State Shariʿa and Its Limits

Islam and the Limits of the State

Aceh has also facilitated the work of a new generation of scholars working on diverse aspects of Islam and society. Exciting new lines of investigation have been directed at the complex ways in which Islamic belief and practice are configured within the everyday experiences of Muslims as they navigate the diverse transformations of society. This volume brings together an international group of researchers who have recently conducted extensive fieldwork on various aspects of Muslim religious life in Aceh, and among different social groups. This work presents insight into diverse expressions and interpretations of Islam all across the province that can help us to better understand the range and extent of ways in which Islam both informs and reflects dynamics of political and cultural change in contemporary Aceh. Most of the chapters are adaptations of papers presented at the international conference "Islam in Contemporary Aceh: Reconfigurations of Ritual, Doctrine, Community and Authority" which was held in Leiden in September 2011. They help us to understand how diverse expressions and interpretations of Islam in relation to the current state Shariʿa project have come to inform and reflect broader dynamics of political and cultural change across the province. Given Aceh's iconic position in the history of Islam in Indonesia, and taking into account the broader field of the anthropology of Muslim societies, this volume aims to contribute to discussions about patterns of continuity and change in the fields of lived experience, the officialization of religious thought and practice, and the role of Shariʿa and the state in contemporary Muslim societies. It starts out with an overview of the process of Shariʿa implementation, and a further elaboration of the central theme of the volume. Subsequent chapters focus on such issues as gender relations, the role of civil society, the drafting of religious laws, leadership dynamics, public morality, punishment, public space, the remaking of everyday life in post-conflict, post-tsunami contexts, and changing ideas about community and individuality. As such, we hope that this book will invite further debate, and help propel and sustain the flowering of Aceh scholarship into a wider field of academic and non-academic discussion. The editors are grateful to all those whose work and generous support made the 2011 conference possible. In particular, we would like to thank lucis (Leiden University Centre for the Study of Islam and Society), who funded the event and the Leiden University faculty who participated, including Léon Buskens, Kees van Dijk and Nico Kaptein. Our discussions there were also significantly enriched by the contributions of Arskal Salim and Daniel Birchok. We are grateful to Jaap Fokkema of vu University Amsterdam, who produced the Aceh administrative map printed here. We would also like to acknowledge all of the encouragement and assistance of Nienke Brienen-Moolenaar, Teddi Dols and Kathy van Vliet at Brill in helping us bring this book to publication, as well as

Islam and the Limits of the State, 2016

Aceh has also facilitated the work of a new generation of scholars working on diverse aspects of Islam and society. Exciting new lines of investigation have been directed at the complex ways in which Islamic belief and practice are configured within the everyday experiences of Muslims as they navigate the diverse transformations of society. This volume brings together an international group of researchers who have recently conducted extensive fieldwork on various aspects of Muslim religious life in Aceh, and among different social groups. This work presents insight into diverse expressions and interpretations of Islam all across the province that can help us to better understand the range and extent of ways in which Islam both informs and reflects dynamics of political and cultural change in contemporary Aceh. Most of the chapters are adaptations of papers presented at the international conference "Islam in Contemporary Aceh: Reconfigurations of Ritual, Doctrine, Community and Authority" which was held in Leiden in September 2011. They help us to understand how diverse expressions and interpretations of Islam in relation to the current state Shariʿa project have come to inform and reflect broader dynamics of political and cultural change across the province. Given Aceh's iconic position in the history of Islam in Indonesia, and taking into account the broader field of the anthropology of Muslim societies, this volume aims to contribute to discussions about patterns of continuity and change in the fields of lived experience, the officialization of religious thought and practice, and the role of Shariʿa and the state in contemporary Muslim societies. It starts out with an overview of the process of Shariʿa implementation, and a further elaboration of the central theme of the volume. Subsequent chapters focus on such issues as gender relations, the role of civil society, the drafting of religious laws, leadership dynamics, public morality, punishment, public space, the remaking of everyday life in post-conflict, post-tsunami contexts, and changing ideas about community and individuality. As such, we hope that this book will invite further debate, and help propel and sustain the flowering of Aceh scholarship into a wider field of academic and non-academic discussion. The editors are grateful to all those whose work and generous support made the 2011 conference possible. In particular, we would like to thank lucis (Leiden University Centre for the Study of Islam and Society), who funded the event and the Leiden University faculty who participated, including Léon Buskens, Kees van Dijk and Nico Kaptein. Our discussions there were also significantly enriched by the contributions of Arskal Salim and Daniel Birchok. We are grateful to Jaap Fokkema of vu University Amsterdam, who produced the Aceh administrative map printed here. We would also like to acknowledge all of the encouragement and assistance of Nienke Brienen-Moolenaar, Teddi Dols and Kathy van Vliet at Brill in helping us bring this book to publication, as well as

