T H U R S D A Y, 2 4 N O V E M B E R

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1 T H U R S D A Y, 2 4 N O V E M B E R :15 09:30 REGISTRATION 09:30 10:00 WELCOME & INTRODUCTORY REMARKS 09:30 PRASENJIT DUARA Asia Research Institute & Office of Research, Humanities and Social Sciences Research, National University of Singapore 09:40 MICHAEL FEENER Asia Research Institute and Department of History, National University of Singapore 10:00 11:15 KEYNOTE ADDRESS Chairperson 10:00 FRANCIS ROBINSON Department of History, Royal Holloway, University of London, UK JEREMY KINGSLEY, Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore 10:45 QUESTION & ANSWER SESSION 11:15 11:35 MORNING TEA 11:35 12:50 PANEL 1 Strategies of Authority in Muslim South Asia in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries Chairperson MICHAEL FEENER, Asia Research Institute and Department of History, National University of Singapore 11:35 ADEEB KHALID Department of History, Carleton College, USA 12:00 ROBERTA TORTINI University of Heidelberg, Germany Ulama and the State in Uzbekistan Insights from China 12:25 QUESTION & ANSWER SESSION 12:50 14:15 LUNCH 14:15 15:30 PANEL 2 Chairperson MICHELLE MILLER, Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore 14:15 FAISAL RIZA State Institute for Islamic Studies of North Sumatra (IAIN SU), Indonesia The Involvement of Ulama in the Medan Mayoral Election of :40 MOCH NUR ICHWAN Sunan Kalijaga State Islamic University, Indonesia 15:05 QUESTION & ANSWER SESSION 15:30 15:50 AFTERNOON TEA 15:50 17:30 PANEL 3 The Making of Islamic and Post-Islamic Others: Majelis Ulama Indonesia, Orthodoxy and the Politics of Othering Chairperson MARIA PLATT, Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore 15:50 SHUI JINGJUN Henan Academy of Social Sciences, China 16:15 AL MAKIN Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore 16:40 GREG FEALY The Australian National University 17:05 QUESTION & ANSWER SESSION 17:30 END OF DAY ONE 17:40 BUS TRANSFER TO DINNER VENUE 18:00 WELCOME DINNER For Speakers, Chairpersons and Invited Guests only 20:00 BUS TRANSFER TO HOTEL FOR SPEAKERS The Model of Associational Leadership of Women Mosques and the Expanding of the Female Collective Space: A Central China Muslim (Hui) Context Religious People in the Non-religious State: The Voices of Two Indonesian Ulama and Their Christian Counterpart Ulama Establishmentarianism in Indonesia: Nahdlatul Ulama, Power and Popular Authority

2 F R I D A Y, 2 5 N O V E M B E R :00 09:15 REGISTRATION 09:15 10:30 PANEL 4 Chairperson PHILLIP FOUNTAIN, Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore 09:15 ACHMAD UBAEDILLAH University of Hawaii, USA and Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University, Indonesia 09:40 MEGAN BRANKLEY Department of History, Princeton University, USA Khalwatiah Sammān Tarekat in South Sulawesi (1820s- 1998): Defending Tradition in the Era of Changes Alim PhD: The Western University and Religious Authority in Indonesia 10:05 QUESTION & ANSWER SESSION 10:30 10:50 MORNING TEA 10:50 12:30 PANEL 5 Chairperson AL MAKIN, Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore 10:50 HUMAYUN KABIR Hiroshima University, Japan 11:15 MUHAMMAD AKRAM Islamic Research Institute, International Islamic University Islamabad, Pakistan 11:40 YON MACHMUDI Arab Studies, Faculty of Humanities, University of Indonesia 12:05 QUESTION & ANSWER SESSION 12:30 14:00 LUNCH 14:00 15:15 PANEL 6 The Political Visibility of Deobandi Islam and the Contested Religious Authority: Islam, the State and the Ulama in Bangladesh Authority of the Ulamā and the Problem of Religiously Motivated Terrorism in Pakistan The Decline of Ulama Authority in Indonesia: The Case Study of Two Pesantrens in East Jawa (Pesantren Langitan Tuban Dan Pesantren Darul Ulum Jombang) Chairperson BEN ARPS, Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore 14:00 ROBIN BUSH The Asia Foundation, Indonesia 14:25 TUTY RAIHANAH MOSTAROM Department of Theology and Religious Studies, King s College, University of London, UK 14:50 QUESTION & ANSWER SESSION 15:15 15:25 BREAK 15:25 16:40 PANEL 7 Chairperson ROBIN BUSH, The Asia Foundation, Indonesia 15:25 ERKINBEK KAMALOV Institute of Religion, Culture and Peace, Payap University, Thailand 15:50 JEREMY KINGSLEY Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore 16:15 QUESTION & ANSWER SESSION 16:40 17:00 AFTERNOON TEA 17:00 18:00 CONCLUDING REMARKS NU and Muhammadiyah: Changing Political Roles and Spheres of Influence The Political in De-politicization : The Role of the Ulama in Singapore Role of Religious Leaders in the Politics of Post-Soviet Central Asian Kyrgyzstan Lines of Religious Authority in Lombok, Indonesia Chairperson MICHAEL FEENER, Asia Research Institute and Department of History, National University of Singapore 17:00 COMMENTS BY FRANCIS ROBINSON, Department of History, Royal Holloway, University of London, UK 17:30 DISCUSSION 18:00 END OF WORKSHOP 18:10 BUS TRANSFER TO HOTEL FOR SPEAKERS

