Sharia Yes, Sharia State No: Negosiasi dan Akomodasi Syari’ah di Indonesia

Syafiq Hasyim. 2023. Shariatization of Indonesia, the Politics of the Council of Indonesian Ulama (Majelis Ulama Indonesia, MUI). Leiden: Brill. Wael Hallaq. 2013. The Impossible State, Islam, Politics, and Modernity's Moral Predicament. New York: Columbia University Press. The two works discussed in this book review examine how Sharia norms are negotiated and accommodated in modern nation-states. This process is inevitable as Muslims are confronted with the persistence of the nation-state and the theological obligation to apply Sharia norms in their lives. Although Hallaq's work is very pessimistic in saying that paradigmatically the two systems are impossible to reconcile, his work can serve as an important background for understanding Hasyim's work which discusses in detail how Sharia is accommodated in the legal order and public life in Indonesia, highlighting the role of the MUI as the main institution of this accommodation process. Hasyim's work tries to answer three important questions: how and in what way MUI plays a role in the process of sharization; what its implications in law and public life in Indonesia are and how the process came about; and how the state and society respond to this sharization

Tadābīr al-dawlah al-‘Uthmānīyah li ḥalli al-qaḍāyā al-mu’aqqadah li ḥujjāj al-Jāwī 1849–1916: Dirāsat fī ḍaw’i wathā’iq al-Arshīf al-Uthmānī

This article examines the challenges faced by hajj pilgrims from the Malay world and the efforts of the Ottoman Empire to accommodate them amidst the intervention of Dutch and British colonial powers in the 19th century. Utilizing documents sourced from the Ottoman Archives of the Presidency of the Republic of Turkey in Istanbul from 1849 to 1916 CE and employing historical research methods, this study delves into the economic dimensions of the Hajj during the late colonial period in Indonesia and the declining years of the Ottoman Empire. The article reveals the socio-economic difficulties experienced by Muslims from the Malay world in performing the Hajj due to exploitation by colonial powers and local government elites in the Hijaz region at that time. Although the documents indicate efforts by the Ottoman government to ensure the comfort of the pilgrims and prevent abuse of authority by local and colonial governments, it did not fully resolve the chaos in the Hajj implementation system at that time. These situations caused by Ottoman limitations in the global political arena and inflamed by their involvement in World War I

What Drives Anti-Shia Framing in Indonesia?

As a global phenomenon, the Anti-Shia movement in Indonesia is damaging the moderate characteristics of Indonesian Islam. Even though previous literature showed the role of state actors in Anti-Shia movement in Muslim-majority countries and uncovered religious, economic, and political causes, this current study focused on Anti-Shia framing and the contributing factors. Furthermore, fieldwork and library studies on MIUMI (the Indonesian Council of Young Intellectuals and Ulama) and ANNAS (National Anti-Shia Alliance) showed Shia was framed as a heretical sect and a source of conflict in Muslim society. To address this issue, a nationally applied fatwa and the prohibition of Shia organizations, institutes, and foundations were required, in addition to exercising jihad against Shia. This was due to interconnected factors between religious ideology, majoritarian mindset, and perceived threat. Therefore, cultural and socio-psychological dimensions were significant in social movement studies

Islamic Underground Movement: Islamist Music in the Indonesian Popular Music Scene

Since the fall of the New Order regime in 1998, music has become a site of religio-political resistance among the new Islamist generation in Indonesia. This research examines the emergence of Islamist music on the Indonesian underground music scene to show the deepening influence of the Islamist movement among urban Muslim youth and the shifting strategy of the new Islamist generation from structural politics to cultural politics. The emergence of Islamist music indicates how a new generation of Islamists negotiates an Islamist worldview with contemporary popular culture. By maintaining the aggressive character of underground music, they adopt the Western popular culture as a code of resistance against the secular cultural hegemony. They also use popular music as a cultural approach or a strategy to promote the Islamist ideology to all urban Muslim youth

Mau‘iẓat al-Ikhwān and the Knowledge of the Acehnese Past

This article attempts to study a work of late nineteenth century Aceh, known as Mau‘iẓat al-Ikhwān. The main bulk of this inquiry revolves around the question of how far the text conveys the ‘historical knowledge’ of Aceh at the height of its war against the Dutch within the time of its composition (1886 AD). The work, which is a short treatise with only 14 pages in length, was written by Shaykh Muḥammad ‘Abbās al-Āshī, a prominent ‘ālim (religious scholar) and a war leader. Its composition was initially intended as an ‘exhortation’ (mau‘iẓat) for the Acehnese in their efforts at waging the holy war against the Dutch, and therefore it was addressed to them for contemporary use. Yet, as a product of the past the text also encompasses some factual data which can enrich our knowledge of the Acehnese past, especially that of the late nineteenth century. As such, the work plays its role beyond its initial intention as it also functions as a historical source. This study employs a ‘descriptive analytical’ method which will be supported by the mode of Culler’s ‘hermeneutics of recovery’

