Kajian
Islam and State: A Study of the Liberal Islamic Network in Indonesia, 1999-2004
Indonesia is rich with many brands of Islam, ranging from radical to liberal. In the global fight against terrorism, it has become a matter of some urgency to study how Islamic fringe groups are making their presence felt. These groups have yet to be the focus of Western media in the same way that radical Islam is. Liberal or moderate Islam’s contribution to the political discourse has been inadequately explored. 2 This paper examines the significance of Jaringan Islam Liberal (JIL) or the Liberal Islamic Network movement during the period 1999-2004.
Persepsi Publik Tentang Masalah Kebangsaan dan Pluralitas dalam Masa Transisi
Harapan masyarakat untuk mewujudkan tatanan Indonesia yang demokratissetelah berlangsungnya transisi politik dalam tiga tahun terakhir ini masih terus-menerusmembentur kendala serius. Sejak kejatuhan Rezim Otoritarian Soeharto hinggapemerintahan transisi yang sekarang ini, kronik multi krisis yang menerpa sendi-sendiekonomi, sosial dan politik, belakangan ditambah lagi dengan dampak tragedipenyerangan gedung kembar World Trade Center dan Gedung Pentagon, AS, telahmemperparah situasi masyarakat Indonesia.
Islam Politik : Inklusivitas atau Eksklusivitas? Jawaban dari Masyumi (1945-1960)
Pernah Masyumi yang didirikan pada tahun 1945 dan terpaksa bubar pada tahun 1960 dapat dikatakan sebagai partai Islam terbesar di dunia. Partai ini juga mengemukakan dialog yang produktif antara Islam dan demokrasi. Sejarah partai itu, dilihat dari kegiatan maupun programnya, membawa kita suatu pertanyaan yang sulit namun menarik mengenai identitas Islam di hadapan pluralisme politik.
India’s Islamist Groups
CONTEMPORARY INDIA IS A HINDU-MAJORITY COUNTRY, governed under a secular democratic constitution since 1947, when it achieved independence from British rule. At first glance India’s pluralism appears to protect it from falling under the spell of extremist ideologies, including Islamism. Muslim influence—cultural, political, economic, religious and linguistic—has been an integral part of the Indian ethos since the seventh century, and for the most part this influence has been benign.
Right Islam vs. Wrong Islam
NEWS ORGANIZATIONS REPORT THAT Osama bin Laden has obtained a religious edict from a misguided Saudi cleric, justifying the use of nuclear weapons against America and the infliction of mass casualties. It requires great emotional strength to confront the potential ramifications of this fact. Yet can anyone doubt that those who joyfully incinerate the occupants of office buildings, commuter trains, hotels and nightclubs would leap at the chance to magnify their damage a thousandfold?
Current Trends in Islamist Ideology
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The Rise of Political Islam in Soviet Central Asia
This article proposes to challenge the idea that the appearance of Islamists in the Central Asian states of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan was made possible, and occurred, only after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Without an understanding of the history of Islam in the region, it is difficult to grasp the current ideological recomposition of Central Asian Islam. Nor is it easy, without a historical perspective, to gauge the real impact of these newer Islamic movements and their social and institutional implantation in regions such as the Ferghana Valley and even inside the official structures of the Spiritual Boards of Muslims.
The Struggle for the Soul of Tatar Islam
Islam in Russia, though unfamiliar to many and often associated solely with the Chechen conflict, has a long and varied history. Only a thousand kilometers or so east-southeast of Moscow, Muslims have a significant presence in the Volga-Ural region, which converted to Islam as far back as the tenth century. Altogether, there are about sixteen million Muslims—Tatars, Bashkirs, Chechens, Ossetes, Ingush, etc.—in Russia, comprising over ten per cent of the population. And their numbers continue to grow. They constitute a double minority, in effect, by being both religious and national minorities within an essentially Orthodox country in which ethnic Russians make up eighty per cent of the population.
The Development of a Jihadi’s Mind
What occupies the mind of a jihad-driven Muslim? How is such fervor planted in young and impressionable believers? Where does it originate? How did I once an innocent child who grew up in a liberal, moderate and educated household—find myself a member of a radical Islamic group? These questions go to the root of Islamic violence and must be addressed if free societies are to combat radical Islam.
The Sunni-Shi’a Conversion Controversy
The Middle East is increasingly characterized by a decline of the Arab nation-state and a concomitant rise in importance of more primordial allegiances to tribal and religious communities. The Sunni-Shi’a divide is becoming a central feature of regional politics, reflecting the reaction of Sunnis to what they term the “Shi’a surge” or “tide” (al-madd al-Shi’i). Key elements of this surge are Iran’s push for status as a regional power, Iraq’s sectarian strife and its new Shi’a leadership, and Hezbollah’s quest for dominance in Lebanon. Saddam Hussain’s execution further exacerbated Sunni suspicions and animosity. As Sunni Arabs increasingly see Iran’s nationalistic, hegemonic ambitions behind the Shi’a surge, the religious Sunni-Shi’a divide is gradually becoming an Arab-Iranian one as well.
