Writing is the main job of a philosopher. Almost all philosophers since the Greek period up to today have been known through their writings. Writing is the soul of the philosopher. If a philosopher does not write, their ingenuity will be quickly forgotten.
Realising the importance of writing, Faculty of Philosophy UGM started the new lecture in 2018 by hosting a general lecture themed Creative-Intuitive Process in the Writing Domain, presenting the writer of a best-seller novel Ayat-ayat Cinta, Habiburrahman El Shirazy.
Habiburrahman said each writer had their own style of writing. He said intuition or in Islamic term hunch, is the most important source of inspiration for his creative process. Intuition cannot be measured as it is very subjective. But he said each writer had a typical intuitive character, which made them authentic.
Habiburrahman said his novels had been born in the process of actualisation of his love for knowledge and life. He earned the inspiration of love when he became a student in the Futuhiyah Islamic boarding school in Mranggen Demak, Central Java. Later he learned Islamic poetry in MAPK Surakarta, then Al-Azhar University in Cairo.
“Since I was a child, I had wanted to study in great depth. I deliberately went to Cairo to see the place of my favourite writer Sheikh Jalaluddin as-Suyuthi, who had written over 600 books. His life was very productive,” he said.
Habiburrahman further said that it was not seldom that a writer would find a deadlock when writing. This can be caused by three things, according to the novelist, which are the idea is not matured, the writer lacks of vocabularies, or fatigueness. He said also that no one could help a writer except himself.
Dean of Faculty of Philosophy UGM, Dr. Arqom Kuswanjono, in his speech said that writing was the key to civilisation. He hoped that by inviting productive writers who were known by the wider public to the lecture would inspire the Philosophy students of UGM to produce high quality philosophical works.