Journal of Indonesian Islam
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RELIGION AND LOCAL POLITICS: Exploring the Subcultures and the Political Participation of East Java NU Elites in the Post-New Order Era
Get PDFThe history of the involvement of NU in politics cannot be separated from the elites of this organization in East Java. The variety of cultures that flourishes in the province strongly influences the nature and characteristics of the NU elites. This paper is an attempt to deal with the relationship between those subcultures and political participation. It focuses only on five subcultures, Mataraman, coastal areas, Arek, Madurese, and Pendalungan. The NU kiais are perceived by their followers to have played double roles as religious leaders (dealing with spiritual aspects) and community leaders (relating to socio-political aspects). Locality and its growing culture become a key factor. Locality makes a contribution to the growth of understanding about politics. Mataraman NU elites always keep their relationship with formal religious issues, and there is a tendency among them to separate religion from politics. In contrast, Madura, Pendalungan, Pesisiran (north coast), and Arek areas tend to combine religion and politics
AHMADIYAH AND THE FREEDOM OF RELIGION IN INDONESIA
Get PDFThis article analyzes the violence and Joint Ministerial Decree against Jamaah Ahmadiyah Indonesia (JAI), especially relating to freedom of religion. It argues that Indonesia has ratified the International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) which guarantees the freedom of religion. In addition, Indonesia has also passed laws regarding the freedom of religion such as those in the 1945 constitution. However, these legal foundations have failed to guarantee freedom of religion in Indonesia. The violence against JAI is the proof of this Not only did the government let the incidents occur, but it also issued a Joint Ministerial Decree condemning the activities of JAI. The situation was exacerbated by the fatwa> of the Council of Indonesian `Ulama’ (MUI) which led to more attacks against JAI throughout the country. The article finds that the issuance of the decree was not based on need or legal basis but was an attempt to please radical groups in society
الاسلام الشعبي دراسة عن معنى إقامة شعائر دورات الحياة وزيارة مقابرالأولياء عند جماعة جمعيّة نهضة العلماء في منطقة وارو جاوا الشرقيّة أندونيسيا
Get PDFThis paper deals with two practices of popular Islam (the rites of passage and the visit to the tomb of the saints) in Waru, East Java by the community of Nahdlatul Ulama (NU). It is an attempt to understand the genuine meaning of those practices by studying the factors that may trigger their rise, and also by investigating the conceptual categorization of modernity in relation to religion and its traditions. The paper exposes three variants of Muslims. The first is the reformist NU which tends to reject the practices on ground that they are forms of bid’ah. The second is the normative NU, which believes that these practices are not bid’ah because they have their legitimate and normative foundation in Islam. The third is the traditionalist-syncretistic NU, which holds the belief that those practices are passed down from forefathers and must therefore be preserved. This last group practices these rites without any association whatsoever with the idea of bid’ah
حامكا وجهوده فى تفسير القرآن الكريم بإندونيسيا فى كتابه الأزهر
Get PDFA great Indonesian scholar, Hamka was a politician, novelist, cultural activist and above all religious scholar. His scholarly works cover so many different areas, but he was most well-known as a Qur’anic interpreter. His al-Azhar, a book of Qur’anic interpretation has won him both fame and respect up to this time in Indonesia and abroad. This paper is particularly interested in exploring the content of this book and in discussing the basic ideas underlining it. It is also interested in discussing the method of Hamka in tafsir, fiqh, the general characteristics of the book as well as the epistemological relationship between al-Azhar and especially al-Manar by a great Egyptian scholar, Muhammad `Abduh. The paper particularly argues that Hamka and his thought have exerted a great influence on social, cultural, and intellectual aspect in Indonesia
أسطورة مَجْلَبَة الثَرَاء في منظور تقاليد الحياة الدينية لدى طائفة من المسلمين الموالين للتقاليد الجاوية
Get PDFThis paper deals with the problem of the visit to the sacred sites by the nominal Muslims of Java and its religious, social and cultural ramification. It argues that the dialectic expression of the visitors depends very much on the cultural setting of the sites they visit. It specifically identifies three groups of expression, abangan deles (purely nominal), putihan campuran (half-heartedly puritan) and bisnisan gak ngalor gak ngidul (inconsistent commercialists). The first group tends to be magical-emotional, the second is magical-rational, and the third is empirical-rational. Despite this difference in mythical expression, the three groups share the mythical experience. The paper goes on to say that if Islam is understood in mythical sense, it must be tolerant, adaptive, collaborative, acculturative, and transformative