Bijdragen tot de taal-, land- en volkenkunde / Journal of the Humanities and Social Sciences of Southeast Asia, 2016

This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 Unported (cc-by-nc 3.0) License.

Islam and the Limits of the State, 2015

x preface of Aceh has also facilitated the work of a new generation of scholars working on diverse aspects of Islam and society. Exciting new lines of investigation have been directed at the complex ways in which Islamic belief and practice are configured within the everyday experiences of Muslims as they navigate the diverse transformations of society. This volume brings together an international group of researchers who have recently conducted extensive fieldwork on various aspects of Muslim religious life in Aceh, and among different social groups. This work presents insight into diverse expressions and interpretations of Islam all across the province that can help us to better understand the range and extent of ways in which Islam both informs and reflects dynamics of political and cultural change in contemporary Aceh. Most of the chapters are adaptations of papers presented at the international conference "Islam in Contemporary Aceh: Reconfigurations of Ritual, Doctrine, Community and Authority" which was held in Leiden in September 2011. They help us to understand how diverse expressions and interpretations of Islam in relation to the current state Shariʿa project have come to inform and reflect broader dynamics of political and cultural change across the province. Given Aceh's iconic position in the history of Islam in Indonesia, and taking into account the broader field of the anthropology of Muslim societies, this volume aims to contribute to discussions about patterns of continuity and change in the fields of lived experience, the officialization of religious thought and practice, and the role of Shariʿa and the state in contemporary Muslim societies. It starts out with an overview of the process of Shariʿa implementation, and a further elaboration of the central theme of the volume. Subsequent chapters focus on such issues as gender relations, the role of civil society, the drafting of religious laws, leadership dynamics, public morality, punishment, public space, the remaking of everyday life in post-conflict, post-tsunami contexts, and changing ideas about community and individuality. As such, we hope that this book will invite further debate, and help propel and sustain the flowering of Aceh scholarship into a wider field of academic and non-academic discussion. The editors are grateful to all those whose work and generous support made the 2011 conference possible. In particular, we would like to thank lucis (Leiden University Centre for the Study of Islam and Society), who funded the event and the Leiden University faculty who participated, including Léon Buskens, Kees van Dijk and Nico Kaptein. Our discussions there were also significantly enriched by the contributions of Arskal Salim and Daniel Birchok. We are grateful to Jaap Fokkema of vu University Amsterdam, who produced the Aceh administrative map printed here. We would also like to acknowledge all of the encouragement and assistance of Nienke Brienen-Moolenaar, Teddi Dols and Kathy van Vliet at Brill in helping us bring this book to publication, as well as preface xi the editorial assistance of Hongyan Li and Wajihah Hamid at the National University of Singapore's Asia Research Institute, and an anonymous reviewer for his/her helpful comments. map 1 Administrative map of Aceh List of Maps 1 Administrative map of Aceh xi 2 The Acehnese diaspora in the world 215

Analisa: Journal of Social Science and Religion

This paper argues Islamism in Aceh Province, Indonesia, has a long history within the social structure of the Acehnese people. Genealogically, there are two factors to view Islamism here, namely the relationship between Islam and politics in the past, and the people’s cultural and social construction, which has a strong Islamic base. Therefore, the collective memory about the relationship between Islam and politics, as well as the construction, then has implications in the lives of the Acehnese people in closely viewing those from various aspects. This study applies a qualitative method in which the data were collected through observation, interview, and documentation. The findings indicate that Islamism in Aceh is not a form of compensation from the Government of Indonesia to quell the conflict, but rather the form of aspirations that come from below on the long-standing awareness in the cultural and social structure of the locals regarding the relationship between religion and the...

