State Failure and The Sunni-Shia Conflict in Sampang Madura

This paper attempts to explain the process of conflict reconciliation within the Sunni-Shia conflict in Sampang, Madura. The research tries to analyze the process and progress of the Sunni-Shia conflict through the discourse of state failure. It will not only figure out the discourse through political or security perspective, but also tries to view the failure and the weakness of the state from the conflict-transformation and social perspective. This research aims to look at how religious identity has been played within the process of conflict reconciliation and how the state failed to solve the Shia-Sunni conflict in Sampang. In doing so, the paper explains the history of Shia in Sampang Madura, the chronology of the conflict and its escalation, and the absence of the state within the long process of reconciliation

Cultural Resistance and Sharia-Based Ecology in the Fishing Community in Aceh

This article examines the cultural resistance and sharia-based environmental management in the fishing community in Aceh Timur Raya, Indonesia. Aceh is a fascinating Indonesian region as the country’s implementer of Islamic law.  To date, Aceh’s environment has yet to become an issue that needs to be immediately addressed. This study is classified as field-library research with a qualitative analysis. The data were collected using interviews, documentation, and observations of fishermen’s environment in Aceh Timur Raya. These data were analyzed using a sociological approach, social theories, power-knowledge relations, and habitus. This study found several important reasons why there could be damage to Aceh Timur Raya’s ecosystems. This article has produced several vital findings; First, the absence of the role of religion in maintaining and building an ecological culture in the fishing community. Second, the attitude of indifference among the fishing community towards the environment. Third, the politicization of environmental care. These three pieces of evidence state that cultural resistance and sharia-based environmental management in Aceh threaten the community's survival, especially fishermen who rely heavily on nature. Islamic law has not been able to base its teachings on the environment that must be preserved and developed

Religion-State Relation Within the Suryalaya Qadiriyah Naqsyabandiyah Tariqa

The assumption that a tariqa group opposes worldly attainment and power is incorrect; their engagement in practical politics stems from a moral duty to uphold the state’s unity and integrity. This article delves into the political communication established by a Sufi figure, Abah Anom, aiming to reinforce the teachings of the tariqa and its relevance to religion and the state. Employing a descriptive qualitative approach through literature review, this research obtained data from various documents such as lecture texts, announcements, and photographs. The findings reveal two strategies employed by Abah Anom to reinforce the relations between religion and the state. First, a focus on spiritual growth, emphasizing practice and religious knowledge as guiding principles. Second, the maintenance of relations with state leaders, fostering legitimacy as responsible citizens. This study concludes that the relations between religion and the state that constitute part of the teachings of the Qodiriyah Naqsabandiyah tariqa (TQN)serve as a means to advocate and position itself within Muslim communities and government, aligning with both religion and state objectives. Furthermore, it suggests that the roles of the kyai extend beyond a broker of culture; the kyai also plays the role of a broker of politics to preserve harmony among religious groups and uphold the state’s unity and integrity

LGBT and Religious Negotiations: A Case Study of Youth Interfaith Forum on Sexuality (Yifos)

Most religious perspectives, particularly the conservative interpretation, emphasize the incompatibility of being a Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual or Transgender (LGBT) and being religious. This contradiction creates internal conflicts for many LGBT individuals. In social and political spheres, many religious groups post hostility and rejection against the LGBT using the justification of their religious dogma. The position of the LGBT has been more vulnerable since the reformation period (1998 to present) in Indonesia, during which Islamic conservatism is rising. Therefore, LGBT individuals perceive themselves as condemned and excluded from religious communities. Nevertheless, the existing LGBT communities and organizations focus more on campaigning social acceptance and public recognition through a human rights perspective. This research employs a qualitative method and addresses the Youth Interfaith Forum of Sexuality (YIFoS) in providing a ‘safe space’ for the LGBT in negotiating their non-normative sexuality and religious values. Taking a case study of YIFoS, I argue that LGBT could also embrace their religiosity. Through the concept of ‘liberation of the body and alternative religious interpretations, YIFoS believes that LGBT sexuality could be reconciled with religion.  This research is divided into two parts. First is how YIFoS provide a way of reconciling of non-normative sexuality of LGBT and religion. Second is what approach is employed by YIFoS in helping LGBT individuals negotiate their non-normative sexuality and religious values. My findings demonstrate that the YIFoS applies the concept of ‘experience of the body as the main departure of liberation and employs an interfaith approach by inviting religious figures whose interpretations are more accommodative toward LGBT. The interfaith approach is aimed at building commonality on LGBT within religious communities. In addition, these two approaches are used to help LGBT individuals to stimulate self-acceptance and personal reconciliation between one’s religious values and their non-normative sexuality

A Netnography Analysis of Thematic ­Hadith Memes Distribution on ­­ Social Media

Instead, the use of hadith memes among Muslim communities is rampant, and the study of hadith memes is scarce. This study, therefore, aims to examine the use of hadith memes by millennial Ulama and the types and content of hadith memes disseminated and exchanged in the virtual world by millennial Ulama. This study built thematic hadith memes based on their contents and formats on social media platforms using Rajan's (2015) theory of religious memes. This study employed a netnography method, collecting data from the social media sites Facebook and WhatsApp of Islamic millennial Ulama. We used a thematic approach in analyzing the data. Our results show that hadith memes disseminated on social media sites fall into four themes. The first theme is prayer hadith memes that present the traditions of prayers in Islam. The second theme is hadith memes related to sacrifice, which depict messages of Muslims' willingness to practice gratitude and to sacrifice to do things according to Allah's will. The third theme of the hadith memes is that they present messages about the afterlife, which tells about the end of life, such as life in the grave, hell, and heaven. The last theme is hadith memes about tolerance, which tell about the importance of living in tolerance and respecting each other. We conclude that our study contributed to understanding the distribution of hadith meme themes in the virtual world to enhance the sharing and exchange of Islamic teachings