PLURALISM DISCOURSE: The Views of Young Muhammadiyah Intellectuals
Get PDFThis article discusses the issue of religious pluralism in the perspective of young Muhammadiyah intellectuals. It aims at understanding the social construction and configuration of this issue. It uses as an approach the sociology of knowledge, emphasising the interrelatedness of the product of thought and social background. It argues that the understanding of religious pluralism of young Muhammadiyah intellectuals varies. Those who accept religious pluralism and those who reject it have different understandings on this concept. Some embrace religious pluralism because of social, political, anthropological, philosophical, and theological perspectives. For them, pluralism is different from plurality, tolerance, and relativism. Those who reject religious pluralism perceive the idea of pluralism from philosophical and theological perspectives. In this sense, pluralism is understood as relativism. Their different views and attitudes are due to their different social construction namely education, social interaction, and the genealogy of knowledge
MILITANT AND LIBERAL ISLAM: The Unwanted Twin Children of Modernization – An Indonesian Experience
Get PDFThis paper examines Islamic militancy and liberalism as particular phenomena resulting from a complex interplay between Islam and modernity within the context of Indonesia. The development of both groups is highly conditioned and shaped by modernization. The difference in backgrounds leads further to different directions in understanding and practicing Islam among both groups. Nevertheless, the present day contest between the liberals and the militants over the ‘right’ place of Islam in Indonesia has deep roots in the past and reflects Muslims’ theological, historical, socio-political and intellectual struggle before modernity. Accelerated by the huge modernization project, the emergence of militancy and liberalism articulates the dynamics of Indonesian Muslims’ negotiation with Islam, the modern world, and their social reality. This paper examines the dialectical interaction between the two different groups of Muslims, in response particularly to the relationship between Islam and modernity
SUFFERING FROM ‘POLITICAL EXHAUSTION’: The Dynamics of Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) in Indonesia’s Political Arena
Get PDFBook Review:Book title:Nahdlatul Ulama and the Struggle for Power within Islam and Politics in IndonesiaAuthor:Robin BushNo. of Pages:xx + 236Year:2009Publisher:The Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapor
PESANTREN AND PARTICIPATORY DEVELOPMENT: The Case of the Pesantren Maslakul Huda of Kajen, Pati, Central Java
Get PDFThis chapter discusses the implementation of participatory development in the pesantren Maslakul Huda of Kajen, Pati, Central Java. It argues that participatory development in the pesantren Maslakul Huda has led to the creation of genuine participation in which local people are able to identify their own problems and potentials, and to create alternative solutions. The role of the kyai in this pesantren is limited to giving Islamic justification to the acceptance of participatory development, and program implementation is in the hands of senior santris and village facilitators. The use of participatory action research and the creation of the self-help group as a people’s forum enable them to express their own perspective on their problems without the kyai’s interference. However, the pesantren utilises participatory development to enhance its economic position among the local people
MANUFACTURING THE “ONTOLOGICAL ENEMY”: Socio-Political Construction of anti-Democracy Discourses among HTI Activists in Post-New Order Indonesia
Get PDFThe Indonesian Islamists’ rejection of democracy, as this paper will demonstrate, is not monolithic; it is complex and multifaceted that is accompanied by a long process of argument building. This paper focuses its scope of analysis on Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia (HTI), a Middle Eastern-derived “transnational” Islamist movement that seeks to unite all Muslim nations all over the world under a Caliphate system. This paper argues that, in developing counter-discourses on democracy, the HTI activists employ both theological approach and modern socio-political narratives. It is also argued that the concept of enemy constructed by the HTI activists serves only as an ontological venture, and not existential one, for the purpose of self-fulfilling prophecy. The process of construction of the enemy follows the mode of binary opposition between the “authentic self” and the “corrupted other.” This paper borrows much of its theoretical framework from Saphiro, Foucault, Berger and Luckmann, and still many others