Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde Vol. 167, no. 1 (2011), pp. 140-153 URL: http://www.kitlv-journals.nl/index.php/btlv URN:NBN:NL:UI:10-1-101379 Copyright: content is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License ISSN: 0006-2294 REVIEW ESSAY LUTHFI ASSYAUKANIE Recent publications on Indonesian Islam Abdurrahman Wahid (ed.), Ilusi negara Islam: Ekspansi gerakan Islam transnasional di Indonesia. Jakarta: Wahid Institute, 2009, 321 pp. ISBN 9789799873774. Adian Husaini, Membendung arus liberalisme di Indonesia: Kumpulan catatan akhir pekan. Jakarta: Pustaka Al-Kautsar, 2009, price IDR 67,500 (paperback). Ahmad Syafii Maarif, Islam dalam bingkai keindonesiaan dan kema- nusiaan: Sebuah refleksi sejarah. Bandung: Maarif institute for Culture and Humanity, 2009, 338 pp. ISBN 9789794335567. Daud Rasyid, Melawan sekularisme. Jakarta: Usamah Press, xii + 194 pp. ISBN 9789791982801. Haedar Nashir, Gerakan Islam syariat: Reproduksi salafiyah ide- ologis di Indonesia. Jakarta: Pusat Studi Agama dan Peradaban Muhammadiyah, xxxvii + 652 pp. ISBN 9789792605044. Husein Muhammad, Islam agama ramah perempuan: Pembelaan kiai pesantren. Yogyakarta: LKiS, Cirebon: Fahmina Institute, 2004, lxvi + 344 pp.ISBN 979338171x, price IDR 35,500. M. Imdadun Rahmat, Arus baru Islam radikal: Transmisi revival- isme Islam Timur Tengah ke Indonesia. Jakarta: Erlangga, 2005, xx + 384 pp. ISBN 9797810739, price IDR 44,800. M. Zaki Mubarak, Genealogi Islam radikal di Indonesia: Gerakan, pemikiran dan prospek demokrasi. Jakarta: LP3ES, 2008, xxvii + 384 pp. ISBN 9793330716. Siti Musdah Mulia, Menuju kemandirian politik perempuan: Upaya mengakhiri depolitisasi perempuan di Indonesia. Yogyakarta: Kibar Press, xx + 369 pp. ISBN 979-9885663, price IDR 48,000. Downloaded from Brill.com09/27/2021 07:46:11AM via free access Book reviews 141 Sukron Kamil and Chaider S. Bamualim (eds), Syariah Islam dan HAM: Dampak perda syariah terhadap kebebasan sipil, hak-hak perem- puan dan non-Muslim. Jakarta: Center for the Study of Religion and Culture, 2007, xl + 384 pp. ISBN 979351222. Universitas Paramadina Jakarta [email protected] Over the past 10 years, there has been a dramatic increase in the number of publications on Islam in Indonesia. This is mainly due to the changing po- litical situation both in Indonesia and in the global context. In Indonesia, the democratic transition since the downfall of Soeharto has created room for people to express their views. The freedom of expression that Indonesians have exercised since 1999 has led to the establishment of numerous publish- ing houses and media companies. In the global context, the rise of radical Islam since 9/11 and the emergence of Jamaah Islamiyah in the region have spurred academics and journalists to focus more on Indonesia. Consequently, most of the English-language writings on Indonesian Islam that were pub- lished during this period of time focused on radical Islam. The growing inter- est in matters of global security among Western countries, particularly the United States, has triggered the outpouring of Islamic publications. There is no exact figure on the number of books that have been published on Indonesian Islam or on Islam in general during the past decade. However, by making use of online search facilities available at five major libraries in the United States (Cornell University library, the library of Congress, and Hawaii University library), the Netherlands (KITLV library), and Australia (Australian National University library), I found that the number of books on Indonesian Islam during the past 10 years has doubled compared to the earli- er decade (1990-1999). By using keywords such as ‘Islam’ and ‘Indonesia’ and limiting the search to Indonesian-language books, I arrived at the following figures: KITLV has 11,096 books; Cornell 5,325; Congress 4,438; Hawaii 2,925; and ANU 1,461. A review of titles recorded at the KITLV library revealed that 2,342 books were published from 1990 to 1999 and 5,067 books from 2000 to 2009 (study conducted in July 2010). Since the collapse of the Soeharto regime in 1998, Indonesia has become a free country, where people can publicly express what they think. Websites and blogs have mushroomed and online discussions have grown exponen- tially, enabling the exchange of different ideas (Lim 2005). Radical groups were challenged by liberal ones; liberal groups were reciprocally attacked by conservatives. This exchange of ideas has spawned a huge industry for 1 This is my personal experience. During the time I was a student of senior high school, I was introduced to the usroh movement and was given Van Dijk’s book by one of my seniors there. Downloaded from Brill.com09/27/2021 07:46:11AM via free access 142 Book reviews Islamic literature (Muzakki 2009). This review essay focuses on books on Indonesian Islam written in Indonesian. It thus deliberately ignores the publications written in English, as these already receive greater international attention. Over the past 10 years, hundreds of topics have been addressed, ranging from