Faith, Moral Authority, and Politics: The Making of Progressive Islam in Indonesia (original) (raw)
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Faith Moral Authority and Politics: Progressive Islam in Indonesia and Turkey (Chapter 2)
"Islam is often perceived as a religion that is not receptive, even hostile, against liberal Enlightenment values such as democracy, religion-state separation, and religious tolerance/pluralism. However, several Islamic organizations have underwent major theological change away from fundamentalist and revivalist theology to one that embraces a “progressive” Islamic theology that accepts and in some cases even helps to propagate these values. What are the factors that explain these theological changes? What are the causal mechanisms that help to promote them? Using insights from constructivist international relations theory, I argue that culturalist and rationalist explanations are insufficient to answer this question. Instead, the answer lies on the role of religious leaders acting as 'moral authority' figures, who are promoting a given political theology that is either complementary to liberalism and democracy or is working against it. The success or failure of these “moral authority” figures in changing the their organizations is attributed to the existence of a rival theology that contest the premises of the theology promoted by these “moral authority” figures, as well as the historical relationship between these religious groups and the state in which they operate. This study employs comparative historical analysis and structured focused comparison of three Islamic groups: two from Indonesia (Nahdlatul Ulama and Muhammadiyah) and one from Turkey (the Fethullah Gulen Movement). The analysis serves as a theory development exercise on the role of 'moral authority' leadership that can be used by other scholars who wish to conduct a comparative analysis of Islamic groups in other Muslim-majority countries or a cross-regional analysis of numerous Islamic movements that are generalizable across the Islamic world. "
Religions, 2021
Since independence, Islamic civil society groups and intellectuals have played a vital role in Indonesian politics. This paper seeks to chart the contestation of Islamic religious ideas in Indonesian politics and society throughout the 20th Century, from the declaration of independence in 1945 up until 2001. This paper discusses the social and political influence of, and relationships between, three major Indonesian Islamic intellectual streams: Modernists, Traditionalists, and neo-Modernists. It describes the intellectual roots of each of these Islamic movements, their relationships with the civil Islamic groups Muhammadiyah and Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), their influence upon Indonesian politics, and their interactions with the state. The paper examines the ways in which mainstream Islamic politics in Indonesia, the world’s largest majority Muslim nation, has been shaped by disagreements between modernists and traditionalists, beginning in the early 1950s. Disagreements resulted in a schism within Masyumi, the dominant Islamic party, that saw the traditionalists affiliated with NU leave to establish a separate NU party. Not only did this prevent Masyumi from coming close to garnering a majority of the votes in the 1955 election, but it also contributed to Masyumi veering into Islamism. This conservative turn coincided with elite contestation to define Indonesia as an Islamic state and was a factor in the party antagonizing President Sukarno to the point that he moved to ban it. The banning of Masyumi came as Sukarno imposed ‘guided democracy’ as a soft-authoritarian alternative to democracy and set in train dynamics that facilitated the emergence of military-backed authoritarianism under Suharto. During the four decades in which democracy was suppressed in Indonesia, Muhammadiyah and Nahdlatul Ulama, and associated NGOs, activists, and intellectuals were the backbones of civil society. They provided critical support for the nonsectarian principles at the heart of the Indonesian constitution, known as Pancasila. This found the strongest and clearest articulation in the neo-Modernist movement that emerged in the 1980s and synthesized key elements of traditionalist Islamic scholarship and Modernist reformism. Neo- Modernism, which was articulated by leading Islamic intellectual Nurcholish Madjid and Nahdlatul Ulama Chairman AbdurrahmanWahid, presents an open, inclusive, progressive understanding of Islam that is affirming of social pluralism, comfortable with modernity, and stresses the need for tolerance and harmony in inter-communal relations. Its articulation by Wahid, who later became president of Indonesia, contributed to Indonesia’s transition from authoritarianism to democracy. The vital contribution of neo-Modernist Islam to democracy and reform in Indonesia serves to refute the notion that Islam is incompatible with democracy and pluralism.
