Reflections on Java and Islam 1979-2010

Since the late 1970s, technological developments, especially in communications and transportation, have contributed to growth of new modes of social interaction and, at the same time, to the strengthening of social bonds in geographically dispersed social groups and communities in Yogyakarta. Increased educational opportunities and especially the development of the Islamic university system have contributed to the development of a Muslim middle class and with it a Muslim consumer culture. There has also been a significant shift in the ways in which relationships between culture (kebudayaan) and religion (agama) are conceptualised. Elements of Javanese Muslim tradition including prayer meals (slametan) that were formerly called agama are now more commonly referred to as kebudayaan. This shift reflects and has contributed to the diminution of sectarian conflict. This cultural strategy is not always successful. It does, however, provide a basis for proactive measures to counter sectarian violence. This is evident in “cultural” festivals supported by the kraton (palace) in response to attacks on cultural performance events by exclusivist religious groups.[Sejak dekade 1970an, kemajuan teknologi, utamanya dalam komunikasi dan transportasi, telah mengubah cara interaksi sosial masyarakat Yogyakarta dan, pada saat yang sama, semakin memperkokoh ikatan antar kelompok sosial. Semakin meningkatnya kesempatan belajar [sekolah], utamanya dengan berdirinya Universitas Islam, terbukti mendorong terciptanya kalangan ‘Muslim kelas menengah’ sekaligus konsumerisme yang melekat pada kalangan tersebut. Selain itu, terjadi pula perubahan konsep dalammenilai agama dan kebudayaan. Beberapa bentuk tradisi Islam Jawa, seperti slametan, yang dulunya dinilai sebagai ritual agama, saat ini hanya disebut sebagai kebudayaan. Perubahan ini menggambarkan dan bahkan berperan dalam meminimalisir konflik sektarian, seperti terlihat jelas dalam acara festival “budaya” yang diadakan kraton sebagai respon terhadap pembubaran pementasan budaya oleh kalangan Muslim ekslusif.

ISLAM, ETHNICITY, NATIONALISM, AND THE BURMESE ROHINGYA CRISIS

This article discusses the world’s most oppressed people, the Muslim Rohingya of Burma (Myanmar) through the lens of “state symbologies and critical juncture”. It further argues the amalgamation of Burmese-Buddhist ethno-nationalism and anti-Muslim hate speech have become elements of Burma’s state symbology and components. Colonialism established conditions in which ethno-religious conflict could develop through policies that destroyed the civic religious pluralism characteristic of pre-colonial states. Burmese Buddhist ethno-religious nationalism is responsible for a series of communal conflicts and state repression because it did not recognize Muslims and other minorities as full and equal participants in the post-colonial national project. Therefore, the cycles of violence and the complexities of inter-ethnic and inter-religious relations indicate that Burmese political culture has become increasingly violent and genocidal

State–religion relations in Indonesia : a comparative perspective : a response to Anthony Reid

The Javanese adaptation and transformation of the Hindu epics Ramayana and Mahabharata in the wayang (shadow place) traditions and legends concerning the Javanese wali (saint) Sunan Kudus provide important examples of the ways in which the Javanese retained and reworked elements of their rich Indic heritage when they adopted Islam. The Muslim appropriation of the wayang tradition was at the same time elegant and remarkably simple. Hindu “gods” were redefined as heroic humans and fitted into dynastic genealogies in which they are described as being among the descendants of the Islamic Prophet Adam.2 Sunan Kudus, the founder of the city that bears his name, is said to have adopted a gentle approach to the propagation of Islam and to have prohibited the slaughter of cattle to avoid offending Hindu Javanese. The religious diversity of trading centres in pre-colonial, colonial and post-colonial times speaks for the economic importance of religious toleranc

On vampire squid and pie in the sky - Reflections on greed, altruism, global capitalism, Muslim and other ethics

This article points to some of the ethical short-comings of global capitalism in historical and contemporary contexts. Comparison of late eighteenth/early nineteenth century capitalist enterprises including the British and Dutch East India Companies and contemporary investment banking houses including Goldman Sachs indicates that ethical problems inherent in global capitalism have not changed significantly over the centuries. The analysis presented here builds on explicit critiques of capitalism by the eighteenth-century economist Adam Smith and contemporary critiques by linguist and social critic Noam Chomsky and implicit ones Reggae star Jimmy Cliff. Islamic finance is often described as an alternative to capitalisms that avoid greed based ethnical problems. This is not necessarily the case if Islamic finance is merely fiqh compliant. The fact that Goldman Sachs and other Western banks have entered the Islamic finance business buttresses this position. The economic ethics of the eleventh/twelfth century Muslim theologian and philosopher Hamid al-Ghazali and the contempory Muslim legal scholar Khaled Abou el Fadl offer possible correctives. If, however, Evolutionary biologist Lynn Margulis is correct and greed is a basic component of human nature, the full realization of any ethical economics is unlikely

