Amelia Fauzia

Islamic orientations in contemporary Indonesia: Islamism on the rise?

Indonesia has approximately 240 million people, and more than 85% of the population are Muslims. Whilst incidents of religious intolerance have frequently been reported in the mass media, political Islam in Indonesia, represented by Islamic political parties, seems to have failed to gain popular support. Against this conflicting standing of Islam and Islamic organizations in Indonesia, this study focuses on Muslim religiosity and perceptions of the role of Islam in contemporary Indonesia. Based on our survey of 1500 Muslims in Indonesia in 2010, and case studies in regional Indonesia, this paper shows that, due to sociocultural change in regional Indonesia, and the diffusion of religious authority through media use, Indonesian Muslims are becoming less political Islamists, and more sociocultural Islamists who are attempting to advocate Islamic morality. This trend is in line with scholarly observations of post-Islamism prevalent in other parts of the Muslim world.

Faith and the State

Faith and the State offers a historical development of Islamic philanthropy from the time of the Islamic monarchs, through the period of Dutch colonialism and up to contemporary Indonesia.

Performing Muslim Womanhood: Muslim Business Women Moderating Islamic Practices in Contemporary Indonesia

ABSTRACT Islam is increasing its influence in contemporary Indonesia. What impact does this have on womens economic activity? In Indonesia there is a strong expectation that women should work. Working outside of the home, however, frequently poses a challenge for Muslim women, especially wives. The growing influence of Islamist (womens) groups in Indonesia strengthens conservative Islamic values to some extent. Nevertheless, a growing number of Muslim women in Indonesia are working to earn an income to meet their households needs. As traditional Islamic teaching prescribes that men should be the main breadwinners for their family, and Indonesian Family Law (1974) also stipulates that husbands are the head of the household, economically successful married women have been put into an awkward position. In view of this development, this article explores how Indonesian middle-class Muslim women have been negotiating between their Islamic values and economic necessity. The article shows that the need to generate an income has led to working Muslim women moderating their Islamic values, enabling them to justify extending their responsibilities into the public domain. We argue that working Muslim women are playing a key role in moderating Islamic theological interpretations and perceptions of Islamic womanhood in contemporary Indonesia.

Penolong Kesengsaraan Umum: The charitable activism of Muhammadiyah during the colonial period

This article discusses the nature of Islamic philanthropy and social services in the context of the plurality of Indonesian society by looking at the early development of Muhammadiyah’s charitable activities, known as Penolong Kesengsaraan Umum or by the acronym PKU (Assistance for the Relief of Public Suffering). This article asserts that PKU took an inclusive approach to humanitarian issues in providing social services to underprivileged groups and that this was claimed as being ‘without discrimination of religion and race or group.’ It analyses the ‘bridging’ and ‘bonding’ aspects of faith-based philanthropy as social capital and questions how it was that PKU could formulate inclusive ideas that underpin its vision and activities and that bolster Muhammadiyah’s label as a civil society organisation. Even though the ideas were overtaken at the end of the Dutch colonial period, the potential for an inclusive principle remained in place.

Islamic Philanthropy in Indonesia: Modernization, Islamization, and Social Justice

This article discusses the potentials and constraints of social justice philanthropy in Indonesia in the context of two trends – of growing Islamization and modernization. It employs interviews and recent observations together with survey data. Although the challenges facing social justice philanthropy remain immense, the pathways to development have been created; pathways through which the gap that exists between faith-based philanthropy and its secular counterparts may become smaller. Looking at growing philanthropization in the last 15 years and the pre-existing popularity of the concept of social justice among the population, could social justice and developmentalism may become the future of Islamic philanthropy in the country? The author argues that modernization and Islamization encourage the practice of philanthropy, but that they do not necessarily contribute to the development of a philanthropy that focuses on social justice. The modernization of the philanthropy sector has shown scattered pictures of development into a form of social justice philanthropy, which remains small but nevertheless encouraging.