NU's antigraft stance, he would not make the same suggestion for followers of Muhammadiyah.
"No matter what crimes a person has committed, if they are a Muslim, it is our obligation to pray for them and give them a proper burial according to Islamic rites," he said.
However, Said Aqil Siradj head of NU, said his organization's mandate stated that anyone convicted of graft from 2002 onward did not deserve to be prayed for.
"When we pray at someone's funeral, we're wishing them all the best, asking God's forgiveness for their sins and wishing them the best possible place in heaven," he said. "Corruptors just don't deserve to get that."
Said added that the Prophet Muhammad had once refused to pray for his own best friend because he had once pilfered war booty. "Our stance is clear: it is haram [forbidden] for NU clerics to pray for anyone who has any unpaid debts, especially public money," he said.
However, the Rev. Gomar Gultom of the Indonesian Communion of Churches said that even though his organization had denounced corruption since 1972, it would not go as far as NU and Muhammadiyah in calling corruption convicts "infidels."
"We'll hand down moral and social sanctions, but it is the government's authority to take any other kind of action," he said.
Syafi'i Maarif, a prominent cleric and former chairman of Muhammadiyah, said the idea of denying corruption convicts a funeral prayer was an ijtihad, or a legal decision made from personal interpretation.
"It might serve as a deterrent [to further offences]," Syafi'i said. "But looking at this idea, it suggests that most corrupt people are Muslims."
He went on to ask for increased debate on the idea floated by NU, adding it reflected public concern about the country's civil service, which is widely viewed as drowning in endemic corruption.
Syafi'i said this trend belied President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's campaign promise in 2004 to eradicate corruption.
Hasyim Muzadi, a former chairman of NU and now a member of its advisory council, said the organization's definition of "corruptor" did not just include those arrested and later convicted of graft, but also those who slipped under the radar of the law enforcement agencies.
"We must not only define corruptors as those caught by the KPK [Corruption Eradication Commission]," he said. "The KPK may be doing it's job well, but it can't possibly catch all of them."