3 KEYNOTE ADDRESS Strategies of Authority in Muslim South Asia in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries FRANCIS ROBINSON Department of History, Royal Holloway, University of London, UK Starting from the position that authority is constantly a work in progress, this lecture examines authority in Muslim South Asia at a time when Muslims felt the challenge of rule by another civilisation. It examines the strategies in sustaining their authority: of religious leaders, of Unani hakims and of literary leaders. In all three areas there is a rejection of the persianate Mughal past and an embracing of Arab models, of the Prophetic model, and in various ways a drawing on British models and British authority. The lecture also looks at the strategies of the rulers noting, amongst other things, how the British drew heavily on Mughal models just as Indian Muslims were letting them go, and how since independence Muslim rulers have drawn on a mixture of Western, Arab and Prophetic sources. Running through the lecture there is revolutionary shift towards rooting authority in society at large, and the development of techniques to do so. Francis Robinson CBE (2006), Professor of the History of South Asia, Royal Holloway, University of London; educated, Trinity College, Cambridge, MA PHD, 1970; Prize Fellow, Trinity College, Cambridge ; Lecturer, 1973; Reader, 1985; Professor, 1990 Dept of History, Royal Holloway, University of London; Head of Dept., ; Vice-Principal and Senior Vice Principal, Royal Holloway, ; Visiting Professor, University of Washington, Seattle, 1982, 1983, 1985; Hong Kong Baptist Un., 2003; Directeur d`etudes Associe, Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, 1985; Visiting Fellow, Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies, ; President of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland , Iqbal Centenary Medal, 1978; appointed Commander of the British Empire in the Queen s Birthday Honours 2006 for services to Higher Education and to the History of Islam. Among his publications are: Separatism Among Indian Muslims: the Politics of the United Provinces= Muslims (Cambridge, 1974); Atlas of the Islamic World since 1500 (Oxford, 1982); ed with Paul R. Brass, The Indian National Congress and Indian Society (Delhi, 1987); ed. The Cambridge Encyclopaedia of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka (Cambridge, 1989); ed, The Cambridge Illustrated History of Islam (Cambridge, 1996); Islam and Muslim History in South Asia ( Delhi, 2000); The `Ulama of Farangi Mahall and Islamic Culture in South Asia (Delhi, 2001); Islam, South Asia and the West (Oxford University Press,Delhi, 2007); The Mughals and the Islamic dynasties of Iran and Central Asia (Thames & Hudson, London, 2007 forthcoming); ed. Islam in the Age of Western Domination: Vol V, New Cambridge History of Islam (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2007, forthcoming). 5

4 Ulama and the State in Uzbekistan ADEEB KHALID Department of History, Carleton College, USA The fundamental fact about the religious landscape in post-soviet Uzbekistan (and in post-soviet Muslim societies in general) is the lasting impact of the Soviet legacy. The anti-religious campaigns of in the USSR caused massive destruction of the infrastructure of Islamic learning and marginalized the authority of the ulama, subordinating it to those of both the state and the nation to an extent not seen anywhere else in the Muslim world. For the ulama after 1991, the task has been to reestablish their authority within a political field still dominated by Soviet-era institutional structures of state control of religious activity and Soviet-era discursive structures of a deep suspicion of religion. My paper will focus on the de-islamization of the 1930s and then consider its implications for the ulama of today. Adeeb Khalid is Jane and Raphael Bernstein Professor of Asian Studies and History Professor of history at Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota, USA. He is the author of The Politics of Muslim Cultural Reform: Jadidism in Central Asia (University of California Press, 1998), Islam after Communism: Religion and Politics in Central Asia (University of California Press, 2007), and numerous articles on the cultural and political history of Central Asia since the Russian conquest. 6

5 Insights from China ROBERTA TONTINI University of Heidelberg, Germany The study explores the relationship between China s secular state and the deeply rooted presence of a Muslim community historically exposed to both Islamic law and Chinese codes where the latter are prone to identify local Muslims as fully-fledged subjects/citizens of China. The study introduces the legal outcome of this ideological encounter in the context of late-imperial as well as republican times. At its core, the research unveils contemporary Muslims debates around the role and function of Islamic law in a Marxist state. In doing so, it delves into contemporary Chinese ulama s multiple attempts to reconcile the local and the foreign in their approach to Islamic law. In addition, the work sheds light on the current redefinition of Islamic law in the country by mapping its emergence from the shadow of a confrontation between the secular imprint of the ruling party and Islamic law s ambitions in the civil domain. Roberta Tontini graduated in Sinology from the University of Rome, with a thesis on Chinese Muslims Islamic identity. After the M.A., the Chinese government awarded her a scholarship that allowed her to continue her research activities at Xiamen University, where she studied for three years, while serving as a teacher in the courses of Italian and classic Latin. In Xiamen she published her preliminary research on the local mosque and Islamic community. She is currently working on her PhD at Heidelberg University, Germany. 7

