Renowned Sufi
Master Joins Libforall Leadership in Promoting Religious Tolerance
JAKARTA, INDONESIA
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Renowed Sufi master Kyai Haji Luqman Hakim led a
nationally-televised iftaar (breaking of the Ramadhan fast)
attended by fans of the rock group Dewa, at Libforall board member
Ahmad Dhani's recording studio in South Jakarta on October 22, 2005.
Hakim is also chief editor of Cahaya Sufi (Sufi
Radiance), a popular magazine that promotes Islamic spirituality
and tolerance throughout Indonesia.
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Hakim discusses the value of Ramadhan (the
fasting month, during which Muslims generally abstain from all
food and beverages from sunrise to sunset) for developing one's
character, and an attitude of tolerance and kindness towards
others, based on the experience of divine love.
Typical of Indonesia's tradition of religious
harmony (which Wahhabi-financed extremists seek to destroy) is
the presence of Dewa's lead singer, Once (rear left), an
evangelical Christian, at this Muslim fasting ceremony.
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Dewa musicians, fans and staff performing the tarawih Ramadhan
prayers, led by Sufi master Kyai Haji Luqman Hakim and filmed by
Indonesian journalists (background). |
Radical Islamist groups have sought to portray Ahmad Dhani as
an infidel, apostate and Zionist agent, because of his
courageous efforts to marginalize religious extremism and
discredit the use of terror. Events such as this reinforce
in the public awareness that Dhani is, in fact, a devout
Sufi Muslim ~ committed to promoting a
tolerant, inclusive vision of Islam in which there is no
place for hatred or religiously-motivated violence
(newspaper and television journalists in the background,
filming the group prayer).
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Female fans, staff and family members pray in the
studio, amid the group's drums and other instruments.
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| Libforall CEO Holland Taylor (right) and Sufi
master Kyai Haji Luqman Hakim (second from right) discussing the
inroads of radical Islam (Wahhabism) in Indonesia, and the
threat this poses to religious freedom and diversity. |
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