Over the last decade, Islamic awakening among people in large Muslim countries such as Indonesia has attracted attention. In Indonesia, Islam has become more deeply rooted in society while Islamic parties have been weakening, even as social conflicts over Islam have been gaining new intensity. Prevalent dichotomic views such as “conservative vs. modern” and “moderate vs. radical” have proved inadequate in efforts to better analyze these complicated developments. This book delves into the more diverse dynamism at play between current Islamic movements and the historical development of Islam in Indonesia.

This five-part book starts with a correspondence between an Islamic leader and a sociologist regarding the relationship between Islam and the state. The next part discusses hot issues in contemporary Indonesian Islam, such as the implementation of Islamic bylaws, the formation of the Counter Legal Draft to Islamic Law Compilation, the law to regulate pornography, and collective violence against religious minorities. This is followed by a discussion of the strategies of three contrasting (so-called radical, moderate, and centrist) political institutions, that is, HTI, PKS, and the Yudhoyono government, to seek mass support. The next part discusses social Islamization, focuses on the groups susceptible to the Islamization in Indonesia (women and the Chinese), and the localization of Islam in Islamic medical healing. Finally the book questions the conventional view of the strong Islamic tradition in the Banten region. All the chapters provide new findings based on firsthand sources, either through interviews, including those conducted with controversial HTI and Ahmadiyah figures, or rigid examination of contemporary source materials.

The book is distributed by the Wahid Institute in Jakarta, and by CAPAS in Taiwan. Interested parties may contact:

The WAHID Institute
Jl. Taman Amir Hamzah No. 8, Pegangsaan – Jakarta Pusat 10320 – Indonesia
Fax: +62-21-392-8250
Phone:+62-21-314-5671, +62-21-392-8233
http://www.wahidinstitute.org/
Email: kru@buklab.com