Dynamics of Islamism in Post-Soeharto era Madura (Indonesia)

Abstract

This thesis explores Muslim religiosity in Madura Island, Indonesia. The main expression of Islam in Madura is characterised by adaptation, in that religious practice accommodates and integrates local customs and cultural practices, known as Traditional Islam. However, those adaptive practices are typically considered heretical innovations (bi'da) by Islamist groups. Increasingly, Islamist groups are penetrating Madura, encouraging local Muslims to return to the one true 'authentic' Islam and to implement Sharia law. In some cases, the Islamist mission has been politico-religious, but in others, Islamist activism has resulted in violence and community division. Using ethnographic fieldwork, this thesis charts the rise of Islamist groups especially the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) which focuses on morality in society to advance notions of 'enjoining good and prohibiting evil' and the Salafi movement which aims to promote the purification of Islamic teachings in Madura, and considers the challenges they pose to traditional forms of Islamic practice. Drawing on Bourdieu's concepts of 'capital' and Foucauldian notions of power this thesis describes the dialectical opposition between Islamist activists and Madurese Traditionalist Muslims. Each group has sought to mobilise its cultural and social capital to influence Pamekasan Muslims to follow their respective teachings and forms of religious practice. This dynamic contest for religiosity in Pamekasan can be described as a battleground in what I call the desire to prevail as the authentic Islam. This study found that the development of FPI and the Salafi movement has decreased the influence of Traditionalist Islam in Pamekasan by deploying critical religious discourse and practices, which have resulted in two distinct strands of religiosity emerging in Madura: namely, Traditionalist-Islamist and Islamist. This desire to claim 'authenticity' has resulted in tensions and disunity, not only among the Madurese people, but among key Islamic organisations that structure the expression of Muslim identity in Indonesia. The rise of Islamist groups suggests that some local people are increasingly accepting of conservative attempts to purify Islamic teaching from local traditional customs and practices that have been in place for many generations. This thesis provides a snapshot of those competing claims and rivalries, and of the challenges that Islamist and Traditionalist-Islamist groups currently pose to the traditional expression of Islamic religious practice on the island of Madura.

Date of Award	2022
Original language	English