The Constitutional Court staff holding halal bi halal event for Idul Fitri 1440 AH on Monday (10/6) at the Constitutional Court. Photo by Humas MK/Ifa.

JAKARTA, Public Relations of the Constitutional Court—The Constitutional Court staff holding halalbihalal event for Idul Fitri 1440 AH on Monday noon (10/6/2019) after a month’s observance of Ramadhan fasting. Chief Justice Anwar Usman, Deputy Chief Justice Aswanto, Constitutional Justices Manahan M. P. Sitompul, Suhartoyo, and Wahiduddin Adams, as well as former constitutional justices, Secretary General M. Guntur Hamzah, and Constitutional Court staff were in attendance.

In his address, Justice Anwar said that during the last month, all Court staff had struggled to fight their desires and to follow God’s will to fast, as contained in the Quran and following all Muslims that had came before. He said of the meaning of taqwa (conscious and cognizant of God), “Taqwa is, in essence, following all of His commands and staying away from all things that He prohibits.”

He added, “After a whole month of fasting, we were able to fast in accordance with our levels of faith, and to [pass] all tests, including the increasing testing social media statements against the Constitutional Court as a whole, including myself. [My] handshake even received tremendous critique.”

In relation to the heavy responsibilities of constitutional justices, Justice Anwar talked about the Great Imam Abu Hanifa, who had lived in Iran. At that time, he was offered the post of chief judge but declined as he believed that the judge had great responsibilities. He was even arrested for it. After serving his sentence, he was again offered the post, and refused it again. He was put in prison again.

Justice Anwar reminded the justices and staff members to prepare well for the presidential and legislative elections results dispute hearings, with the presidential election dispute hearings starting June 14. The Petitioner is the Candidate Pair No. 2 Prabowo-Sandi, who petitioned against Candidate Pair No. 1 Jokowi-Ma’ruf.

The Istiqlal Mosque imam Nasaruddin Umar, in his proselytizing, talked about silaturrahim. “Silaturrahim comes from two words, sila and rahim. Sila is related to shalat, shalawat, as a component. As for rahim, a hadith mentions that if all versesin the Quran were condensed, the focus would lie on Al Fatihah as the source of Allah’s names and His attributes. Al Fatihah is also called the core of the Quran and holy books,” he said.

Nasaruddin further divided silaturrahim into three ukhuwah (brotherhood): ukhuwah islamiyah (brotherhood among Muslims), ukhuwah wathaniyah (national brotherhood), and ukhuwah basyariyah (brotherhood among all humans). The most important, which is mentioned in the Quran, is ukhuwah makhlukiyah (brotherhood among all creatures).

“It was said once [Prophet Muhammad] helped release a bound deer. The [Prophet], who understood the language of animals, did it because the deer wanted to feed its young. After it did so, it requested that the [Prophet] bind it, which he refused, to let it raise its young,” Nasaruddin said. (Nano Tresna Arfana/LA/Yuniar Widiastuti)