STUDI ISLAM DI INDONESIA: PELUANG DAN TANTANGAN

Islam is like other religions. Today, it faces contemporary problems which are marked by the passing of values and degradation of morality. The religion is challenged to appear as an authentic moral voice. The religion must face the tendency of pluralism, process it in a new theological framework and make it happen in the actions of plural cooperation, and religion is expected to appear as a pioneer of resistance to all forms of oppression and injustice. The challenge above is difficult to answer because the chaos that occurs within each body of religion often appears to the surface. Understanding of Allah’s absoluteness also makes it easier for people to identify that absoluteness with their absolutes. The belief that all of the above actions will be rewarded with merit, causes violence against adherents of other religions to be considered as part of moral virtue. An eroni thing that is not only contradictory but also dangerous, both for adherents of other religions and for their own religion, because religion which constantly appears contrary to the conscience of humanity will lose its credibility. With the rise of the religious position of the present civilization constellation, religion has become vulnerable to being ridden by political, economic, and cultural interests of certain groups or individuals. If this happens, the religion which was originally expected to be a therapy for the crisis of modernity, will actually be felt as a dangerous disease. Islamic studies must consider new approaches that allow the emergence of a more comprehensive understanding of Islam. Because Islamic religion is studied by placing it on the position of the ulama's thoughts and seeing it interdisciplinaryly as a cultural and social phenomenon which basically rests on the concept of sociology of religion, then the use of social and humanitarian theories in Islamic studies becomes a necessity to produce a model or construct of Islamic thought, which is in accordance with contemporary developments in science. This is what is called the need for a paradigm shift in Islamic studies. Because the historical and philosophical approaches are inadequate, scholars offer to substantially examine religion an approach that allows the religion to show its authentic expression without the intervention of personal values of scholars religious researchers. This has led to the growth of new approaches in the study of religions, including Islam, namely the phenomenological approach. The phenomenological approach and phenomenology of religion are expected to be broader, more self-critical, more sophisticated in recognizing complexity, ambiguity, and a depth of model that is different from what is given, far more sensitive to the complex mediator, interactive, contextual according to the phenomenological task situation and phenomenological characteristics