"The image of being in the middle position implies that the Muslims should not be trapped in a spectrum of extremity in religion and life," Din Syamsuddin said in his Idul Fitri sermon at Yogyakarta`s North Square.
He said that according to scholars such as Imam al-Ghazali, Islam wass a creed of the middle Way that maintains balance between worldly life and ukhrowi or eschatological matters regarding the ultimate destiny of mankind and the world, and between individual and social lives.
Din said the middle creed can also be applied to various aspects in the daily life of all Muslims.
"As the community with the middle creed, Islam also needs to take up a middle-road position," said the Muhammdiyah leader said.
According to him, the middle road position in religious life also implied that Muslims should not get stuck in extremism
that prioritizes ukhrowi life only and forgets worldly life, or vice versa.
He said Muslims in the middle position could be expressed in the seriousness of living in two worlds as reflected in the words of wisdom, "Act for your world as if you will live forever, and act for the hereafter as if you will die tomorrow."
Din said that Muslims of the middle road could be part of the solution to the problems being faced by the Indonesian nation.
Muslims in Indonesia, according to Din, should be the nation`s problem-solvers but play this role in cooperation with other elements of the nation. (*)
Editor: Aditia Maruli Radja
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
