By Achmad Munjid*

For most people of pesantren (traditional Islamic boarding school), Nahdlatul ‘Ulama (NU) is not just an organization. NU is a genuine version of ahl sunnah wa al-jama’ah (or aswaja, means the People of Prophet’s Tradition and Community; the Sunni).

In the words of Abdurrahman Wahid, affectionately known as Gus Dur, aswaja basically means following: a) al-Ash’ary and al-Maturidi in theology; b) one of the fourmadzahib (schools of law): Shafi’i, Maliki, Hanafi or Hanbali in fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence) ; and c) al Junayd and al-Ghazali in Sufism. With its long and rich tradition, for people of pesantren, NU is Islam itself.

Within this setting, Gus Dur can be categorized as a wali (saint).

A wali in sufi tradition is a friend of God, moral guardian and protector for other creation. In our time, what can be more articulate for the true meaning of a wali than Gus Dur’s life?  

Gus Dur’s life is an extraordinary example of tireless struggle for freedom, equality and justice for all deeply rooted in his Islamic faith. His being literally accessible for everyone, made him almost like a crystal to whom every type of group and individual might aspire their hope and being assured in human solidarity: human right activist, politician, philosopher, local cleric, interfaith thinker, feminist, intellectual, artist, student, spiritualist, peasant, religious and ethnic minorities, diffable, author, international leader, you name it.

His simple life had been a rare consolation for over 30 million members of NU, most of whom are grass root people. In 1987, as the Chairman of NU, he still rented a house and frequently used crowded public bus to hang around the city. For years, under the hot Jakarta , let alone AC, even there was no electric fan in his office.

In almost every aspect, Gus Dur is a giant: social class, intellectual capacity, political talent, religious piety. What makes him even much more unusual is his tireless schedule to travel around the country for silaturahmi (maintaining and improving social relation), to meet people, Muslim and non Muslim, to share support and wisdoms. He kept doing this before and after become President,  even after he suffered for years from several strokes, blindness, kidney failure, diabetes, etc. until the last days of his life.

Thanks to this intensive silaturahmi, not only did Gus Dur keep in touch with so many real people with their actual problems around the country or brought great charismatic ulama like Abdullah Faqih of Langitan to national attention. He also gave due recognition and introduced local leaders of remote villages previously unknown, like Shaikh Mas’ud of Cilacap—a collector of rare books written by classical Indonesian Muslim scholars. Many other local leaders, values and wisdoms from thepesantren were ‘discovered’ by Gus Dur for wider public.

Probably, ziarah kubur (grave visit) is his frequent practice most misunderstood both by modernist Muslims and secular groups alike. Regardless of how you may want to understand “the unseen world”—a key principle in Islamic faith—grave visit, especially to those belong to the saints is a very well known practice of spiritual exercise in Sufism throughout the Islamic history.

By performing enough and proper exercises, human spirit will be purified and sensitive. It is this purity and sensitivity that enables a Muslim to translate Islamic faith beyond mere orthodoxy and orthopraxy. By way of ziarah—praying, chanting, dzikr, learning the lessons of the saints, deeply contemplating in the right time and psychological mood—one might get spiritual enlightenment that will draw him/her closer both to God and human beings. That is why, haul (death anniversary) is a popular part of pesantren tradition. Haul is not so much about death anniversary, in fact it is more about the celebration of life and its meaning in relation to the spiritual world.

Gus Dur may never remember my name. But I am among tens of thousands young NU people coming from Indonesian remote areas and traveled this far in many foreign countries around the globe to explore new horizons of ideas and realities thanks to inspiration that he gave and difficult paths he walked with sincerity and courage.

I am part of pesantren generation, millions in number, who was born and raised during the New Order era. We were ignored generation under Soeharto’s political authoritarianism, opportunism and favoritism. Our attitude towards relationship between Islam and modernity was very ambiguous. With no access, we were jealous about the many fascinations of modernity as displayed by Soeharto’s high modernism and development projects. On the other hand, we were so proud of Islamic learning and tradition that kept being accused as backward, irrational, obstacle of national development and even potential enemy of the State.

We knew the government was corrupt, unjust, and anti-Islam but unchallenged. We knew that pesantren is rich and has so much to offer, but we did not know how to unpack it. We were so powerless and got lost.

Together with Nurcholish Madjid and others, it was Gus Dur who has effectively enlightened our “sociological imagination”. To Follow C. Wright Mills (1959), sociological imagination is a capacity that “enables its possessor to understand the larger historical scene in terms of its meaning for the inner life and the external career of a variety of individuals”. It provides the big picture of the world where we live in and how to wisely navigate and transform it accordingly.

Thanks to Gus Dur, we know better that santri does have equally valuable heritage to offer to the modern world and how to present them meaningfully.  That Islam is completely compatible with the principles of modernity. That in order for Islam to be rahmatan lil ‘alamin (God’s mercy for the universe), Muslim should be in sincere dialogue and total engagement with others regardless of their ethnicity, culture, world view and faith.

At time where most people expressed more pessimism to NU, Gus Dur become the loud speaker who assured our optimism. He has unconditional and abundant love for his country, especially NU and more specifically young folks.  “No single Muslim organization on earth has as huge potential as NU,” he said repeatedly and confidently to everybody.

When Ulil-Abshar Abdalla, Sumanto al-Qurtuby, Achmad Tohe and myself formulated the platform for NU Community in North America that we declared in Boston in 2008, many of Gus Dur’s ideas were in our mind.

I enthusiastically supported the idea of Prof. Leonard Swidler, an internationally renowned scholar in inter-religious dialogue, when two years ago he included me in the proposal of Abdurrahman Wahid Chair of Islam in Dialogue at Temple University . In fact, we planned to meet Gus Dur when he will receive First Freedom Award fromFirst Freedom Center in Washington DC this January 14, 2010.

Part of the reason why I am now writing a dissertation on key thinkers of inter-religious dialogue in Indonesia (Gus Dur, Nurcholish Madjid, J.B. Mangunwijaya, Gedong Bagus Oka, Th. Sumartana) is my wish to humbly express intellectual appreciation and gratitude to Gus Dur. I want to further explore how those founding parents of inter-religious dialogue in Indonesia have developed “social imagination” based on each faith tradition for our democratic Indonesia .

The last time I met Gus Dur was in Washington DC after he received Medal of Valor from Simon Wiesenthal Center in 2008. Since all of the figures of my research already died but Gus Dur, I jokingly wished him to “hanging on there” while I am writing. “I’ll go by the schedule,” he chuckled.

And the schedule was December 30, 2009, soon after his final silaturahmi and visit the graveyards of his parents and great father (Hasyim Asy’ari, the founder of NU). Gus Dur used to told V.S. Naipaul “is there anything greater in life than being loved by so many people?,” when sharing his childhood deep memory of the huge crowd of mourners lining up along the streets when Wahid Hasyim, his father, died in 1953. As if to repeat it in a greater scale, tens of thousands of mourners attended Gus Dur’s funeral and millions eyes were weeping and praying for his soul.

Gus Dur is a wali, a friend of God and a faithful guardian of others, especially the marginal, the oppressed among the society and those who struggle for the better world for all. His spirit, ideas, legacy and life example will never leave us. We all mourn your death, but we will always celebrate your life. Gus, in our heart, you will never die!

*Penulis adalah Presiden Komunitas Nahdlatul Ulama Amerika Serikat dan Kanada (KNU-ASK)