Gus Dur and His Jokes

A person's story that has inspired me is Gus Dur's story. Gus Dur, who is also known as KH Abdurrahman Wahid, is a great Muslim leader of Indonesia. He comes from a strong Islam tradition. His grandfather is the founder of Nahdlatul Ulama, the biggest Muslim organization in Indonesia. His father is also a great ulema, who once became a minister of religion. Gus Dur himself underwent intensive religious education in Indonesia and abroad. Later, he held the highest executive leadership position at the organization, his grandfather founded. During a political transition, after Suharto regime's downfall, Gus Dur was successfully elected as the president of Republic Indonesia. Despite of all his successes, he faced several bitter failures, including being dethroned from his president position in 2001. He was also considered being too controversial. His controversy often raised strong resistance from religious groups. He was marked as being liberal. Yet, he argues that his stand is actually a representation of “friendly Islam, not angry Islam” (in Indonesian: “Islam yang ramah, bukan yang marah”). Even, he is a fervent supporter to protect minority rights. This idea is shown in many actions and statements he made. Interestingly, he used many jokes to tell a message. Some of them are following.

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At the gate of heaven, there was a debate among three religious leaders and an angel who guards the gate. Those three religious leaders, a monk, an imam and a pastor, thought oneself should have entered heaven first, as their service and piety during their life. Suddenly, a young guy who looks dirty and smelly came. The angel checked its book for a while, and then let the young guy enter. Surely, those three religious leaders protested harshly against this unfair treatment.
“Who was he?” asked the monk.
“He was a public bus driver?” answered the angel.
“A driver? So what has he done?” asked the pastor.
“He often drove carelessly because he got drunk.”
“Oh unbelievable! He often got drunk and he gets privilege to enter heaven, even earlier than us?!”
the imam and the other two were extremely upset.
“You should understand. Because of him, many people who rode with him, pray to God so sincerely. At the same time, many people got so sleepy while you deliver your sermon that even they do not pray anymore.” the angel explained.


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“Which religious believer is the closest to God?” asked Gus Dur.
“Hindu people, they are pretty close to God. They say “Ohm”¹ to open their prayer. Christian even is much closer to God. They call God “Father”.”
“Then, do you know who is the furthest?”
“Muslim.”
“They need a loudspeaker to call God.”²

While I am fully aware that not everyone will support or agree with such kind of humor, I still see those humorous stories told by Gus Dur powerful. They indeed influence my perspective and impressions not only about Gus Dur and Muslim, but also about human, society, life and even God. Gus Dur, as a religious leader, civil society leader, and state leader, has eloquently mastered skills to tell jokes and stories. Therefore he is considered as an influential figure by many in Indonesia (He also gets acknowledgment and high appreciation from international public). The stories may be (a bit) sarcastic. Yet, as Oscar Wilde said, “Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit, but the highest form of intelligence.”


¹ A similar pronunciation, “Om” in Indonesia is a common word used to call “Uncle.” It actually comes from the Dutch word, which has the same meaning.
² In Indonesia, almost every mosque is equipped with loudspeaker that can make call for prayer (adhan) or prayer be heard to as many people as possible outside the mosque building. ³ In fact, some religious groups were offended.