Bay‘ah: Ideologi Pemersatu dan Negosiasi Masyarakat di Ruang Publik

Abstract

This article aims to analyse the rise of bay‘a. It is often perceived of the seed of early civilised society after passing through a series of negotiation involving primordial and territorial interests. Theoretically, ba‘ya is a form of relationship between religion and the state that integrate citizens regardless their race, ethnicity and colour in a public space. This article argues that Islam appears to be the pioneer of the concept of unity in public space, which was always in a state of competition leading to tensions and conflicts on the ground of primordial identities. The bay‘a was exactly a response to such tension on public space. It promotes “awareness of plurality” to combat horizontal conflict between race and ethics. In the global context, this awareness is part of the argument of legal pluralism to analyse several primordial interests, and also to prevent social conflict. So, plural identities can be unified by Islam through bay‘a as a concept whose realization is able to unify plural society in public domains