6 The Involvement of Ulama in the Medan Mayoral Election of 2010 FAISAL RIZA State Institute for Islamic Studies of North Sumatra (IAIN SU), Indonesia The role of ulama became more important and strategic as Indonesia underwent greater degree of democratisation, evidenced by the direct local elections of political leaders. On one hand, direct election was a space for society to act freely and independently in the determination of their political actions. On the other hand, a large part of society are still trapped in the patron-client culture in which they are dependent upon authoritative figures to help them determine their political choice. This paper is the result of analysis of the involvement of the ulama in the electoral politics of city of Medan in the province of North Sumatra, Indonesia. This paper aims to answer three inter-related issues. First, how was the involvement of ulama and their respective religious organizations in the Medan Mayoral Election of 2010? Second, how was the public perception towards ulama who participated in politics? Third, what was the consequence of the ulama s involvement in politics? The data for this paper was obtained from direct field observation and supported by available documents and publications, which were then used for analysis. The result showed that ulama indeed influenced political choice by the creation of religious organisations and groups as a tool for vote gathering. Many of them experienced a loss in popularity and were no longer respected by the Muslim masses as their political involvement caused them to neglect their traditional function of guiding society and decreased their piety by the need to oblige to the whims of ephemeral political interests. Faisal Riza is a Lecturer of the Faculty of Ushuluddin (Islamic Thought) at the State Institute for Islamic Studies of North Sumatra (IAIN SU), Indonesia. Much of my writings and activities are on Muslim political participation and empowerment of Muslim ulama (religious scholars). Faisal wrote his thesis on the political behaviors of the Banjar ethnic group in Perbaungan, North Sumatra, analysing their attitudes towards Islamic and non-islamic political parties. The thesis had been published in journal (Journal Politeia FISIP USU) and book (published by Aksara Pustaka) forms. He also writes frequently for the Commentary section of the local newspaper Waspada. In his hometown, Serdang Bedagai, Faisal initiated an organization for religious scholars, with the aim of increasing their capacity for local political involvement, especially in the area of regional budgeting (APBD). He has also participated in a workshop with the theme Civil Society Againt Poverty organized by the Indonesian Forum for Budget Transparency North Sumatra Chapter (FITRA Sumut). 8

7 The Making of Islamic and Post-Islamic Others: Majelis Ulama Indonesia, Orthodoxy and the Politics of Othering MOCH NUR ICHWAN Sunan Kalijaga State Islamic University, Indonesia During the New Order and in the beginning of Reformasi, Majelis Ulama Indonesia (MUI) was careful in defining heresy or defiance of certain Islamic groups. It was also tolerant to liberal Islamic thoughts. Some liberal thinkers, such as Nurcholish Madjid and Abdurrahman Wahid were also members of MUI. Yet, this attitude gradually changed since the 2000 National Congress, the time when other radical Islamic movements began to emerge. The climax was the 2005 Congress, when MUI issued fatwas on religious liberalism, secularism and pluralism, and on Ahmadiyah. This was strengthened by the formulation of the Ten Criteria of Deviant Beliefs in Religious violence against the so-called deviant and liberal groups have intensified since The question of tolerance and human rights emerges when the MUI fatwas and the Ten Criteria are adopted by some Islamic groups against other minority Islamic groups. My paper will observe closely the conservative turn of the MUI in the last decade, seen especially in the context of the way MUI has excluded other minority Islamic groups and liberal Muslims from the right Islam and how this position has been also adopted by some Islamic organizations and movements in their own ways. The violence and intolerance resulted from the MUI fatwas and ten criteria will also be taken into account. Moch Nur Ichwan is a Lecturer of the Sunan Kalijaga State Islamic University, Yogyakarta, Indonesia. He received his PhD in Religious Studies from Tilburg University, The Netherlands, in He was Postdoctoral Fellow of KNAW (Royal Netherlands Academy of Science) ( ) on Ulama and Re-islamisation of the Public Sphere: The Indonesian Council of Ulama and Glocal Challenges in the Post-Soeharto Era. His current publications include Official Ulema and Politics of Re-Islamisation: The Majelis Permusyawaratan Ulama, Shari atisation and Contested Religious Authority in Post-New Order s Aceh, Journal of Islamic Studies (April 2011); "The Politics of Shari atisation: Central Governmental and Regional Discourses of Shari a Implementation in Aceh," Michael Feener and Mark Cammack (eds.), Islamic Law in Modern Indonesia, Harvard: Islamic Legal Studies Program, 2007; Ulama, State and Politics: the Council of Indonesian Ulama After Suharto, Islamic Law and Society,

8 The Model of Associational Leadership of Women Mosques and the Expanding of the Female Collective Space: A Central China Muslim (Hui) Context SHUI JINGJUN Henan Academy of Social Sciences, China shjj7979@yahoo.com.cn; shuijingjun@sina.com It is an important (political) thing to exist and develop for Islamic religion and Muslim society in the Non-Mainstream Muslim Context. The women s mosques and female Ahong (female religious leader) made great contributions to Islamic religion and Muslim communities in Central China in history. Contemporary female Ahong and Muslim women face a lot of changes and challenges and opportunities in the diverse socio-political environment. Female Ahong cooperate with women s mosque managers to utilize resources which from Mainstream Society ( Relevant Policies, Laws and Regulations) and from Muslim Society (the tradition of Women s Mosques and Muslim Women s Culture, the tradition of Joint-Participation and Cooperation, etc) to develop or create female collective space. The collaborational leadership of women s mosques is successful to make changes in history and in contemporary times. The place of the Muslim women and the impact and influence of women s mosques are promoting in Muslim community or beyond Muslim community. The concept of associational leadership comes from an international research project The empowerment of Women in Muslim contexts (WEMC) that I was one of the major members and did Investigation about Female Leadership with my colleagues. Shui Jingjun, Research Fellow at Henan Academy of Social Sciences, Trustee at Association of Henan religion culture study. Born in a Hui Muslim family, her research interests are in Hui Muslim culture, religion and gender. Her latest, co-authored book (with Dr Maria Jaschok ), entitled Women, Religion and Space in China, was published by Routledge, NY. (2011). It forms the sequel to the study of the unique women mosques and the female Islamic traditions in China, published in 2000, and entitled The History of Women s Mosques in Chinese Islam (Curzon). The Chinese revised version published in 2002, by Sanlian Chubanshe, Sanlian and Harvard-Yenching Academic Library Series (Beijing), entitled Zhongguo Qingzhen Nűsishi (The History of Women s Mosques in China). 10

