OPENING SPEECH, ISSLAMS 2018 Faculty of Sharia IAIN Surakarta

By Rector of  State Islamic Institute of Surakarta
Dr. H. Mudofir Abdullah, M.Pd.

The honorable speakers

The respected officials of the State Islamic Institute of Surakarta (IAIN Surakarta)

The distinguished guests, delegates, and  participants of this International Seminar

Assalamu’alaikum wr. wb.

It is indeed a great honor and a pleasure for me to welcome you all to this international Seminar entitled “Sharia, Law, and Moslem Society’ administered by the Faculty of Shariah, the State Islamic Institute of Surakarta ( IAIN Surakarta). I hope that this seminar may open new insights into challenges and opportunities for the legal theorists and practitioners (particularly in the Islamic laws) within the Indonesian society.

We realize that social and cultural changes are moving so fast. These bring changes in various fields particularly in the religious, legal, economic, political, and defense-security fields. Most of the changes have been encouraged by various new inventions in science and technology. The inventions so hard break the existing social, legal, economic, political, and religious order, which tears down most of the established and traditional things. The trend break occurs in all fields, and novelties come and go. Then, we are forced to evaluate who has been regarded as “a good person” at this time, performs better in the future. This is the era which is referred to as disruption era that has ruined almost the existing established things including those in the field of law and religious sciences.

The discussion on digital disruption has currently flooded mass media and electronic media. The digital disruption has even awaken us to take necessary measures to survive from the collapse not only in the economic, political, and educational fields but also in the Islamic legal field,  which will be presented and discussed by the honorable (keynote/plenary) speakers of this international seminar.

The disruption era marks the presence of Industrial Revolution 4.0, which is characterized by supercomputers, smart robots, automations, autonomous vehicles, and neurotechnology development which enables human beings to optimize brain function. All of these are operated with internet as the main pillar which is called internet of things. With such characteristics, there will be a leap of changes in various areas of life, including those in the field of law and Islamic studies.

The history of modern human beings has been marked by four industrial Revolutions. First is Industrial Revolution 1.0. It was marked by the invention of the steam engine which replaced human and animal power. The second is Industrial Revolution 2.0 which was marked by the use of electricity as power resource for industrial world and activities of life. The third is Industrial Revolution 3.0, which was marked by the birth of internet. The last is Industrial Revolution 4.0 which has been marked by the internet of things, whose impacts are faster, more massive, and broader, and even it reaches out every corner of the space world. Surely, the birth of Industrial Revolution 4.0 will be followed by the birth of excessive consumption, complex life problems, and the emergence of broader more complex, and more complicated legal issues. Therefore, doing changes and giving the right responses to the challenges that occur have become a total absoluteness. Those have become our responsibilities as a group of campus community elites.

In the Islamic legal context in this digital era, ijtihad movement is necessary to be performed through research activities so as to find main concepts  that are appropriate to encounter the current and future huge and fast challenges. I hope, distinguished ladies and gentlemen, that this international seminar will generate a number of fresh ideas to answer those challenges. I am very convinced that the presence of you, prominent experts, in this seminar will serve and contribute to the main concepts aforementioned so that they become materials of research of students in the future. Thank you.

Wassalamu’alaikum wr wb.


Surakarta, May 07th, 2018