Plural Islam and contestation of religious authority In Indonesia
Islam in Southeast Asia: Negotiating Modernity, 2018
Do the rallies of Aksi Bela Islam (Defending Islam Action) reveal a new map of religious outlook in Indonesia? Is it indicating the rise of conservatism and a threat to “moderate Islam”? Is it still valid and relevant to see the NU and Muhammadiyah as two main representations of Indonesian Islam? This paper intends to discuss these three questions by focusing on the dynamics of ulama and Muslim organizations, especially the NU and Muhammadiyah, after the Aksi Bela Islam. This paper, firstly, shows that the fragmentation of religious authority in Indonesian Islam has begun to take place even before the rallies. However, the change became clearer and more obvious after the rallies. Although still having significant roles, the NU and Muhammadiyah are no longer the sole authority holders in religious affairs in Indonesia. Secondly, the success of the rallies was primarily based on its ability to transform conservatism into pop-culture and the manipulation of fear felt by some Muslims from the threats of different groups.
umrefjournal.um.edu.my
This paper attempts to analyze the missing link between various Islamic movements post-Suharto era. Upon the abolition of “azas tunggal” as the sole ideological base of social and political movements during Habibie's administration, many Islamic movements emerged and some Islamic organizations reaffirmed their basic principles to al-Qur'an and Sunnah. Some of these movements have been transformed into political parties and participated in the ongoing democratization process. The paper argues that Islamic ...
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This thesis explores how Muslims negotiate Islam, secularity and the modern state (Chapter 1) through examining the views of Muslim leaders in Indonesia during the colonial and postcolonial periods (Chapter 2), and, in particular, through a case study of the leadership of the Muhammadiyah – one of the two largest Islamic organisations in the country (Chapter 3). In the main body of my thesis I focus on the post-New Order period (1998–2005) when Indonesia underwent a transition from state authoritarianism to experiments with democracy. During this time of new political freedom, various Islamic movements pushed for the Islamization of the state, revisiting earlier debates with supporters of secularism following Indonesia’ independence. Notably, this changing context also exposed tensions within the Muhammadiyah between more marginal revivalists and more dominant neo-modernist groupings with rather different conceptions of Islam’s relationship to the state and secularity. To investigat...
Archives of Current Research International
Geneological perspective differences on the Jakarta Charter had become the main cause for some Islamic groups to have an endless struggle in embodying Islamism and Islamic ideology formalism as the basis of their philosophy and ideology. Compromise and radicalism are part of the movement of these groups. This study aims to examine the supporters’ movement of the understanding of Islamism and Islamic Idiology formalism in order to get involve in Indonesian political system. The phenomenological constructivism approach is used in understanding the views of New Order Regime and Reforms Regime in dealing with Islamism and Islamic idiology formalism which are taken from interview and document analysis. The results of the study show that the radical issues are far more than the normal level of the Indonesian Islam movement. The concerns of certain groups which are oriented towards the Islamic movement in Indonesia are more co-opted in an anti-Islamic global network sponsored by the United...
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This article aims to elaborate and describe the supports and challenges towards the development of political Islam during reformation Indonesia. This qualitative research used literature reviews methods of data collection. After validating and removing irrelevant data, the collected data were analyzed using Nvivo 12 Plus as an analysis tool. The authors found that some supports of political Islam during reformation Indonesia are the emergence of Islamic groups supporting Islamic law, Islamic values in various fields, and the favorable Islamic pop culture. On the other hand, the challenges of political Islam are in the form of the anti-Islamization movements and the issues of Islamic terrorism. Moreover, the supports for the existence of actors bringing the ideas of political Islam developed significantly in the era of President Habibie, which was the earlier phase of changing from the Suharto authoritarian regime, for instance, by the emergence of various Islamic political movements...
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Differences in views in the first precepts of the Pancasila version of the Jakarta Charter of 22 June 1945 became a genealogical factor that caused some Islamic groups to struggle relentlessly in realizing Islam as the basis of the philosophy and ideology of the state. Part of these groups' movements is compromise and radicalism. Therefore, this research aims to examine non-mainstream Islamic movements in the Indonesian political system. The phenomenological constructivism approach is used in understanding the views of the New Order and the Reform regimes in dealing with non-mainstream Islamic movements, through interview techniques and document analysis. These results showed that radical issues far exceed the normal level of Islamic movements in Indonesia. Furthermore, there is concern that certain groups oriented towards Islamic movements in Indonesia are more co-opted in the anti-Islamic global network sponsored by the United States and the West. The status of the New Order a...
