Editorial: Continuing Islamic Intellectual Tradition

In a recent discussion forum at Postgraduate Program UIN Sunan Kalijaga Yogyakarta, Greg Barton, an analyst of Indonesian Islamic thought, said that the reason why muslim thinkers in Indonesia are still left behind in promoting their ideas globally is because of a lack of their works being found in English. No one doubts that Islamic discourse in Indonesia is very dynamic and shows constant development. We have, for example, neo-modernist muslim thinkers such as Nurcholish Madjid, Abdurrahman Wahid, Djohan Efendy, and Ahmad Wahib. There are muslim intellectual reformers such as Harun Nasution, Mukti Ali, Munawir Sjadzali, Amin Abdullah, Syafi’i Ma’arif, and Abdul Munir Mulkhan. There are also progressive muslim thinkers such Masdar Farid Mas’ud, Mansour Fakih, and Muslim Abdurrahman, to name a few. We can list still more Indonesian muslim intellectuals. However, one important question must be asked: how many of these  thinkers produce their works in English so that their thought can reach  a wider intellectual audience, not only in Indonesia but outside as well

Editorial: Globalization Toward Locality

Seemingly, Globalization, the recent world phenomenon, will get rid of all frontiers possessed by a state. This is due to the fact that each person, whatever citizenship the person possesses, may communicate with any one else wherever he or she live, and may move to any place to which he or she would like. Accordingly, the world phenomenon will play great roles in setting particularly socio-cultural, political, educational, and legal patterns and formulations of locality. However, this locality is an exception. It is a distinctive and peculiar border. The Great Tradition, possessed by the Reflective Few, is going to be hand in hand with the Little Tradition of the Unreflective Many to shield their local properties. They won’t let outsiders, through the globalization stream, destruct their local social structures, even though such consciousness belongs more greatly to the former group rather than the latter. However, the former is used to invite the latter to cooperate in handling foreign destructive influences

Editorial: Muslim World Current Issues

Globalisation has proofed its self as a very spectacular phenomenon until no one may deny its impacts, but on the other hand, it reflexively suggests localization of the global. In this context, religion is not exclusion. It remains believed however, that religion still has its formula for solving the problems that emerged from globalisation. Scholars have devoted attempts to propose new ideas for this challenge. Local interpretations of symbols representing “global” Islam, for instance, increasingly grow in line with the growth of Islamic revival. This has drawn very much attention and responses from Muslims, whether to protest against or support for the new idea. The present edition of the journal is designed to more deeply explore the current issues from Muslim world, whether as very local phenomena or in a more global context

Editorial: Religiosity, Spirituality, and Ideology

The current edition of Al-Jami’ah: Journal of Islamic Studies throws light on various themes related to contemporary development of Islamic religiosity with its multiple contexts. Indeed, Islam has become inspirations for many who uphold its dogma. Muslims, like any other who embrace other faiths, have participated in the creation of various traditions along human history. The first article, penned by Octavia with the title “Islamism and Democracy: a Gender Analysis on PKS’s Application of Democratic Principles and Values,” focuses on the internal dynamic within the Prosperous Justice Party (Partai Keadilan Sejahtera/PKS) with regard to the way in which the group has dealt with gender issues. The author detects the internal development of the PKS in which its activists responded to the gender issues in two ways. The first group remains conservative in line with Islamist ideology. The second group seems to start looking at the issue in a rather progressive way. Whereas the conservative wing displays their ideological stance, the progressive wing exhibits pragmatic step in response to the demand of the current context. After all, this shows ambiguity in the party’s position pertaining to gender issues

Editorial: Islam in Asia and Europe

The subjects of discussion in this edition of Al-Jāmi‘ah are mostly modern Indonesia with the exception of Al Makin’s paper on early Islam and Miftahurrohim N. Sarkun on classical Islamic jurisprudence. To begin with, Nina Nurmila overviews the extent to which modern Indonesian Quranic and tradition exegetes gives new meaning to the basic sacred text of Islam. Indeed Nurmila finds that the issues of gender have attracted the attention of Indonesian intellectuals, who argue for gender equality and men’s and women’s equal role both at home and work. In fact, many Indonesian exegetes reject the inferiority of women at home with regard to conventional understanding that men are seen superior in domestic leadership. Pribadi, on the other hand, highlights the identity of Madurese in relation to the way in which santri culture always revives in this island. According to Pribadi, the main components in the Madurese culture and politics are kiai or ulama (religious leader), pesantren (traditional Islamic boarding school), and NU (Nahdlatul Ulama, the biggest Islamic organization in Indonesia). These factors always played critical role from the Dutch colonial time down to the reform period. At the same time, the Madurese never lose their traditional ethnic values and traditions

Islamism and Politics

Indonesia has witnessed the growing role of Majelis Ulama Indonesia (MUI, Indonesian Ulama Council) and excessive introduction of shari‘a in Aceh in the last decade. Undoubtedly, the MUI has played important role in defining Islam, or, to be precise, Islamic orthodoxy in the country especially after the downfall of Soeharto regime. Considering itself as the inheritor of the prophet, MUI claims to hold the sole religious authority for guiding Muslim umma in the country in all aspects of life, including people’s beliefs. In this current volume of Al-Jamiah, an articles deals with the MUI discussing its controversial fatwa on Ahmadiyah that is charged of spreading deviated beliefs. Ismatu Ropi in his writing analyses the fatwa of Majelis Ulama Indonesia (MUI) on Ahmadiyah and its impacts on more stained relationship within Muslim community in Indonesia. He examines socio-political natures before and after the fatwa on Ahmadiyah reissued in 2005 (the first fatwa was issued in the 1980s) in the lights of the emergence of new model of Islamism in Indonesia and the more conservative shift within the MUI itself particularly after the collapse of Soeharto regime

Editorial: Re-actualization in Needs

It seems that redefinition of Islamic fields is a must. This is due to the fact that the Islamic fields require re-actualization, so that they will be beneficial not only for Muslim themselves, but also for non- Muslim. The former group can exercise it for their recent needs, meanwhile the latter may benefit from their re-actualized spirit for their own purposes. However, the efforts of the redefinition are not without barriers. It is often that its doers are claimed as liberal or even as apostate Muslims, although they based their redefinitions on reliable Islamic references. Nevertheless, destructive criticism has not weakened their spirit to deal with it. They have even been more eager to conduct it