- Author: Zulfan Taufik
- From: STAI Nur El-Ghazy Bekasi ‘Youth Studies Institute
Abstract:
Nowadays, the relationship between youth and religious radicalism becomes a hot spot along the phenomenon of their increasing involvement in various acts of violence in the name of religion. Many reports indicate a significant increase in radicalization among young people led by terrorist organizations, both internationally and locally. In contrast to various studies that favor the study of contemporary Muslim youth relations with religious radicalism, this paper focuses on youth activism in stemming the flow of radicalism through tarekat (sufi order). In Indonesia, tarekat began to be an alternative choice in offsetting the current of radicalization that massively targeted the young. One of his concrete forms appears in the Mahasiswa Ahlith Thariqah Al Mu’tabarah An Nahdliyyah (MATAN). Using phenomenology, this study looks at MATAN that designed as a youth organization specifically based on the tarekat mu’tabarah in response to the phenomenon of radicalism and positivism among students and youth. The results show that MATAN seeks to balance the intellectuality and spirituality among youth with a claim of loyalty to the moderate, tolerant, inclusive and consistent (in shari’a, tariqa, and ma’rifa) as well as maintaining state awareness based on Pancasila and the 1945 Constitution. This last point then animates every MATAN fellow to be awake towards religious radicalization efforts. In the end, the findings of this study confirm some studies and surveys conducted in the context of Morocco, Algeria, and Mali which concluded that the tarekat is a new fondness and is believed to be the savior of youth from religious extremism.
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