QIJIS (Qudus International Journal of Islamic Studies)
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Portrait of Indonesian Religious Communities Attitudes toward the Government Policies Restriction on Congregational Worshipping
Full text linkMany offenses have been perpetrated by Indonesian religious communities toward the government’s policies on the restriction of congregational worshipping during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, scant studies investigating those negative attitudes using a qualitative approach. In order to fill the gap, this paper reports on the religious attitudes of Muslims who are considered to violate the restriction policy on religious activities ordered by the Indonesian government. The involved participants were policymakers, mosque caretakers, and the three largest Muslim social groups, including Muhammadiyah, Nahdlatul Ulema (NU), and traditionalists. The results of this study revealed discrepancies in how Muslims' polarized religious attitudes are constructed. These communities have different patterns of thought and diversity in terms of perceiving the government’s policies. This study suggests that there is a critical role for Islamic scholars in educating Muslims about the dangers and possible consequences of COVID-19. In other words, following government policies while partaking in congregational worship can be interpreted as a manifestation of social piety, spiritual activity, and religious faith
Muslim-Christian Conflict and the Rise of Laskar Jihad: Tracing Islamophobia in Central Sulawesi – Indonesia
Full text linkThis anthropological research investigates Muslim-Christian conflict and the rise of Laskar Jihad that affects Islamophobia in Central Sulawesi. Islamophobia appeared on the global political surface after the 9/11 tragedy, taking the world's attention to Muslim society. However, we cannot argue that, in recent decades, the media have depicted Muslim culture as backward, uneducated, bad, radical, terrorist, or with all negative images. Even so, Islam is often associated as a religion that supports violence and war. These illustrations depict Islamophobia as a global political threat. However, Islamophobia occurs not only in Western countries, but also in Indonesia, the country with the largest Muslim population in the world. This research explores the phenomenon of Islamophobia in Indonesia. The study focuses primarily on the island of Sulawesi, where the rise of Laskar Jihad organizations, Muslim-Christian conflict, violent extremism, and Islamophobia are interrelated. This research is based on an anthropological approach for which the author conducted fieldwork in Central Sulawesi. Data collection was also taken from online media that can be understood as digital anthropology. In addition, this research paper examines the theory of prejudice. Prejudice is discussed based on facts, but also from perceptions, actions, language, symbols, and the media, to individuals or groups. The research findings show that the first element of Islamophobia in Central Sulawesi is associated with the Muslim-Christian dispute in the late 1990s. Islamophobia's second element relates to the transnational Islamic movement and the rise of Laskar Jihad after reformation
Pesantren for Middle-Class Muslims in Indonesia (Between Religious Commodification and Pious Neoliberalism)
Full text linkResearch about Islamic educational institutions, the market and the rise of the new Muslim middle-class in Indonesian society has mainly focused on schools. Its correlation with pesantren (Islamic boarding schools) as Islamic education providers has not yet been deeply portrayed. This paper aims to identify changes in pesantren management practices in relation to the growth of the Muslim middle-class and questions whether pesantren management practices intended to cater for the middle-class segment of society can be categorized as commodification or as acts of pious neoliberalism. As a preliminary examination, this paper was based on extensive literature and media research, interviews with teachers and parents in pesantren, and non-participant observation. This research highlights three different strategies developed by pesantren to respond to the growing size of the Muslim middle-class in Java, Indonesia: ‘developing’, ‘inserting’ and ‘creating’ new pesantren education programs. Three models are highlighted here in three select pesantren in Java: Firstly, a pesantren established and designed to accommodate middle-class Muslims that employs an approach that is an amalgamation between religious education and international educational standards. Secondly, a well-established traditional pesantren which built new ‘elite’ buildings to respond to demand from middle-class Muslims. And thirdly, a pesantren that targets urban middle-class students of all ages who have limited religious knowledge and which mainly focuses on a tahfidz program (memorizing of the Qur’an) through creating a ‘friendly’ image of learning the Qur’an. These pesantren maintain a deeply religious curriculum similar to traditional pesantren and provide good facilities for students but charge high fees for education, and as such may connotate a commodification practice. Using Mona Atia’s concept of pious neoliberalism, the writer questions whether the fusion of religious practices of any kind, commodification and adjustment to market logic, in this context, might be better understood as pious neoliberalism. In this sense, the commodification practices in the examples offered here should not always bear a pejorative meaning. While admitting that global changes have introduced new challenges to the Muslim community and in relation to Islamic education, it is hoped that this article will encourage further discussion and investigation on the subject of the changing nature of provision and management of Islamic educational institutions, in particular pesantren, in Indonesia
