This book explores the connections between traditional Islamic education, rising religious intolerance, religious attitudes to gender, campaigns for curricula innovation and modernisation, and politics and society in Indonesia. Drawing on extensive original research and the deep experience of the authors, the book highlights tensions between traditional Islamic educators and modernisers, and between different understandings of Islam, emphasising the importance of these issues for the future of Indonesia.

This ebook is a selective guide designed to help scholars and students of Islamic studies find reliable sources of information by directing them to the best available scholarly materials in whatever form or format they appear from books, chapters, and journal articles to online archives, electronic data sets, and blogs. Written by a leading international authority on the subject, the ebook provides bibliographic information supported by direct recommendations about which sources to consult and editorial commentary to make it clear how the cited sources are interrelated related. A reader will discover, for instance, the most reliable introductions and overviews to the topic, and the most important publications on various areas of scholarly interest within this topic. In Islamic studies, as in other disciplines, researchers at all levels are drowning in potentially useful scholarly information, and this guide has been created as a tool for cutting through that material to find the exact source you need. This ebook is a static version of an article from Oxford Bibliographies Online: Islamic Studies, a dynamic, continuously updated, online resource designed to provide authoritative guidance through scholarship and other materials relevant to the study of the Islamic religion and Muslim cultures. Oxford Bibliographies Online covers most subject disciplines within the social science and humanities, for more information visit www.aboutobo.com.

This volume is a collection of essays on transregional aspects of Malay-Indonesian Islam and Islamic Studies, based on Peter G. Riddell’s broad interest and expertise.

As with many newly democratic countries, Indonesia faces common problems such as crisis of leadership, ethnic and communal conflicts, and the clash of Islam and the West. Indonesia, Islam, and Democracy: Dynamics in a Global Context brings fresh insight to the growing influence of Islam which is often ignored by foreign observers. Azyumardi Azra, a noted historian, breaks away from the common analysis of the current political situation and uncovers the lineages of the influence of Islam in Indonesian politics since the collapse of the Suharto era. Azyumardi Azra is Professor of History and Rector of Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University (UIN) in Jakarta. An internationally recognized scholar, he has presented papers in numerous conferences at home and abroad and has lectured at various universities such as NYU, Harvard, Oxford, Columbia, Leiden, Melbourne, Kyoto, Hawaii, at Manoa and many others. He is an honorary professor at Melbourne University (2004-9) and a member of the Board of Trustees of the International Islamic University in Islamabad, Pakistan. In April 2005 he was awarded Doctor Honoris Causa in Humane Letters from Carroll College, Helena, Montana, USA. He has written eighteen books, the latest is The Origin of Islamic Reformism in Southeast Asia.

While Muslims in Indonesia have begun to turn towards a strict adherence to Islam, the reality of the socio-religious environment is much more complicated than a simple shift towards fundamentalism. In this volume, contributors explore the multifaceted role of Islam in Indonesia from a variety of different perspectives, drawing on carefully compiled case studies. Topics covered include religious education, the increasing number of Muslim feminists in Indonesia, the role of Indonesia in the greater Muslim world, social activism and the middle class, and the interaction between Muslim radio and religious identity.

The essays in this volume discuss recent trends and issues in the scholarly study of the Qur’ān and its exegesis. The last few years have witnessed an unprecedented development in qur'anic studies in terms of both the number of volumes that have been produced and the wide range of issues covered. It is not an exaggeration to say that the field of qur'anic studies today has become the 'crown' of Islamic studies. In this book, scholars of diverse approaches critically engage with the Qur’ān and its exegesis, including questions about the milieu in which the Qur’ān emerged, the Qur’ān's relation to the biblical tradition, its chronology, textual integrity, and its literary features. In addition, this volume addresses recent scholarship on tafsīr (qur'anic exegesis), including thematic interpretation, diacronic and syncronic readings of the Qur’ān. Various approaches to understanding the Muslim scripture with or without tafsīr are also discussed.

Since the unraveling of Western colonialism in the mid-twentieth century, Muslim nations have struggled to reconcile Islamic ideas and political movements with the state. In Indonesia, in particular, Islam and the state have long been at an impasse. While the ritual dimension of Islam has been allowed to flourish, political Islam has been defeated by various means. Islam and the State in Indonesia probes the nature and effects of this mutual suspicion in a country in which 87 percent of the people are Muslims. Author Bahtiar Effendy addresses the problem of the Islam-state relationship in Indonesia in light of the fact that Islam--contrary to stereotypes--is a religion open to many interpretations and expressions by its followers. As Professor Effendy contends, there is no legitimate political reason to place Islam in opposition to the modern political system. Rather, the tension derives from the way Islam is articulated socio-culturally, economically, and politically in Indonesia. Islam and the State in Indonesia documents the background of this hostile relationship and analyzes the efforts of a new generation of Muslim political thinkers and activists to overcome it. The book also examines the state's recent moves toward accommodating political Islam. This book is groundbreaking both in its illumination of the past and in its insights into a way out of historic problems. It will be of great interest to students, scholars, journalists, government officials, and others seeking to understand this complex and divisive arena.