9 Religious People in the Non-Religious State: The Voices of Two Indonesian Ulama and Their Christian Counterpart AL MAKIN Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore My paper will present two Indonesian Muslim intellectuals (A. Mukti Ali and Munawir Sjadzali, whom we may consider modern type of Ulamas ) and a Catholic priest, Driyarkara, all of whom were of the opinion on the neutral position of the state vis-à-vis religion. To compare Ali and Sjadzali, during their early education, both were raised in pesantren milieu, but later pursued higher education in the West. Mukti Ali stressed the plurality of Indonesian society, so much so that, in his eyes, maintaining only a single religious tradition, i.e. Islam, for the sake national development, is dangerous. Sjadzali, on the other hand, argued that the non-islamic state of Indonesia is the best choice for religious Indonesians - justified by reading classical Islamic literature from Ibn Taymiyya to Ibn Khaldun. Driyarkara, whose dissertation in Gregoriana University dealing with the vision of God according to Malebranche, asserted that the state should not interfere the people s faith. The state, according to him, should guarantee the freedom of faith and religion, which should be placed in the private domain. The views expressed by these three religious intellectuals, on whom my paper will shed light, inspired later Indonesian generations, many of whom developed the ideas further in their own ways Al Makin obtained his PhD in Philosophy/Islamic Studies from the University of Heidelberg, Germany, MA in Islamic Studies from McGill University, Montreal and BA in Islamic Studies from the State Islamic University, Sunan Kalijaga, Yogyakarta. He is currently a Lecturer at the State Islamic University Sunan Kalijaga, Yogyakarta. His dissertation, Representing the Enemy: Musaylima in Muslim Literature, Peter Lang (2010), deals with classical Islamic literature, particularly on the early concept of prophet-hood. It focuses on the way in which the issues of prophet-hood and the stories of false prophets evolved in classical Islamic literature. He is also interested in the public intellectual debates in the current Islam in Indonesia. 11

10 Ulama Establishmentarianism in Indonesia: Nahdlatul Ulama, Power and Popular Authority GREG FEALY The Australian National University Numerous scholars of Islamic history and politics have noted the presence of two broad polarities in ulama behaviour: one polarity orients the ulama towards the state and the service of the ruler; the other aligns clerics with the Muslim masses and the advocacy of their interests. Government positions usually bring prestige, often financial security, and influence over state policies and the implementation of Islamic law. Closeness to Muslim society holds the prospect of mass support and ability to mobilize the community and shape its views. Each polarity offers its own structure of power but each also has attendant risks. Since at least the early Abbasid period, when ulama began to consolidate themselves as a distinct professional class and institution within the caliphate, these differing state versus society tendencies have been apparent, with an inclination towards state cooptation or at least political quietism being more pronounced. This is the context for my consideration of the role played by the ulama of Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), Indonesia s largest Islamic organization. I will take a longer historical view of NU, tracing the fluctuating orientations of the organization from 1945, the point at which it became directly involved in politics. I will argue that the predominant tendency for NU over the past six decades has been one of establishmentarianism, wherein the organization has sought to embed and entrench itself in the political and bureaucratic systems, most notably through control of the Ministry of Religious Affairs. Historically, the main beneficiary of this establishmentarianism has been NU s ulama elites and those involved in their patronage networks, rather than the NU masses. I will pay particular attention to two dynamics in NU s history: (1) the manner in which the ulama have responded to uncongenial or hostile governments, especially in taking on dissenting or activist roles; and (2) the growing diffusion in ulama political behavior in recent decades and its impact on ulama standing and NU s effectiveness as a socioreligious organization. Greg Fealy holds a joint appointment as Associate Professor and Senior Fellow in the College of Asia and the Pacific, The Australian National University. He gained his PhD from Monash University in 1998 with a study of the history of Nahdlatul Ulama, published in Indonesian under the title Ijtihad Politik Ulama: Sejarah NU, He is the co-author of Joining the Caravan? The Middle East, Islamism and Indonesia (2005), Radical Islam and Terrorism in Indonesia (2005) and Zealous Democrats: Islamism and Democracy in Egypt, Indonesia and Turkey (2008). He is also co-editor of Soeharto s New Order and it s Legacy (2010), Expressing Islam: Religious Life and Politics in Indonesia (2008), Voices of Islam in Southeast Asia: A Contemporary Sourcebook (2006), Local Power and Politics in Indonesia: Decentralisation and Democratisation (2003) and Nahdlatul Ulama, Traditionalism and Modernity in Indonesia (1995). He was the C.V. Starr Visiting Professor in Indonesian Politics at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, Washington DC, in 2003, and has been a consultant to AusAID, USAID, The Asia Foundation and BP. From 1997 to 1999 he was an Indonesia analyst at the Australian Government s Office of National Assessments. 12

