Islam is a Humanist Religion

Humanism is an understanding of cultural thought and movement that upholds human dignity as a free and sovereign subject in determining his life (Sudarminta, 2001).

The hallmark of humanism is an inclusive religious attitude. The embryo emerged in the early 16th century AD, when the renaissance movement emerged in the European church.

The basic idea is "human freedom to determine their own destiny." The Crusades whose wounds are so scarred even now, have resulted in the image of Islam in the eyes of the West as if it is far from the value of humanism that upholds human dignity, dignity, and freedom.

Even further, Islam is a religion that is described as a fierce, violent, terrorist and so on. In fact, there is nothing to argue about between Islam and humanists.

Islam is a Humanist Religion

Nurcholish Madjid, one of Indonesia's best Muslim scholars, said that "a theocentric view of Islamic life can be seen in anthropocentric daily activities". That is, religion is not only oriented vertically to God, but also must actualize our religious values for humans and humanity.

Islamic terminalology recognizes Hablum minaallah hablum minan nas which means having a good relationship with Allah and maintaining good relations with fellow human beings. So, Islam strongly recommends that its people maintain relationships with fellow human beings, not just fellow Muslims.

Kuntowijoyo on one occasion once said, "Islam is a religion that focuses itself on the belief in God, but which directs its struggle for the glory of human civilization".

This has been proven, there are many great contributions of Islam to human civilization, including:

1. The concept of humanity

The core of the concept of humanity in Islam is to position human dignity in accordance with their nature. History records that various forms of blasphemy and humiliation of humanity occur all over the world, in areas that are not yet familiar with Islam.

Paganism, cannibalism, hedonism, incest, slavery, stupid doctrine, and many other practices that are contrary to human values, but thrive in society.

Islam came with enlightenment. The fate of women who were humiliated was replaced by glorification, relations between humans full of war and revenge were replaced by the egalitarian concept of muamalah, ridiculous doctrines that shackled were replaced by the concept of "studying knowledge even though it reaches China", and many more.

So, conceptually, Islam has accommodated all elements of humanism, now it is the duty of the people to actualize and transform them into applicable norms in a pluralist society.

2. Thoughts of the Ulama

Before Europe experienced a period of renaissance, Islam had illuminated the world with the thoughts of its scholars. Many questions that become problems in social life can be answered clearly.

Broadly speaking, the dynamics of science among Islamic scholars consist of:

• Ijtihad

Ijtihad is an effort ordered by Islam to obtain the law of something that is not in the Koran and hadith. The scholars who practice ijtihad must have the ability to analyze, appreciate, and use the method of rules that can be accounted for, and understand the science of the Koran and hadith with all its completeness such as Arabic, interpretation, and others.

• Qiyas

Qiyas means to equate or combine. That is, stipulating the law of a new case that has not existed before, but has the same causes, benefits, dangers, and various aspects, with the previous case, so that it has the same law.

• Ijma

Ijma can be interpreted as the agreement of the scholars in deciding a case. There is nothing to be afraid of in deciding the case, because if in the future it turns out that the agreement is proven wrong, then the scholars will still get one reward, but if it turns out to be true they will get two rewards.

In Islam, Ijma and Qiyas are emergency, if there are things that did not exist in the past.

3. Important Discoveries in History

Islam has played an important role in the progress of human civilization, especially in its golden age (622-1258 AD). At that time in almost all areas of life, there were Muslim intellectuals who were very influential. They carried out research and innovations that were very influential in the aftermath.

Some of them are Al-Ghozali (philosopher), Al-Zahrawi (psychologist and father of modern surgery), Ibn al-Haytham (father of optics, pioneer of the scientific method, inventor of psychophysics and experimental psychology), Muhammad bin Mūsā al-Khwārizmī (astronomer, and the father of algebra), Jabir bin Hayyan (father of chemistry), Ibn Khaldun (historian, father of demography, historiography, philosophy of history, sociology, and social science), and other figures.

The three things mentioned above have proven that humanism that was born in the renaissance era is not contrary to Islam. In fact, history has proven that Islam is the first pioneer of humanism in the world.