Regimented Islamophobia : Islam, State, and Governmentality in Indonesia
Full text linkThis article discusses the arts of governing Islam in Indonesia, a majority Muslim country, which is neither secular nor Islamic. It tries to explain how the premise of governmentality is modelled into the state structure and politics. Rather than seeing Islamophobia as a cultural practice, the article argues that Islamophobia develops partly because of power relations between the ruler and the ruled, or as I call it “regimented Islamophobia”. It is the fear of “Islamic threats” – whether real or imagined – that is deemed as a potent challenge to regimes’ power and authority. While the notion of majority-minority relation remains essential to analyse the forms of Islamophobia, this article offers a new insight of how political regimes exercise “governmentality practices” or the arts of governing Islam and controlling Muslim aspirations. This practice of governmentality is a key strategy to pacify Islam during the colonial and post-colonial Indonesia. As far as Indonesian political history is concerned, this governmentality practice is old wine in a new bottle; it is the technique Dutch colonial government and the regimes following the Indonesian independence have exercised for subjugating Islam and controlling aspirations of its believers
Niqab, Protest Movement, and the Salafization of Indonesian Islam
Full text linkThis study aims to reveal the niqab as a protest movement and an instrument of regeneration (salafization) for Salafi Muslim women in Indonesia. The niqab has been one of the important symbols in the Salafi Islamic movement and has been the main dress for Salafi Muslim women. This study is of importance since the existing niqab studies are more related to religious identity, culture, motivation, stigma, and stereotypes. Data in this phenomenological research were obtained through interviews, observations, and documentation involving the niqab-wearing women from Salafi Islam activists at Majlis Ta’lim Al-Izzah of Pekalongan and Pondok Pesantren SJR Al-Salafy of Yogyakarta. The data were then analyzed with the Moustakas’ model. This study has shown that the niqab in the internal circle of Salafi Islam has a plural meaning. Among Salafi Muslims, it not only functions as a cultural identity or a symbol of piety in religion but also holds the spirit of protest, resistance, struggle, and an instrument of da’wah to expand the influence of Salafi ideology. That is, the niqab has become a symbol of resistance to both the hegemony of religiosity and the established dressing culture for Indonesian Muslim women. It is also a symbol of the struggle towards the kaffah Islam and an essential instrument for the regeneration of Salafi Islam. Overall, the niqab phenomenon in Indonesia indicates that the salafization in Indonesian Islam has been running in a structured, massive, and sustainable way
Digital Philanthropy: The Practice of Giving Among Middle to Upper-Class Muslim in Indonesia and Soft Capitalism
Full text linkAcademic discussions on transforming the culture of giving have shifted from direct assistance to long-term empowerment programs due to technology, communication, and informatics development. Therefore, this research aims to describe the practice of digital philanthropy in e-commerce and social enterprises. Data were collected from online-based e-commerce and social enterprise companies in Indonesia that have provided digital giving practice spaces through virtual ethnographic methods, interviews, and online documentation in Indonesia. These platforms include Bukalapak.com, Tokopedia.com, Sedekahonline.com, and kitabisa.com. The results provide an overview to the Muslim community on the practice of digital philanthropy. In addition, this research also provides an overview of the importance of building partners and program campaigns for the digital financial services industry and Islamic philanthropic institutions
Observing Islam With Ethics: From Hatred Theology to Religious Ethics