11 Khalwatiah Sammān Tarekat in South Sulawesi (1820s-1998): Defending Tradition in the Era of Changes ACHMAD UBAEDILLAH Department of Social and Political Sciences, Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University, Indonesia The post Suharto era of Indonesia, commonly known as era reformasi (reformation era), has given a new terrain in Muslim community. How Islam should be actualized in accordance with modernity has been the general pattern within the local and global ummah (Muslim community). Apart from the two major Muslim groups represented by the modernist Muhammadiyah and the traditionalist Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), Indonesian Islam has dubiously been represented by those Sufi associations (Ind. tarekat), from which the notion of Islamic authority can be examined. Since their followers are huge, the history of Khalwatiah Sammān tarekat (1820s), in South Sulawesi may show how Islamic authority has been practiced and understood by the leaders (khalīfah or Shaikh) of the order and their followers over the centuries. This paper, which is part of my dissertation research, may address how Islamic authority narrated in such mystical teachings are exclusively interpreted and giving their interpreters ( Ulama) to control religious obedience among their ummah. As the study shows, over two centuries the Khalwatiah Sammān has showed it growing members, despite long-lasting oppositions among those formalist Ulama against its Islamic practices. Nevertheless, its political patronage with the Suharto regime had evidently benefited to its further development, after its lengthy struggle towards religious encounters in the past. Its politically eclectic way remains continues recently, the reform era has challenged its leaders to accommodate social and political changes faced by their members. Achmad Ubaedillah, earned his PhD in 2011 from Department of history University of Hawaii, at Manoa, Honolulu, USA. He got his MA in International Affairs at Ohio University, Athens, OH. His undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in Islamic Studies were accomplished in Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University (UIN) Jakarta-Indonesia. Recently, he is a lecturer in Department of Social and Political Science (FISIP) and researcher at Indonesian Center for Civic Education (ICCE) at UIN Jakarta. Apart from teaching Southeast Asian Islam and Civic Education, he is also conducting research on Contemporary Islam in Indonesia, particularly Islamic Sufi movement and its global networks. Now he is finishing his own research on al-rufaqaa, an Islamic-economic organization in Indonesia. 13

12 Alim PhD: The Western University and Religious Authority in Indonesia MEGAN BRANKLEY Department of History, Princeton University, USA The phrase Islamic higher education conjures up images of the renowned seats of Muslim learning at Al-Azhar, Qom, and Deoband, and yet, in the past sixty years, an increasing number of Muslim students from across the Islamic world have travelled to North America and Europe in order to enroll in programs of Islamic Studies and learn about their religion from a mixed faculty of Muslim and non-muslim professors. This paper examines the experiences of two such Indonesians Harun Nasution and Mukti Ali who studied at McGill University in the 1950s and 1960s. First chronicling the paths that led each to McGill, the paper then examines the nature of their intellectual encounter with the academic study of Islam through close readings of their published works. I track the lasting impact of academic history and research methods on their visions for a modern Islam for Indonesia. Moving beyond the realm of intellectual history in the second half, the paper then follows the men back to Indonesia where, in the early 1970s, Nasution and Ali became central players in the Department of Religious Affairs and the State Islamic Institutes (IAINs). How did their Western educational backgrounds shape the nature of their religious authority? In what ways did former members of Masyumi, like Mohammad Rasjidi, resist their authority and bureaucratic power by decrying their Orientalist approaches? Ultimately, the paper explores contestations over Muslim authenticity, Western Islamic Studies, and the future of Islamic education within Indonesia s diverse Muslim public sphere. Megan Brankley, a third-year PhD Student in the Department of History at Princeton University, works on the history of Islam in modern South and Southeast Asia, with a focus on Indonesia and also on Pakistan. Her broader interests lie in Islamic intellectual history, post-colonial theory, and religion-state relations in modern Asia. Focusing on prominent Muslim thinkers and bureaucrats (primarily Indonesian) who have studied Islam in the West, Megan s dissertation examines the meeting of two traditions of knowledge about Islam, one theological and the other academic, and follows the encounter s consequences -- intellectual, institutional and political on leading figures functioning within each discourse. 14

13 The Political Visibility of Deobandi Islam and the Contested Religious Authorities: Islam, the State and the Ulama in Bangladesh HUMAYUN KABIR Hiroshima University Partnership Project for Peacebuilding and Capacity Development (HiPeC), Graduate School for International Development and Cooperation, Japan The proliferation of the Deobandi revivalist movement in colonial subcontinent since the nineteenth century have been taken for granted, although how the local Deobandi custodians have emerged as important political negotiators in public space has not been received considerable academic attention. This paper attempts to decipher the political visibility of the Deobandi ulama in Bangladeshi society and the resistance they pose against the local syncretistic tradition of Islam primarily claiming it as unauthentic. The ulama whose authorities have already been fragmented thanks to modernity are increasingly concerned about religious authenticity. The thought of Deobandi Islam, which has been produced and reproduced by local Deobandi madrasas religious training from the early twentieth century, is increasingly being considered as an authentic version of Islam that attempts to seek a greater uniformity with the Muslim world especially with the Middle East. However, the mobilization and activism for Deobandi Islam by the local Deobandi ulama undermine the local syncretistic tradition and polarize the Muslims in terms of their doctrinal orientations as well. Such polarization has contributed to the emergence of multiple political negotiators and actors of Islam within the ulama in Bangladesh. On the basis of some biographical accounts on some prominent ulama and of ethnographic accounts on their primary institutions (the madrasas), the study investigates the transformation of the political behaviors of the Deobandi ideologues from the mid-1970s, the period when Islam began to re-emerge as an important ideological discourse of the Bangladeshi state. It contends that religious authority is a matter of contestation within the ulama that are divided, polarized and fragmented by the politics of religious authenticity in Bangladesh. Humayun Kabir received PhD in Educational Development and Cultural and Regional Studies from the Graduate School for International Development and Cooperation, Hiroshima University, Japan. Currently, he is working as Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the same university. His main research interests are Islamic religious schools (madrasas), politics of Islam, Islamic scholars (ulama) and the Muslim community in South Asia especially in Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Nepal. Recently, he has published Contested Notions of being Muslim : Madrasas, Ulama and the Authenticity of Islamic Schooling in Bangladesh appeared in The Moral Economy of the Madrasas: Islam and Education Today, eds, Keiko Sakurai and Fariba Adelkhah, pp.59-84, (London: Routledge, 2011). Several other academic articles of Dr. Kabir have also been appeared in different international journals including Contemporary South Asia. 15