Risālat al-Sheikh Asnāwī al-Quds al-Jāwī: Rebuttal of Jawi Ulama against Fatwa of the Meccan Ulama

This article is carried out to discuss the rebuttal of Jawi ulama, K.H. Raden Muḥammad Asnawi Kudus (1861-1959), against the fatwa of the muftī of Mecca, Sheikh ‘Abdullāh al-Zawāwī (1850-1925), in the early twentieth century. Asnawi’s rebuttal was written in an Arabic manuscript from Banyuwangi entitled Risālat al-Sheikh Asnawī al-Quds al-Jāwī and digitized by the DREAMSEA project DS 0042 00001. The pages contain rebuttal of Asnawi against al-Zawāwī’s fatwa regarding the legal status of reading hagiography or manāqib of Sheikh ‘Abd al-Qādir al-Jaylānī (1078-1166). The manuscript shows the initial response of traditionalist ulama of Jawi to the issue of modernist Islam discussed in the Malay-Indonesia archipelago. Asnawi strongly denied the Meccan muftī’s fatwa, which is influenced by the ideas of reformist-modernist Islam. This debate marks the dynamics of the social-intellectual environment of Muslims in Mecca and Southeast Asia in the early twentieth century

Prioritizing Life over Religion in Indonesia’s Covid-19 Fatwas: The Fatwas of NU, Muhammadiyah, and MUI

The outbreak of Covid-19 in early 2020 introduced a new angle on the use of Islamic legal argument in Indonesian fatwas. The argument of prioritizing life (ḥifẓ al-ḥayā), rarely considered as a legal argument of fatwa-making, arose during the outbreak of Covid-19. This article seeks to examine the espousal of prioritizing life in Indonesian fatwas in relation to Covid-19. It uncovers the theological, social, and political reasons behind the decision to prioritize the ḥifẓ al-ḥayā. It examines fatwas on Covid-19 issued by three mainstream Islamic organizations NU, Muhammadiyah, and MUI that indicate their reluctance to adopt the argument of prioritizing life in their fatwas. This article uses an interdisciplinary approach combining the interpretation of Islamic legal theory, Islamic jurisprudence, and social sciences analysis. Finally, this article demonstrates how pro-life fatwas, by adapting to the pandemic era by prioritizing life as legal argument, benefits religion in general

The Religious Identity of Rohingya Refugees in Malaysia

This paper explores the role of religious identity in the experiences of Rohingya refugees in Malaysia. It explores how their religious identity shapes their social engagement, coping mechanisms, and integration approaches. In contrast to focusing solely on race, this study underscores the significance of religion, especially in a Muslim-majority country like Malaysia, where Rohingya seek refuge from religious persecution while upholding their faith. Through qualitative analysis, the paper examines post-migration challenges faced by Rohingya refugees in integrating with the host community and maintaining their religious identity. Despite sharing the Islamic faith with many Malaysians, Rohingya encounter difficulties in integration and often feel marginalized. They establish community-centric spaces to preserve their religious practices and cultural heritage. This research underscores the complex interaction between religious identity and social integration among Muslim refugees in Muslim-majority countries, offering crucial insights that will inform integration policies and interventions

Locality, Equality, and Piety: Pesantren Ecofeminism Movement in Indonesia

The ecofeminism movement in Indonesia is generally territorial and intersectional but tends to be secular. This study shows the emergence of ecofeminism ideas integrated with Islamic values in the form of pesantren. Unlike other ecofeminisms—which were generally born as a response to women and environmental issues an sich, pesantren ecofeminism was an effort to rise from the mental-class and economic-class trauma of peasant society. I used a subsistence perspective, which led me to the Pesantren Ekologi Ath-Thaariq in Garut, West Java, Indonesia. I combined Harvard and Longwe frameworks to analyze pesantren’s activity, access, control, and equivalence level. This article contains the pesantren ecofeminism concept in viewing the environment through faith, local wisdom, and piety. This study further examines the ability of pesantren to break unequal power relations between humans and between humans and non-humans, instead of continuing the patriarchal tradition and its kiai-centric system

Islamism and Muslim Support for Islamist Movement Organizations: Evidence from Indonesia

Does ideology predict public support for Islamist movement organizations (IMOs)? This article is to reassess the extent to which ideology matters to support social movement organizations among Muslims. A previous quantitative study in Indonesia found that Islamic ideology did not explain support for IMO such as Darul Islam. We reject the finding based on new Indonesian data. We examined Muslim support for three contemporary IMOs: FPI, HTI, and ISIS, through a nationwide opinion survey. The survey explores whether Islamism as an ideology significantly contributes to support for IMOs among Muslims. We find that a majority of Indonesian Muslims do not support IMOs, and that belief in Islamism as an ideology significantly explains the support of those who do. Preference for Islamism over the 1945 Constitution and its religiously inclusive preamble, the Five Principles, predicts mass support for Islamist organizations. Islamist ideology increases support for IMOs, while a pluralist socio-religious tradition and deradicalization and moderation policies weaken it.