PERSIS and the spirit of amar maruf nahi munkar

Jakarta. The fighting spirit of the Persatuan Islam (PERSIS) Muslim group for amar maruf nahi munkar (doing what is right and rejecting what is wrong) is reflected on what the organization’s leaders had exemplified. Vice President President Jusuf Kalla stated this when officially opening the 15th PERSIS national congress at Pondok Gede Hajj Dormitory in Jakarta today.
He then highlighted the role of Ahmad Hassan, the founder of PERSIS, who intensely made correspondence with the first Indonesian President Soekarno. “Without Islamic ideology as Ahmad Hassan communicated, Islam in Indonesia would probably be different to Islam as we know today,” the Vice President said.

He also drew attention to the late Muhammad Natsir, another PERSIS prominent figure, who once became prime minister in the Soekarno era. “He was such a brave person who dare to correct what he perceived as wrong on Bung Karno (Soekarno’s popular name), that nobody might do so,” he said.

This, according to Mr Kalla, is the good example of the spirit of amar maruf nahi munkar that should be followed by the young generation.

“Another point we can learn from the history is that those leaders respected to each other despite their different views. This is what united us as a nation,” he affirmed.

The congress is set to last from 20 to 23 November 2015 and attended by representative from PERSIS branches in 8 provinces and some foreign countries, with approximately 1,500 participants and observers.