14 Authority of the Ulamā and the Problem of Religiously Motivated Terrorism in Pakistan MUHAMMAD AKRAM Islamic Research Institute, International Islamic University Islamabad, Pakistan Certain religiously motivated militant groups have launched a sustained anti-state terrorist campaign in Pakistan since These militant groups do not have explicit support of any of the eminent ulama of the country. Rather, the notable ulama of the country have issued collective religious decrees (fatwas) to denounce and condemn the terrorist attacks, especially the ones targeting innocent civilians. The intriguing question arises, then, why the fatwas of the ulama have remained ineffective in dealing with the problem of terrorism committed in the name of religion. This question becomes even more pressing when considered against the contention of scholars like Muhammad Qasim Zaman that the ulama' in South Asia have successfully defended their traditional authority in the face of modern socio-political developments. This paper addresses this question and argues that the vivid sectarian identities, such as Deobandis, Brevalis, and Ahl al-hadith, have circumscribed the ulama s authority to the extent of their respective following. As overwhelming majority of the militants active in Pakistan happen to be Deobandis, fatwas of the non-deobandi ulama have no appeal for them. The standpoint of the Deobandi ulama, in tern, is ambivalent. They want to be understood neither as endorsing the government s policy of supporting the US led war on terrorism in Afghanistan, nor as supporting the heinous terrorist attacks in Pakistan. Thus, their standpoint is not unequivocal and sufficiently forceful to make the perverted groups rethink their policy. Muhammad Akram did M. Phil in Islamic Studies with specialization in comparative religions at the International Islamic University, Islamabad, Pakistan, and PhD in Religious Studies from the University of Erfurt, Germany. Presently, he works as Assistant Professor at the Islamic Research Institute, based within the International Islamic University Islamabad, and overlooks a project of the Institute named Islam and the Contemporary Muslim Societies. He is also Assistant Editor of Islamic Studies, which is a premier academic journal of Pakistan in the field of Islamics. His academic interests include contemporary Muslim thought, theory and method in the study of religion, and Islam in South Asia. 16

15 The Decline of Ulama Authority in Indonesia: The Case Study of Two Pesantrens in East Jawa (Pesantren Langitan Tuban Dan Pesantren Darul Ulum Jombang) YON MACHMUDI Arab Studies, Faculty of Humanities, University of Indonesia This research is used a qualitative method by focusing on the changing role of traditional Muslim scholars (kyai) in Indonesia. In order to analysis the current role of kyai in Indonesia and their relations to the decline of the traditionalist Muslim Party, the Awakening Nation Party (PKB) during the 2009 a field research based on participant observation is conducted at the Darul Ulum modern Islamic boarding school (pesantren) in Jombang East Java and the Langitan traditional pesantren in Tuban East Java in 3-20 December Interviews are conducted with some kyais and students of both pesantren. The research shows that the last general election in 2009 has showed an interesting trend regarding the existence of political Islam in Indonesia. It indicates the decline of old political Islam groups but gives arise to a new political. It is surprisingly that a traditionalist Muslim based party, the Nation Awakening Party (PKB) lost dramatically its seats in the Indonesia National Parliament. The decline of a party that affiliated with NU has brought a further prediction about the future of NU based party in the future. In general, this phenomenon resulted from three main factors. First, the changing of traditional roles played by religious leaders (kyais) as agents of society, from cultural brokers to political ones. This changed has caused the degradation of their authority in society. Second, in addition to this phenomenon, the modernization pesantren (Islamic boarding school) in Indonesia that affiliate with NU become main problem of the detachment of NU stronghold from it political wing, PKB. Pesantren has introduced a new educational system that widen the relationship between kyai and its santri, the implementation of student dormitories within pesantren has also contributed to isolate students from kyais direct supervisions. Third, the socialization process of kyais also has changed that contributes to create a autonomous nature of NU kyais and prevented the central leadership of kyais to develop their networks and channel them into one leadership under a particular senior and respected kyai. Therefore, the authority of kyais right now has decline, in mobilising their followers and students to support certain political parties and elites. Yon Machmudi received his PhD from the Faculty of Asian Studies, the Australian National University (ANU) Canberra in 2007, specializing in Islam in Southeast Asia under supervision of Dr. Greg Fealy, Prof Virginia Hooker and Prof Harold Crouch. He then joined as a Researcher the Transliteration Project at the Department of History, National University of Singapore ( ) with Mark Emmanuel and the contemporary Islam in Southeast Asia Project at the Australian National University (2006) with Dr. Greg Fealy. He conducted a research on the Spiritual Journey Project in collaboration with the University of Wisconsin, Madison, USA ( ). His current research is on the Perceptions of Indonesia in the Middle East ( ) and the Decline of Kyais Authority in Pesantren ( ). He is now a lecturer at the Arabic Studies Program, Faculty of Humanities, University of Indonesia and the head of the research and training department at the Central for Middle East and Islamic Studies, University of Indonesia. His recent publications are The emergence of New Santri in Indonesia, Journal of Indonesian Islam, vol. 02, number 01, June 2008, Influences of Tasawwuf on Ikhwanul Muslimin Movement ( ), Journal of Arabia, vol. 11 no. 22 October 2008-March 2009 and Intellectuals or Housemaids: the Perception of Indonesia in Saudi Arabia Journal of Arabia, vol. 12 no. 22 March 2009-October His book published by ANU E-Press in 2008 entitled, Islamising Indonesia: the Rise of Jemaah Tarbiyah and the Prosperous Justice Party is considered as the top ten best books (number 7) in 2011 and considered as the first book on the Prosperous Justice Party which is written in English. 17