Islamic Law and Society, 2012

This study of the contemporary Islamic legal system in Aceh, Indonesia argues for new attention to be paid to the ways in which contemporary Muslim agendas for the implementation of Islamic law can be read as projects for future-oriented social transformation—rather than as a series of reactive measures to perceived 'crises of modernity' and/or the political machinations of rival elites in contesting control of state power. In doing so it highlights the ways in which the ideals of, and institutional formations developed by, proponents of Islamic law are configured in relation to a broad range of non-Muslim modernist projects, including European and American theories of the sociology of law. Through examinations of these influences on discussions of Islamic law in Aceh, this essay demonstrates the degrees to which contemporary Sharīa implementation is inextricably linked to broader configurations of law, moral authority, and state power in the modern global order.

2015

Islamic Law and Society, 2012

This study of the contemporary Islamic legal system in Aceh, Indonesia argues for new attention to be paid to the ways in which contemporary Muslim agendas for the implementation of Islamic law can be read as projects for future-oriented social transformation—rather than as a series of reactive measures to perceived 'crises of modernity' and/or the political machinations of rival elites in contesting control of state power. In doing so it highlights the ways in which the ideals of, and institutional formations developed by, proponents of Islamic law are configured in relation to a broad range of non-Muslim modernist projects, including European and American theories of the sociology of law. Through examinations of these influences on discussions of Islamic law in Aceh, this essay demonstrates the degrees to which contemporary Sharīa implementation is inextricably linked to broader configurations of law, moral authority, and state power in the modern global order.

2007

This article examines the recent introduction of Islamic law, or shariah, in Aceh, Indonesia. Despite signs of growing religiosity in Indonesia over recent decades, it is argued that the introduction of shariah did not result from a broader pattern of societal Islamization, but rather from the specific political dynamics surrounding rebellion and counter-insurgency in Aceh. Three groups of actors – the national government, the ulama and the local political elite –were united by a desire to undercut popular support for GAM, the Free Aceh Movement. In promoting shariah, these groups engaged in a process akin to the “outbidding” often seen in ethnic conflicts, each trying to demonstrate that they more authentically represented Acehnese identity than did GAM. As a result of these origins, shariah came to Aceh in a top-down manner and in bureaucratic guise, giving rise to local criticisms that its implementation unfairly targets the poor and misrepresents Acehnese tradition.

Becoming Better Muslims: Religious Authority and Ethical Improvement in Aceh, Indonesia (Princeton: Princeton University Press), 2018

How do ordinary Muslims deal with and influence the increasingly pervasive Islamic norms set by institutions of the state and religion? Becoming Better Muslims offers an innovative account of the dynamic interactions between individual Muslims, religious authorities, and the state in Aceh, Indonesia. Relying on extensive historical and ethnographic research, David Kloos offers a detailed analysis of religious life in Aceh and an investigation into today’s personal processes of ethical formation. Aceh is known for its history of rebellion and its recent implementation of Islamic law. Debunking the stereotypical image of the Acehnese as inherently pious or fanatical, Kloos shows how Acehnese Muslims reflect consciously on their faith and often frame their religious lives in terms of gradual ethical improvement. Revealing that most Muslims view their lives through the prism of uncertainty, doubt, and imperfection, he argues that these senses of failure contribute strongly to how individuals try to become better Muslims. He also demonstrates that while religious authorities have encroached on believers and local communities, constraining them in their beliefs and practices, the same process has enabled ordinary Muslims to reflect on moral choices and dilemmas, and to shape the ways religious norms are enforced. Arguing that Islamic norms are carried out through daily negotiations and contestations rather than blind conformity, Becoming Better Muslims examines how ordinary people develop and exercise their religious agency.