Leading Muslim: West must cease to declare criticism of the religious foundation of the extremism as "islamophobic"

The Islamic scholar Kyai Haji Yahya Cholil Staquf is the Secretary General of Indonesia's largest Muslim Association. He talks about Islamic terrorism. The West must cease to declare criticism of the religious foundation of the extremism as "islamophobic", he says.

There is a clear link between fundamentalism, terrorism and basic Islamic orthodoxy, "said Kyai Haji Yahya Cholil Staquf, Secretary General of the largest Muslim Association in Indonesia, in an interview with the "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung". In particular, the relationship between Muslims and non-Muslims, as well as the attitude of Muslims to the state and law, are problematic and lead to segregation and hostility. "Too many Muslims see civilisation, the peaceful coexistence of people of different faiths, as something to be combated," says Yahya Cholil Staquf. The growing fear of the West before Islam is therefore quite understandable. And one must be clear about the connections: "The West must stop thinking that questions about Islam are Islamophobic."

"We have to come to the conclusion that an understanding which sets the traditional norms of Islamic law as absolute is wrong. Religious values ​​and social reality must fit together. And it must be crystal clear that the state laws take precedence, "says the Islamic philosopher in conversation with the Frankfurter Allgemeine.

Kyai Haji Yahya Cholil Staquf comes from a Sunni scholar family. He is General Secretary of the Supreme Council of Nahdlatul Ulama, the largest Muslim association in Indonesia, which is the country with the largest Muslim population worldwide. The community of Nahdlatul Ulama gives its membership as fifty million and at least partly understands itself as moderate. Kyai Haji Yahya Cholil Staquf belongs to the spiritually oriented wing of the organisation.

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