16 NU and Muhammadiyah: Changing Political Roles and Spheres of Influence ROBIN BUSH The Asia Foundation, Indonesia Political wisdom in Indonesia has long held that its large mass-based Muslim organizations, NU and Muhammadiyah, are politically influential most famously articulated by Geertz as politik aliran. In all three presidential elections since Indonesia s transition to democracy in 1998, political parties have actively sought either endorsement or representation on their tickets from the two organizations. However, the 2009 presidential elections appear to have heralded a change in such direct political influence on the part of NU and Muhammadiyah. Both publicly endorsed former VP Jusuf Kalla, who ended up garnering less than 12% of the vote. At the same time, the two political parties affiliated with NU and Muhammadyah, PKB and PAN, joined President Yudhoyono s coalition, despite their organizations endorsement of his opponent. Observing these changes in the political dynamics of NU and Muhammadiyah, The Asia Foundation, working with LSI and PPIM, conducted a nation-wide survey to explore the changing ways that these Muslim organizations wield political influence, especially at the local level. The survey results confirm that religious figures or ulama within NU and Muhammadiyah, do not wield the same kind of direct political influence as they have historically, but they also provides insights into how the two organizations, in different ways, are still important power brokers at the local level. Robin Bush is The Asia Foundation s Country Representative in Indonesia, where she directs the Foundation s broad portfolio of governance, economic reform, women s political participation, and rule of law programs. From she directed the Foundation s Islam and Development programs. Bush is the author of The Nahdlatul Ulama, the Struggle for Power within Islam and Politics in Indonesia, ISEAS 2009, and multiple other articles and conference papers on Islam in Indonesia. She holds a PhD in political science from the University of Washington. In December 2011 she will be joining ARI as a Senior Research Fellow in the Religion and Globalization cluster. 18

17 The Political in De-politicization : The Role of the Ulama in Singapore TUTY RAIHANAH MOSTAROM Department of Theology and Religious Studies, King s College, University of London, UK tuty.raihanah@gmail.com Based on observations of the role of the ulama in politics elsewhere in the Southeast Asian region, the common perception is that the ulama in Singapore do not play any political role for the local Muslim community. Due to the seemingly close relationship between the government and grassroots organisations including the Malay-Muslim organisations in the country, it is also unsurprising that many presume that the activities of the ulama through organisations such as the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore (MUIS) and the Singapore Islamic Scholars and Religious Teachers Association (PERGAS) are closely monitored by the government. As a result, the ulama in Singapore do not enter into politics nor allow religion to be mixed with political affairs. This paper argues that the very act of keeping religion out of politics in Singapore is a conscious undertaking by the local ulama and that this in itself is a form of politics. This process can be applied to describe the role of the ulama in the mundane affairs of local religious life. At the same time, the ulama are able to rise to the occasion when specific events such as the tudung (headscarf) dispute in 2002 and the threat of terrorism in Singapore in tackling highly sensitive and potentially political issues. This study will adopt a discursive analytical framework to analyse various written and oral primary sources in order to support the thesis argument. Tuty Raihanah Mostarom is a PhD candidate at King's College, University of London, UK in the department of Theology and Religious Studies. She holds a M.Sc. in International Relations from the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. She graduated from the National University of Singapore in 2008 with a Bachelor of Social Science with Honours in Political Science. Her research interests include politics and religion, religiously motivated violence in Southeast Asia, transnational Islamist movements as well as the role of women in the Islamist movement in Southeast Asia. Previously as an Associate Research Fellow at RSIS, she has published numerous commentaries and newspaper articles across the various topics and her most recent publication is an RSIS Monograph entitled "A Decade of Combating Radical Ideology: Learning from the Singapore Experience ( )" co-authored with Muhammad Haniff Hassan. Her PhD thesis will look at the concepts of multiculturalism and pluralism within religious discourse in Muslim minority communities. 19

18 Role of Religious Leaders in the Politics of Post-Soviet Central Asian Kyrgyzstan ERKINBEK KAMALOV Institute of Religion, Culture and Peace, Payap University, Thailand This paper explains the on-going process of involvement of Islamic leaders, Imams and the Council of Ulama into politics in the post-soviet Central Asian country of Kyrgyzstan. Twenty years ago, Kyrgyzstan gained its independence as a result of the collapse of the Soviet Union. Since that time the country has been serving as an arena for various religious and political groups. Over 85 percent of the country's population consider themselves as Muslims. Throughout seventy years under the Communist regime, the Islamic religion was suppressed and the believers persecuted. Their religious identity and level of religiousness were diminished, but did not totally disappear. On the contrary, the religiousness of the people intensified and Islam has gained extreme popularity in the last twenty years. This religious potential of the masses has always been a focus of politicians. At the same time, Human Rights NGOs have been opposed to religiously motivated initiatives by politicians while operating under Kyrgyzstan's secular constitution. Accordingly, the significance of religious leaders from the Institution of Muftiat (Spiritual Management body of Muslims of Kyrgyzstan) and its Kaziats, provincial branches of the Muftiat, are vital tools for politically influencing the masses. This paper analyzes effects of involvement of religion, the influencing potential of religious leaders on national politics, and the consequences for Kyrgyz society. Erkinbek Kamalov is from Kyrgyzstan. He is PhD candidate in Peacebuilding field at the Institute of Religion, Culture and Peace, Payap University, Thailand. He holds Diploma degree in English (equal to BA) and MA in Political Science from OSCE (Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe) Academy in Bishkek. His MA Thesis was concentrated on religious freedom in Central Asia, with case study of Kyrgyzstan. He worked in OSCE center and local NGOs in Kyrgyzstan in the field of inter and intra religious issues, as well, the conflict management and inter-ethnic relations. He is also consults government and civil society organizations on above mentioned fields. 20