Rising Islamism and the Struggle for Islamic Authority in Post-Reformasi Indonesia
Trans-National and -Regional Studies of Asia (TRaNS), 2019
The successful 'Defending Islam' rallies of 2016-2017 provide clear evidence that Islamism is on the rise in contemporary Indonesia. Mainstream Islamic authorities, including groups such as Nahdlatul Ulama and Muhammadiyah, are increasingly losing their authority to newer, more conservative Islamic preachers and groups. What explains this phenomenon-and what does it mean for the moderate perspectives that many predicted would dominate Islam in Indonesia in the post-Reformasi era? This article argues that three main mechanisms can explain the rise of Islamism in Indonesia: 1) the creation of a 'marketplace of ideas' in post-Reformasi Indonesia and the way in which this marketplace has contributed to the rise of Islamism and the breakdown of Islamic authority; 2) the ascent of new Islamic authority figures, who propagate their views using new methods, ranging from social media to campus da'wa organisations and community-based activities (majelis taklim); and 3) the growing influence of new Islamic groups and preachers, who are building alliances with established religious elites and politicians. Such alliances strengthen the influence of new Islamic authorities, while further marginalising religious minorities, such as Ahmadi and Shi'a Muslims.
Journal of Indonesian Social Sciences and Humanities, 2018
Religious capital always has a crucial role in Indonesian politics. This paper aims to analyze the formation of religious capital in the New Order era that has been heavily influenced by the dynamics of the relationship between the state and religious groups, especially Islam, over time. As a case study, this paper will discuss Nahdlatul Ulama (NU). By analyzing the development of NU during the course of the New Order, it shows that the formation of religious capital was affected by the New Order's systematic attempts to contain Islamic forces. Since the late 1960s until the midst of 1980s, the New Order orchestrated a systematic weakening of Islamic movement through destabilization and demonization of the Muslim community. It also attempted systematically to reduce the political power of Islamic elements by sanctioning several policies and regulations , especially simplification of the political party system in 1973 and the enforcement of Pancasila as the sole principle for socio-political life in 1985. In 1984 NU declared its resolution to return to its original status as religious-based social organization, adopted Pancasila as its principle, and formally retreated from politics. However, in the late 1980s and during 1990s, although institutionally experienced de-politicization, NU proved to remain significant in the political landscape. From this analysis, it is apparent that NU's religious capital comprised of some ingredients: the centrality of ulama, the importance of securing NU community's interests, and the necessity of resources obtained through a good relationship with the state. Abstrak Modal keagamaan senantiasa memiliki peran krusial di ranah politik Indonesia. Tulisan ini bertujuan untuk menganalisis pembentukan modal keagamaan pada masa Orde Baru yang amat dipengaruhi oleh dinamika dari waktu ke waktu relasi antara negara dengan kelompok-kelompok keagamaan, khususnya Islam. Sebagai studi ka-sus, tulisan ini akan mendiskusikan Nahdlatul Ulama (NU). Dengan menganalisis perkembangan NU selama masa pemerintahan Orde Baru, tulisan ini menunjukkan bahwa pembentukan modal keagamaan tersebut dipengaruhi oleh upaya-upaya sistematis Orde Baru untuk menundukkan kekuatan Islam. Semenjak akhir 1960-an hingga pertengahan 1980-an, Orde Baru melakukan pelemahan sistematis terhadap gerakan Islam melalui destabilitasi dan demonisasi komunitas Muslim. Ia juga berusaha secara sistematis mereduksi kekuatan politik Islam dengan memberlakukan berbagai kebijakan dan regulasi, khususnya penyederhanaan sistem kepartaian pada 1973 dan pemberlakuan Pancasila sebagai asas tunggal kehidupan sosio-politik pada 1985. Pada 1984 NU mendeklarasikan