history, doctrines, rit- uals, and political movements and organizations, to women issues. However, for the sake of brevity, I will concentrate on five issues that in my view have dominated debates in this period, namely, 1. Islamic radicalism; 2. the issue of shari’ah; 3. Islam and the state; 4. Islam and women’s rights; and 5. writings against secularism and liberalism. In the following discussion of each topic, I will use two recent books to exemplify salient aspects of the debates. Islamic radicalism Prior to 1998, literature on radical Islam in Indonesia was quite scarce. The first book that provided an extensive discussion of the radical Islamic move- ment in the country was Darul islam: Sebuah pemberontakan, a translation of C. van Dijk’s Rebellion under the banner of Islam (1981). This book was published in 1983 amid the upsurge of militant Islamic groups on Indonesian campuses. The book sparked controversy and was circulated in Islamist circles (usroh) to raise Muslim awareness of the struggle of the Darul Islam for an Islamic state.1 Since the translation of Van Dijk’s book into Indonesian, radical Islamic groups have often been associated with the Darul Islam movement. It was not until 1998 that this association gradually changed, thanks to political developments in the country. The Muslim riots in East Java which culminated in serial killings of ‘dukun santet’ (witches), the eruption of reli- gious conflict in Ambon and Maluku, the aggressive stance of some Islamic groups, and the rise of religious conservatism, have all contributed to a new discourse on Islamic radicalism. Islamic radicalism is no longer understood merely as a movement that is linked to the Darul Islam, but rather as any movement that aims at Islamizing the country (not necessarily the state) through aggressive means. The two books under review here aim to explain the origins and networks of radical Islam in Indonesia. Genealogi Islam radikal di Indonesia discusses the origins of radical Islamic groups by tracing the current situation to the Soeharto era. The author believes that the current radical Islamic movements in Indonesia – from hardliners to milder groups – can be attributed to New Order politics and Soeharto’s strategies of dealing with Islam (pp. 87-9). Mubarak argues that the roots of radical Islam in Indonesia can be traced back to what he calls ‘subversive Islam’, that is, the Islam that raised its voice against the regime. In its extreme form, subversive Islam was embodied in Downloaded from Brill.com09/27/2021 07:46:11AM via free access Book reviews 143 militant groups such as Komando Jihad Haji Ismail Pranoto (Hispran) and Jamaah Imran. In its mild form, subversive Islam was located in religious cir- cles (usroh) at secular campuses such as the Bandung Technological Institute (ITB) and the Bogor Agricultural Institute (IPB). Unlike the militant groups that overtly defied the regime, usroh groups chose the underground method to spread their radical views (pp. 97-8). While extremists grouped into mili- tant organizations such as Jamaah Islamiyah, the usroh movement turned to politics such as Partai Keadilan Sejahtera (PKS). Mubarak’s book puts heavy emphasis on the local origins of radical Islam. By contrast, Rahmat’s book, Arus baru Islam radikal, focuses more on the global influences of radical Islam on Indonesian Islam. He identifies three main groups originating from the Middle East that influenced the develop- ment of Islam in the country, namely, Hizbut Tahrir, Ikhwanul Muslimin, and Wahabism. Each of these groups has a different approach. Hizbut Tahrir believes in the caliphate system and rejects democracy. Although its political view is extremely radical, it does not use violence to implement its political agenda. Ikhwanul Muslimin follows a more pragmatic approach by adopt- ing democracy as a vehicle to gain political power. Meanwhile, Wahabism is a non-political movement that is highly concerned with the authenticity of Islam. It prefers missionary activities (da’wa) to spread its teachings. In the past four decades, each of these groups has influenced Indonesian Islam. It all began with the oil boom and the outbreak of Israeli-Palestinian wars. In the early 1970s, the Saudi government started a campaign to intro- duce Wahabism to the Muslim world. The Saudi partner in Indonesia, the Dewan Dakwah Islamiyah Indonesia (DDII), became the official agent for sending Indonesian students to continue their higher education in Saudi uni- versities (p. 80). Meanwhile, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict provided a crucial impulse which mobilized Muslim sympathy in Indonesia. Hizbut Tahrir, an organization founded by a Palestinian cleric, has been a fervent advocate of an Islamic solution to Palestine’s problems. In the mid-1980s, this organiza- tion extended its influence to the Bogor Agricultural Institute (IPB). The institute has now become the ‘centre’ of Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia (pp. 97-9). Ikhwanul Muslimin, on the other hand, used student networks to spread its teachings.