19 Lines of Religious Authority in Lombok, Indonesia JEREMY KINGSLEY Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore Indonesia has experienced the pains and opportunities that democratic reform and decentralization can offer over the past decade since the fall of President Soeharto. These political changes have affected the role, and consequently, authority of Muslim religious leaders (ulama) across the Indonesian archipelago. This paper will examine the manner and consequence of these changes on Lombok, which is known throughout Indonesia as the island of 1000 mosques. However, with over 3000 mosques this motto has been outpaced by reality. The omnipresence of places of worship symbolise the resident s strength of identification with Islam. This central role for Islam in communal life on Lombok not only relates to people s spiritual lives, but is also identified in long established local forms of power and leadership that are embodied by the local Muslim religious leaders, Tuan Guru. The pivotal role of Muslim religious leadership in Lombok is prefaced, like in many other parts of Indonesia, upon the limited impact of the Indonesian state on people s daily lives. Rather Tuan Guru and their organizations have been the foundation of social control for generations. With the democratic transition there has been a transformation in the sociopolitical field on Lombok and the role of Tuan Guru has consequently altered. To measure the effect of these changes to Lombok s religious leaders this paper engages with Tuan Guru at three levels as religious leaders, non-state communal leaders and their more recent incarnation as political leaders at provincial and local levels. This paper will argue that these complex, unstable and interconnected roles are transforming, and possibly challenging, the authority of Tuan Guru. Jeremy Kingsley is a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Religion and Globalisation Cluster at the Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore. Prior to joining ARI, he completed his LLM and PhD degrees in Law at the University of Melbourne and received his BA and LLB from Deakin University. His dissertation is entitled, Tuan Guru, community and conflict in Lombok, Indonesia. His research interest focuses upon Muslim religious leadership, conflict management, militia and the interplay between state and non-state actors in Indonesia. His specific geographic emphasis is on the eastern Indonesian island of Lombok. 21

20 ABOUT THE CHAIRPERSONS BERNARD ARPS is Professor of Indonesian and Javanese Language and Culture at Leiden University, The Netherlands and currently a Visiting Senior Research Fellow at the Asia Research Institute (ARI), National University of Singapore. His greatest intellectual curiosity concerns social and political processes in which language plays a formative role. In his teaching and research so far he has focused on four fields of this kind: religion, promotion and propaganda, cultural policy, and language itself, in all cases devoting special attention to mediation and performance. During his year at ARI, Prof Arps is working at the intersection of narrative and religion. MARIA PLATT completed her PhD in anthropology at La Trobe University, Australia in In , as an Endeavour Research Fellow, she undertook field work on marriage on the Indonesian island of Lombok. Her PhD thesis entitled Patriarchal institutions and women s agency in Indonesian marriages: Sasak women navigating dynamic marital continuums, is a result of this research. She is currently undertaking a postdoctoral fellowship at Asia Research institute. Her research explores women s capacity to exercise agency within marriages where Islam and adat (local custom) rather than the state are the key institutions which govern marriage. Her broader research interests include marriage, gender and Islam within Indonesia and the Southeast Asian context. MICHELLE MILLER is a Research Fellow in the Asian Urbanisms Cluster at the Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore. She previously taught at Deakin University and Charles Darwin University. Michelle is the author of Rebellion and Reform in Indonesia (London and New York: Routledge 2009, reprinted 2010), and has published articles and book chapters on decentralization, minority rights, the politics of Islamic law, urban-rural relations and conflict-related issues. Her current research explores the interplay between decentralization and urban change in Indonesian cities. PHILIP FOUNTAIN received his PhD (Anthropology) from the Australian National University, and MA (Geography) and BA (Geography and History) from the Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. His research interests center around emerging engagements between religion and international aid and development. His thesis, entitled Translating Service: An Ethnography of the Mennonite Central Committee, explored the work of a North American Christian NGO in the context of Indonesia. He has also carried out fieldwork in Papua New Guinea on the response of local churches to the 1998 Aitape tsunami and has research interests in the disciplinary intersections between theology and anthropology. Philip will be starting a research project examining the ways secular development organisations engage with the religious realities encountered in Southeast Asia. He also plans to convert his doctoral thesis into a book. PRASENJIT DUARA is Raffles Professor of Humanities and Director of Asia Research Institute & of Humanities and Social Sciences Research at NUS. He is Emeritus Professor of History at the University of Chicago. Author of Culture, Power and the State: Rural North China, , winner of the Fairbank Prize of the AHA and the Levenson Prize of the AAS, Duara also wrote Rescuing History from the Nation: Questioning Narratives of Modern China (1995) and Sovereignty and Authenticity: Manchukuo and the East Asian Modern (2003). He has edited a volume on Decolonization (Routledge, 2004) as well as a selection of his writings, The Global and Regional in China s Nation Formation (Routledge, 2009). Duara has also contributed to volumes on historiography and historical thought. His work has been widely translated into Chinese, Korean and Japanese. R. MICHAEL FEENER is Research Leader of the Religion and Globalisation cluster at the Asia Research Institute and Associate Professor of History at the National University of Singapore. His research areas include the intellectual and cultural history of Islam in the Middle East and Southeast Asia. He has published articles on Islamic law, history, Quranic exegesis, and Sufism, and his books include: Islam in World Cultures: Comparative Perspectives (2004), Muslim Legal Thought in Modern Indonesia (2007), Islamic Law in Contemporary Indonesia: Ideas and Institutions (co-edited with Mark Cammack ), and Islamic Connections: Muslim Societies in South and Southeast Asia (co-edited with Terenjit Sevea 2009). 22