August 2, 2018

SALATIGA-Graduate School of State Institute of Islamic Studies (IAIN) Salatiga holds the International Conference on Islam and Muslim Societies (ICONIS) from August 1-2 at the Ballroom of Merapi in Laras Asri Hotel, Salatiga. The ICONIS participants come from various state/private universities in Indonesia as well as representatives from abroad.

Prof. Dr. Zakiyudin Badawi, M.Ag., Graduate School Director of IAIN Salatiga in his speech at the same time opened the event said that this first ICONIS was held as a solemn form of Postgraduate Program of IAIN Salatiga to implement the vision as one of “Islamic Reference Center” in Central Java and Indonesia. “We continue to work hard according to the road map to achieve the milestones of the vision,” said Prof. Zaki, on Wednesday (01/08).

Thanks to God’s grace and systematic work this journal has been indexed Scopus since August 13, 2017, and indexed Scimago Journal Ranking (SJR) in the next nine months, exactly June 2019. The theme of this conference is “Being Muslim in a Disrupted Millenial Age”.

The conference was motivated by the reality of the real challenges of the generation and the millennial era. It is suspected that 2020-2030, Indonesia will feel a demographic bonus. Of course, demographic bonuses have an impact on increasing the number of young people, or more specifically, millennial generations. With such great potential, Indonesian Muslim youth are given a choice: To let the hate narration expand its space, or to present a counter-narrative, through viralization of millennial-style virtues.

“We hope that in the coming years this conference can be accessed and attended by more scholars from abroad so that it has a strong resonance on the issues being discussed,” explained the Director of Postgraduate.

Meanwhile, Prof. Dr. M. Din Syamsuddin, M.A. in his presentation became a keynote speaker guided by Noor Maliha, M.Hum., Ph.D. said with the 4th industrial revolution, in this millennial era there were many challenges. The thing that must be done by millennial generation is how to turn the challenge into an opportunity.

Prof. Din also said, as a Muslim (religious community), then in this era of disruption, religion must be a tool to achieve a better life. One of them is the existence of interfaith dialogue in which the aim is not to equate beliefs, but to produce ethical values ​​among religious communities.

“For this reason, communication is needed with vertical spiral motion. There needs to be collaboration and cooperation between civilizations, communities, religions, or even between non-believers, intellectuals or anyone. In essence, there must be a  grand coalition with all people especially in Indonesia, and throughout the world in general, “he explained. (zid/MFL/IO)