Kampung Beting: Family Resilience Against Religious Radicalism

The work cuptures the rise of terrorist movements involving families. The studies of family involvement in acts of terrorism in Indonesia have not much been done. The work is based on research conducted in Kampung Beting of Pontianak City, which is stigmatized as a drug trafficking village. It explores family parenting patterns and family responses to live problems especially on community literacy about religious radicalism. The findings include, first, the pattern of instilling religious values in families is relatively vulnerable. Family parentings have shown physical resilience, social resilience and psychological resilience. The work finds the important roles of parents in instilling religious values and building communication with their children and the ability of families to solve problems they face. Education has been found very important within the community. Second, with regard to the existing conditions, people choose to “make peace” with the reality. The attitude of the people is split from pessimistic, pragmatic and optimistic. Third, public literacy about religious radicalism is quite good among ordinary people and religious and community leaders. Being radical in society’s point of view is an act of violence, while adhering to religious principles is considered not being radical. Defending the honor of religion is a matter of principle, thus encouraging them to fight. Fourth, four factors fortifying the community include the open and straightforward attitude of the community, the community involvement into the city security network, the high community mechanical solidarity and the effective role of religious leaders in fostering society

Indonesian Baha’i Community’s Perspective on Gender Equality

The conception of gender for Indonesian context is understood socially, politically, culturally and even religiously biased. Gender equality, which is always regarded as respect for women, is actually a detrimental action for women themselves. This work seeks to explain the concept of gender equality in Indonesian context from the perspective of the Baha’i faith and find out the views of its followers about the role of women in gender equality. This is also to describe the principles of the teachings of the Baha’i faith in promoting the awareness of women’s equal role in Indonesia. The article is based on research that falls under the descriptive qualitative research cluster using a gender study approach. The data were collected using observation, in-depth interviews and sources from previous studies. The work suggests that the followers of the Baha’i faith view the differences between men and women only from biological factors that exist in both sexualities. Those differences are merely due to the cultures of the people so that the understanding about gender equality becomes a biased concept. This is because the people in Indonesia observe to a patriarchal ideology which considers men to be superior and versatile while women are weak and marginalized in terms of social situation. The Baha’i community believe that God create humans from the same source, namely dust, so that no humans would exalt over the others. Humans are the same and equal between men and women

Portrait of Moderate Islam Within Muslim University Students in Indonesia

The violence in the name of religion is now not only happening in the Middle East but has also penetrated Indonesia. Indonesia is not only known as a Muslim-majority country that is friendly and peace-loving but also has a diversity of religions, ethnicities, races, and cultures that have the potential to trigger conflict at any time. Violations of religious freedom in Indonesia have increased dramatically in recent years. This study is aimed to explore the understanding of Muslim students in Indonesia about Islamic moderation, the perceptions of Muslim students in Indonesia about the application of Islamic moderation, and the challenges and strategies of universities in implementing Islamic moderation on Muslim students in Indonesia. This study uses phenomenology approach with Muslim students as the object of the research. The participants were selected purposively as many as 20 students. This study finds that Muslim students in Indonesia characterize Islamic moderation as Muslims who are open to technological change, tolerant and harmonious with other Muslims and non-Muslims, non-violent, democratic, and access to comprehensive Islamic sources. Even though Muslim students in Indonesia have implemented Islamic moderation, there are still misconceptions about Islamic moderation. The challenge of implementing Islamic moderation in Muslim students is that they are easily exposed to extreme understanding through social media or the pragmatic and rational Islamic community.

Berobat Kampung: Religion and Traditional Knowledge of Seeking Recovery in Borneo

This article explores the variants of tradition in seeking recovery within a group of religious community in the upstream Kapuas in Borneo island. It is presented using indigenous psychology, narrative analysis and psycho-anthropology. The data were collected using the techniques of in-depth interviews, psycho-anthropological observations, narrative interpretation and documentation. This work finds that the use of Quranic verses and dhikr as well as religious symbols are are very prominent. The people of the upstream Kapuas river interpret and leave a legacy for traditional healing, beginning with an "agreement", reciting a prayer, enhancing, testing to form and hardening. Passing occurs in a closed, difficult and secret process. The preservation of traditional healing is due to very important facts; that it is low cost, being located far from modern health facilities and short time between risk of death and health resources. In addition, the traditional healers are always ready, providing fast treatment, guaranteed recovery from certain types of diseases. This article suggests that the Sufistic-style traditional healing is profound within the tradition

Religious Construction in Decision ­Making of Indonesian Customers for Financial Transactions on Syariah Banks

This study aims to explain how Islamic concepts, symbols and values have implications for people. Especially when they must make decisions to make financial transactions in Islamic banking. Likewise, the religious trend accompanied by the spirit of city has resulted in the enthusiasm of the community to transact with institutions labelled religion in practice. Data collection used in this study was carried out by observation and distributing questionnaires to respondents (customers). Documentation studies are also conducted to find literature related to this study. There are three findings described in this study. First, the conception and symbol of religion is an essential element in the existence of Islamic banking in Indonesia. Second, the understanding of the religious community has been constructed in the decision to make economic transactions in Islamic banks. Third, the religious trend accompanied by religious zeal makes sharia banks in Indonesia have bright prospects to attract the interest of the public to transact. The enermous potential of Islamic banks in Indonesia will experience an increase if the religious values and symbols are implemented correctly and adequately. Religious construction of economic behaviour has resulted in a shift in the pattern of community transactions in the name of religion. This shift certainly provides not only positive expectations in the religious society, but also provides broad opportunities for the banking business world