RELIGIOUS PLURALISM IN BALI PREMODERN AND CONTEMPORARY PERSPECTIVES

AbstractThis paper describes two modes of civic religious pluralism in Bali. The first is adaptive pluralism in which elements of Islam were incorporated into pre-modern Balinese states.  Analysis focuses on the way in which Gusti Ayu Made Rai, an eighteenth-century Balinese princess became Raden Ayu Siti Khotijah, one Indonesia’s few widely recognized female Muslim saints. This leads to an alternative reading of Balinese religious history, countering the view that it is a static monolithically Hindu tradition. Rather than turning inward as the surrounding areas embraced Islam, Balinese kingdoms included Muslims and Islam in scared narratives and geographies.  Today this integrative strategy functions only at the local level. Pilgrimage to her grave by Indonesian Muslims integrates Hindu Bali into Indonesian society defined in terms of the national ideology Pancasila. The establishment of Pancasila as a hegemonic symbology has led to a new form of parallel pluralism in which all religions are subject to state regulation.Keywords: Bali, Hinduism, Islam, Female Saints, Pluralism, State Symbologies AbstrakMakalah ini menggambarkan dua bentuk keragaman beragama masyarakat di Bali. Yang pertama adalah  keragaman adaptif di mana unsur-unsur Islam tergabung dalam kerajaan pra-modern Bali. Analisa berfokus pada saat di mana Gusti Ayu Made Rai, seorang puteri kerajaan Bali abad kedelapan belas menjadi Raden Ayu Siti Khotijah, salah seorang wanita Muslim yang dianggap wali di Indonesia. Hal ini mengarah kepada wacana alternatif tentang sejarah agama orang Bali, yang berlawanan dengan pandangan yang meyakini bahwa Bali merupakan tradisi Hindu yang statis secara monolitis. Alih-alih menutup diri saat wilayah-wilayah di sekitarnya memeluk Islam, kerajaan-kerajaan Bali merangkul kaum Muslim dan ajaran Islam dalam kisah-kisah dan kawasan-kawasan sakral. Saat ini strategi integratif tersebut hanya berfungsi di tingkat lokal. Para peziarah Muslim Indonesia ke makam Sang Puteri menyatukan Bali Hindu ke dalam masyarakat Indonesia mempertegas ideologi nasional Pancasila. Pembentukan Pancasila sebagai sebuah simbologi hegemoni telah mengarah kepada bentuk baru keragaman paralel di mana semua agama tunduk kepada peraturan negara.Kata Kunci: Bali, Hinduisme, Islam, Wali perempuan, Keberagaman, Simbol-simbol Negara

CULTURAL DAKWAH AND MUSLIM MOVEMENTS IN THE UNITED STATES IN THE TWENTIETH AND TWENTY-FIRST CENTURIES

Abstract: There have been Muslims in what is now the United States since tens of thousands were brought as slaves in the 18th and early 19th centuries. Very few maintained their Muslim identities because the harsh conditions of slavery. Revitalization movements relying on Muslim symbolism emerged in the early 20th century. They were primarily concerned with the struggle against racism and oppression. The Moorish Science Temple of American and the Nation of Islam are the two most important of these movement. The haj was a transformative experience for Nation of Islam leaders Malcom X and Muhammad Ali. Realization that Islam is an inclusive faith that does not condone racism led both of them towards mainstream Sunni Islam and for Muhammad Ali to Sufi religious pluralism.Keywords: Nation of Islam, Moorish Science Temple, Revitalization Movement, Malcom X, Muhammad Ali. Abstract: Sejarah Islam di Amerika sudah berakar sejak abad ke 18 dan awal 19, ketika belasan ribu budak dari Afrika dibawa ke wilayah yang sekarang bernama Amerika Serikat. Sangat sedikit di antara mereka yang mempertahankan identitasnya sebagai Muslim mengingat kondisi perbudakan yang sangat kejam dan tidak memungkinkan. Di awal abad 20, muncul-lah gerakan revitalisasi Islam. Utamanya, mereka berkonsentrasi pada gerakan perlawanan terhadap rasisme dan penindasan. The Moorish Science Temple of American dan the Nation of Islam adalah dua kelompok terpenting gerakan perlawanan tersebut. Perjalanan ibadah haji memberikan pengalaman transformatif bagi pimpinan kedua kelompok gerakan tersebut, yaitu Malcom X dan Muhammad Ali. Pemahaman Islam yang inklusif yang tidak sejalan dengan rasisme mendekatkan mereka dengan ajaran-ajaran mainstream Islam sunni, dan (terutama) Muhamad Ali yang condong ke pluralisme ajaran kaum Sufi.Kata Kunci: Nation of islam, Moorish Science Temple, Gerakan revitalisasi, Malcom X, Muhammad Ali

Islamic and Religious Studies: Challenges and Opportunities for Twenty-first Century Indonesia

This paper explores challenges and opportunities for Religious and Islamic Studies in the opening years of the twenty first century. It is especially concerned with relationships between the Indonesian, North American and Global contexts in which the two disciplines are located and the ways in which scholarly discourse can be enriched by trans-national cooperation and discourse. It is argued that Religious Studies should be understood as an academic discourse about religion and must be clearly distinguished from religious discourse internal to and across confessional lines. In a more concrete way, the paper is concerned with the epistemological foundations of the academic study of religion and with the issue of pluralism. It is argued that in today's globalized world pluralism is a fact that cannot be ignored or eliminated. Discussion on what Eck has identified as three dimensions of pluralism, civic, theolo­gical and academic