Viral Video Of Azan Invites Jihad, Deputy Minister Of Religion: Irrelevant, Indonesia's Peaceful Situation

JAKARTA - Deputy Minister of Religion, Zainut Tauhid Saadi also responded to a viral video of several people announcing the call to prayer accompanied by calls for jihad while holding a sword.

Zainut admitted that he did not understand the context of making the video, whether it was limited to creating social media content or was there a special message to be conveyed.

However, according to him, the call to jihad like war is irrelevant to Indonesia's current situation. Because, according to him, Indonesia's condition was in a state of peace.

"If the call to prayer is intended to convey a message of war, then the call for jihad in the definition of war is irrelevant to conveying in a peaceful situation like in Indonesia today," Zainut said in his statement, Monday, November 30.

Zainut then invited the leaders of Islamic community organizations as well as scholars to be able to provide enlightenment to the community so they would not be trapped in textual interpretation without understanding the context of the verses of the Koran or hadith.

This is because, according to him, an understanding of religion which is only based on textuality can give birth to a narrow and extreme understanding of religion.

"This is where the importance of the leadership of Islamic mass organizations, ulama and kyai to provide enlightenment so that people have a comprehensive religious understanding," said Zainut.

A viral video of people doing the call to prayer while holding a sword went viral on social media. It is not certain where this incident happened. It's just that, the video shows a person doing the call to prayer with several people behind him.

Another video also includes a call to prayer shouting "hayya alal jihad" which means let's have a jihad. Meanwhile, the person behind replied to the cry of jihad by clenching his fists.