Full text linkThe emergence of religious phenomena that lead certain Muslim groups in Indonesia to spread hatred (religious hate speech) became the primary rationale of this article. This phenomenon occurred because some Muslim groups consider their religious understanding to be the only actual theological truth while ignoring religious ethics in a religiously plural society. Therefore, some questions were raised: Firstly, what is the conceptual structure of Islam? Secondly, what does Islam teach its believers in regards to living together within the Islamic community and living among believers of other different religions? The method of ethics was employed to analyze the two research questions by describing, analyzing, and criticizing the attitude of the Islamic movement, which spreads hatred. From this article, it is expected that Muslims should emphasize not only religious theological but also ethical truth. The findings are as follows: firstly, the conceptual structure of Islam comprises of threefold: Islam, Iman, and Ihsan, which culminate in Ihsan, Sufism, and ethics. Secondly, in regards to becoming a Muslim and embracing it among believers of other religions, Islam essentially relates its religious and theological truth to the religious ethic (the ethic of al-Qur’an), which combines three elements of ethics: God’s, religious, and social ethics. The two latter ethics should always refer to God’s affirmative ethics, for instance, with His Divine attributes of The Most Merciful and Just. God has mercy on human beings and treats all of them justly. Likewise, human beings essentially should do the same in relation to God and fellow human beings
Becoming the State-Funded Madrasah or Retaining Autonomy: The Case of Two Madrasahs in Kelantan
Full text linkMalaysia witnessed the rise of Islamic education more than a century ago, partly evidenced by the establishment of traditional Islamic education institutions called pondok or madrasah. Starting in the nineteenth century, Islamic pondok schools spread in Malaysia, founded by ‘ulama (Islamic scholars) who gained financial support from the community. As time went by, many pondok, previously supported by civil society, began to face financial difficulties because of the changing political landscape, economic situation, the death of their founders, and changes in government policy. This paper investigates the experiences of two madrasahs in the state of Kelantan in Malaysia and the strategies they have adopted to resolve their financial issues. This paper argues decisions and strategies regarding financing were influenced by several factors, including the degree of attachment felt by the current asatidz (teachers) to the history of their pondok, their desire to preserve the legacy of the madrasah founder, and the level of economic pressure they experienced. The primary choice was between relinquishing ownership to the state by becoming a state (funded) school or remaining a self-governed school with limited access to state funds.
Pancasila and Islamic Education: The Deradicalization Model of Madrasahs Based on Islamic Boarding Schools in Central Java
Full text linkThe purpose of this study is to review the deradicalization strategy in religion through strengthening the understanding of Pancasila in the context of Islamic Education at Islamic boarding madrasahs in Central Java. This study involved Madrasah-Pesantren/Madrasahs-Islamic Boarding schools (MP) in the North Coast (Pantura) Region of Central Java, including Madrasah Aliyah (MA) al-Wathoniyah Semarang, MA Qudsiyyah Kudus, MA al-Hidayah Kudus, MA al-Hidayat Lasem Rembang, and MA al-Anwar Sarang Rembang. By employing a qualitative approach through interview and observation data collection methods, this study revealed that the government of the Republic of Indonesia's religious deradicalization program requires support from Islamic boarding schools. One of them is the conceptual support that makes the program effective, referring to deradicalization through Islamic Education (PAI). This deradicalization process is carried out through strengthening Pancasila values integrated through PAI. It is based on the style of radicalism, especially among Muslims who question the national principle's validity of Pancasila in the name of Islam. Pancasila is considered a secular ideology and even kafir because it did not depart from God's revelation. Indeed, this judgment is baseless because the first principle is Belief in the Almighty God, reflecting the value of tawhid. With the existence of tawhid in Pancasila, this national principle is religious in nature, even comprising tawhid. This religious dimension introduction is carried out through Islamic Education in Madrasah-Pesantren (MP) to protect students (santri) and students from the radicalism virus
The Actualization of Liberal Indonesian Multicultural Thought in Developing Community Harmonization
Full text linkNot many Kiai have thoughts about multiculturalism. Kiai M. Sholeh Bahruddin and Kiai Abdullah Syam are considered unique because they have multicultural Islamic thoughts and actualize them in building community harmony. This paper aimed to explore the basis, approach, and channel of Islamic actualization in responding to various challenges. The research method used was the qualitative method with a symbolic interaction approach. The data collection procedures were conducted through in-depth interviews, observation, and documentation. The data were analyzed by following the steps suggested by Saldana, Miles, and Huberman (2013). This study found that the basis for the actualization of multicultural Islamic thoughts of Kiai M. Sholeh Bahruddin and Kiai Abdullah Syam was social, humanistic, cultural, religious, and psychological. The approach used was a synergy between religious, moral, psychological, theological, cultural, social, and educational approaches. Meanwhile, the actualization channels used are through social channels, cultural arts, propaganda, social media, silaturrahim (hospitality in Islam), education levels, and scientific meetings