Civilization Discussion: Capitalism, Socialism and Islam

Yogyakarta—Scientific discussions have been the culture of academics. Coming in various formats, scientists discuss big ideas to come up with new findings that can benefit civilization. This was seen during a Civilization Discussion that Universitas Islam Indonesia (UII) organized at the university’s Prof. Dr. Sardjito Building on Tuesday, 17 October 2023.

Packaged in review format of the book Kapitalisme Religius: Peradaban Islam Masa Depan (Religious Capitalism: Future Islamic Civilization), the event brought the theme Capitalism, Socialism and Islam as the umbrella topic. The book was written by Suwarsono Muhammad, who was also one of the panelists in the discussion.

With Suwarsono were Prof. Musa Asy’arie and Yudi Latif, M.A., Ph.D. as reviewers and discussants. UII Rector Prof. Fathul Wahid, S.T., M.Sc., Ph.D., Vice Rector for Resources & Career Development Prof. Dr. Zaenal Arifin, M.Si. and Vice Rector for Student, Religious, & Alumni Affairs Dr. Drs. Rohidin, S.H., M.Ag. were among the audience of this discussion.

Opening the event, Prof. Fathul Wahid mentioned the session as the opening of a series of discussions on more critical topics and hoped that it could become a good start to open the eyes, thoughts and hearts of UII family members. The theme of this discussion, he said, is an imagination of the future, especially of Islamic civilization.

Prof. Fathul Wahid said discussing about what the future would look like was critical to embrace multiple possibilities of the future. “Going forward, what we need is collective multiple images. We don’t talk about the future, but futures—plural,” he said.

Going forward, the rector hopes for more discussions of future imaginations. “If we don’t design our own future, then someone else will design it for us,” he said, closing his remarks.

Opening the review session, Musa Asy’arie responded to author’s point on the problematic issue of the ability of religiosity in regulating capitalism. Musa cited religious capitalism as being byond capitalism wrapped in sharia clothing.

Musa went on to say that Pancasila was a set of values that was in line with the principals of maqashidus syariah, which would basically encourage ideal economic practices on its own. “There’s no basis to contrapose Pancasila with Islam because the essence of Pancasila is maqashidus syariah,” he said.

“Religious capitalism is not capitalism dominating religiosity, but instead religiosity that controls capitalism. If not, there will be inequality,” Musa added.

The other speaker, Yudi Latif, used a different approach in his review. He believes that civilizations that will survive are those that maintain religiosity in their hearts. Their survival will also rely on knowledge and mastery of technology, meaning that without those, the civilization will not be capable of radiating others.

Yudi praised this book for offering a strategy to achieve the advancement of Islamic civilization. Instead of reproducing other thoughts, he said the book offered a strategy of civilization reconstruction. This was done by viewing history not in chronological order, but rather by selecting the substantive advancements recorded in history.

Closing the session, author Suwarsono Muhammad responded to the two speakers’ thoughts and shared more information for the audience. In a speech on “A Peaceful Resolution Proposal: A Cooperation Strategy”, he said the one key strategy to advance a civilization was their acknowledgement and acceptance of setbacks so that they could devise ways to revive.

Suwarsono Muhammad also reiterated the three main questions that book tried to answer: Does Islamic civilization have the chance to revive? What are the strategies to answer this first question? Will a success become more visible if done through a peaceful revolution?

According to War—how Suwarsono is usually called—the state’s intervention during the Prophet Muhammad SAW’s era to produce regulations, such as prohibition of bidding goods at high prices and intercepting goods before they reach the market that is then analogous to proposing marriage, triggered the idea of social capitalism.

“The idea of religious capitalism came from the state’s intervention, a mixture of capitalism and socialism, which in the book is referred to as social materialism,” he said.

This inaugural event in the series of civilization discussion ended with a scientific dialog between attending lecturers and students. The audience shared ideas and asked questions to both the author and discussants. (Hizbi/Dilla)

Suwarsono Muhammad (left) presented his thoughts in the book titled Kapitalisme Religius: Peradaban Islam Masa Depan (Religious Capitalism: Future Islamic Civilization). (VIP Magazine Vol 10)