“This is a message from Muhammad ibn Abdullah, as a covenant to those who adopt Christianity, near and far, we are with them.
Verily I, the servants, the helpers, and my followers defend them, because Christians are my citizens; and by God! I hold out against anything that displeases them.
No compulsion is to be on them. Neither are their judges to be removed from their jobs nor their monks from their monasteries. No one is to destroy a house of their religion, to damage it, or to carry anything from it to the Muslims' houses.
Should anyone take any of these, he would spoil God's covenant and disobey His Prophet. Verily, they are my allies and have my secure charter against all that they hate.
No one is to force them to travel or to oblige them to fight. The Muslims are to fight for them. If a female Christian is married to a Muslim, it is not to take place without her approval. She is not to be prevented from visiting her church to pray. Their churches are to be respected. They are neither to be prevented from repairing them nor the sacredness of their covenants.
No one of the nation (Muslims) is to disobey the covenant till the Last Day (end of the world)."
If there is a magic in story writing, and I am convinced that there is, no one has ever been able to reduce it to a recipe…
– John Steinbeck
I suspect that there is no serious scholar who doesn’t like to watch television. I’m just the only one who confesses.
- Umberto Eco, wawancara di The Paris Review
To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect. To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict, or blame their society’s ills on the West — know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy. To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history; but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.
Mas, kayanya ga usahlah bicarain seputar permasalahan agama (jilbab bukan tradisi, tapi emag kewajiban). kalo belom ada ilmunya, jadi keliatan begonya mas.
jangan sok demokrasi-demokrasian, plural-pluralan, HAM-HAMan, itu semua juga masih kontradiksi mas.
dalam Islam jilbab itu wajib, ya udah jangan diganggu keyakinan orang itu. katanya demokratis, kok masih turut campur masalah agama orang.
itu aja sih yang ingin saya omongin. udahlah, mas eka nulis yang mas eka ngerti aja. saya suka kok tlisan2 mas eka.
Dari Komentar tukangtidur di posting Orhan Pamuk: Jilbab Merupakan Tradisi
(Saya pindah ke dapan barangkali ada yang tertarik menanggapinya)
It is nice that, after half a century, Pramoedya Ananta Toer has found a successor. The young Sundanese Eka Kurniawan has published two astonishing novels in the past half-decade. If one considers their often nightmarish plots and characters, one could say there is no hope. But the sheer beauty and elegance of their language, and the exuberance of their imagining, give one the exhilaration of watching the first snowdrops poke their little heads up towards a wintry sky.
(Benedict Anderson, Exit Suharto: Obituary for a Mediocre Tyrant, New Left Review, March-April 2008)
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