Social Conflict in Indonesia: Safeguarding a Nation as a New Approach for Resolving National Disintegration

The phenomenon of disintegration in Indonesia has been occurring since the political reforms that started in 1998. Various acts of radicalism and terrorism emerged in many parts of the country, eroding the national sense of identity and unity. If this situation is not dealt with appropriately, how will it affect the nation’s unity and sovereignty? It is therefore essential to search the Islamic body of knowledge for a concept that may help solve the problem. This study takes the form of library research employing the discourse analysis method. Through this study, we discovered that Islam offers a concept for safeguarding the sovereignty and unity of a nation, one that has not yet been extensively explored by previous scholars, namely maqāṣid sharī‘ah in the form of ḥifẓ al-dawlah (safeguarding a nation). There will hopefully be other comprehensive studies in the future to bring forth other leading concepts for preserving national unity and integrity.