Collegial Leadership and Election in Muhammadiyah: Institutional Ways to Diffuse the Religious Authority of Leaders

Muhammadiyah advocates for the equal and rational standing of Muslims, underscoring that judgment lies solely with Allah and discouraging hierarchical leadership privileges. This viewpoint permeates its organizational structure, portraying leaders as dedicated members without elevated status. Alongside its emphasis on egalitarianism and rationality, Muhammadiyah has developed organizational mechanisms, aimed at preventing the concentration of religious authority in the hands of popular leaders. The article explores two of these mechanisms, collegial leadership and elections. Collegial leadership establishes a collective oversight body, ensuring equal rights for each leader. The unique election system, requiring the choice of thirteen candidates, prevents individual dominance and a potential landslide victory. By minimizing differences, emphasizing similarities, and discouraging the showcasing of individual merits and popularity, these mechanisms effectively diffuse religious authority within Muhammadiyah’s leadership

Reformist Muslims in a Yogyakarta village : the Islamic transformation of contemporary socio-religious life

This study examines the religious life of reformist Muslims in a Yogyakarta village. The foci of this discussion are on Muslim villagers' construction, with the help of the reformist paradigm, of the image of the 'good Muslim' and 'Muslim-ness', on their efforts to incorporate an (reformist) Islamic framework to question takenfor-granted practices and ideas, on the position of traditional practices and ideas and their relation to reformist Islam, and on the interplay of villagers who show a strong commitment to reformist Islam with those who do not. Another topic which is investigated in this study is the interactions between Muslim and Christian villagers and the impacts of Christian presence on the process by which Muslims define themselves, their neighbours, their religion and their religious community. After examining the recent socio-economic developments in a Yogyakarta village in Chapter two, this study deals with the development of reformist Islam, the process whereby a group of reformist villagers has been formed and its impact on the religious life of Muslim villagers in Chapter three. The formation of this group precipitated a differentiation of Muslim villagers in terms of their religious outlook and of their participation in religious activities, and has accelerated the diversification of the meaning of 'Muslim-ness'. Chapter four looks at the notion of 'Muslim-ness', or of 'being a Muslim' supported by the reformist villagers and the interactions between villagers who show a strong commitment to reformist Islam and those who do not. The analysis shows that the profession of faith (sahadat) or circumcision, which was once considered to be a sufficient condition to make someone a Muslim, is no longer regarded so by the reformist villagers. Instead, they put absolute emphasis on the fulfilment of faith, such as carrying out daily prayer and the fast, as the central part of the notion of ‘Muslim-ness’. The different religious understandings and practices among Muslim villagers have not become a basis of social conflict. No villagers try to involve themselves in the religious life of others, are willing to instruct other people and to make explicit the controversial aspect of others' religious behaviour in public. These attitudes help to create a social environment where the norm of harmony is maintained. From Chapter five to Chapter eight, the focus is placed on several changes which have taken place as Islamic development has accelerated. Chapter five examines the way traditional rituals are interpreted by Muslim villagers and the emergence of a new Islamic tradition. It shows that the process by which an Islamic tradition emerges from a syncretic background is not simply one of imposing a certain criterion on traditional practices and ending them, but of questioning their relevance, abandoning what cannot be accommodated, reinterpreting what can be made harmonious with reformist Islam and recontextualising them in Islamic terms. In Chapter six, traditional belief in supernatural beings, supernatural power, and related practices are examined. The reformist villagers try to challenge and reformulate the nature of supernatural beings by equating them with the Islamic concept of the malevolent jinn and by condemning villagers' contact with them as syirik, or the negation of the Oneness of Allah. Chapters seven and eight deal with the impact of the presence of Christians on the religious life of Muslims. The study shows that their presence has prompted the formation of a clear boundary based on religious identity and of the idea of 'in-group' and 'out-group', and that the importance of religious identity has begun to extend into non-religious domains. The alleged threat of Christians have also prompted the reformist villagers to defend the umat Islam, and their specific mode of attacking Christianity has instated the concept of akal (reason) not only as a way to expose the absurdity of Christian theology but as a way to evaluate their own religious practices and ideas

Surgical management of oral squamous cell carcinoma infiltrating mandible

Progression of recent trends in mandible-preserving operations for the management of oral squamous cell carcinomas that infiltrate the mandible is rapid and accompanying studies give invaluable information concerning behavioral understanding of oral squamous cell carcinoma within the mandible. However, a large amount of sound osseous tissue is removed as part of partial mandibulectomy, because it is difficult to gain direct sight into the medullary portion and as a result of fear for residual tumor in this inaccessible space. Thus, needless defects are not seldom. For that reason, there still exists a strong demand for an operating protocol regarding precise surgical clearance which fulfills the surgeons' desire to be more conservative. Twenty-one with evidence of intraosseous tumor spread of 82 resected mandibles were radiologically and histologically reexamined to compare discrepancies among clinical, radiologic and histologic entities of oral squamous cell carcinoma infiltration. Size and location of primary tumor were dominant correlating factors of oral squamous cell carcinoma infiltration into the mandible and were statistically significant (p < 0.05). Larger tumors are more likely to infiltrate the mandible. Gingiva and retromolar trigone were the prevalent locations which facilitated tumor infiltration. Direct contact of the tumor on the attached mucosa usually provides portal of entry of the tumor through the cortex into the medullary space. Periodontal space in the dentate mandible is another possible portal of entry. Erosive-type infiltration is mostly seen in the shallower depth in early phase of infiltration and then followed by invasive type in the deeper portion of mandible. Infiltrating tumors usually do not exceed the limit of the primary on the mucosa, but it becomes unpredictable when inferior alveolar nerve related spread is once initiated. Five to 10 mm of surgical clearance is applicable to any surgical interventions regarding mandible infiltrating oral squamous cell carcinoma. However, thorough pre- and intra-operative attention should be put on the nerve related spread, extended resection of mandible is inevitable when nerve involvement is evident. A combination of orthopantomogram, computerized tomography and Tc-99m skeletal scintigraphy provide a good assessment of the tumor infiltration in the mandible. Distance measurement in orthopantomogram is reliable in localizing the tumor and in planning the surgical margin. An operating scheme based on the biologic behavior of oral squamous cell carcinoma within the mandible is devised as a result of this study

BEYOND FRIENDSHIP: UNDERSTANDING THE ROLE OF COST IN GIFT CHOICES FOR ONESELF AND OTHERS

This study explores how social closeness and self-identification influence the monetary value of gifts chosen for friends and for oneself. Integrating the Self-expansion Model with Resource Scarcity Theory, we provide insights into consumer behavior in gift selection under varying social and financial contexts