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Riba (usury) has long been a contentious issue in Islam due to its adverse effects on economic equity and social wellbeing. This paper delves into the intricate relationship between refraining from the use of riba-based loans and the quality of life, with a specific focus on the unique context of Bengkulu, Sumatra, Indonesia. By conducting an extensive analysis of the existing literature and empirical evidence, this study explores the multifaceted dimensions of transitioning away from riba-based loans and their negative consequences. The findings demonstrate that the avoidance of riba-based loans leads to a ripple effect of positive changes and improved mental and physical wellbeing. Furthermore, the ethical dimension underscores the alignment of financial practices with an equitable society and moral values, thereby fostering religious awareness and realization. The paper argues that transitioning away from riba-based loans does not merely serve as a potent catalyst for improving the quality of life exclusively within Muslim communities but extends the impact, transforming the contemporary way of life into a more sustainable and inclusive financial ecosystem. This transformation is achieved by steadfastly prioritizing ethical conduct, spiritual fulfilment, social responsibility, and the equitable sharing of prosperity. This research provides valuable insights for policymakers, practitioners, and researchers who are dedicated to advancing the understanding and implementation of Islamic finance for the betterment of society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fall of Suharto from the presidency in the Reformation of 1998 created space for greater freedom of expression, including for women, in the world's largest Muslim-majority nation, Indonesia. Ayu Utami is an Indonesian writer whose first novel, Saman, was published at the time of the Indonesian Reformation to critical and commercial acclaim. Other women writers followed her lead, expressing their work on women and sexuality. Through her writing, Utami challenges a patriarchal culture which continues to marginalise women. This paper focuses on the two of Utami's literary works, Si Parasit Lajang: Seks, Sketsa dan Cerita (The Single Parasite: Sex, Sketches and Stories) (2003) and Pengakuan Eks Parasit Lajang (Confessions of a Former Single Parasite) (2013). These two books have parallel themes, representing Utami's challenges to dominant discourses on women and marriage. In the first book, Utami shows that women face discrimination if they remain single. Her political stance to remain unmarried is a way to show that women can choose alternative ways of life, rather than submit to the valorised option: to get married. Utami's shift of position, as elaborated in the second book through the story of her autobiographical character A, who is a Catholic, has to do with a developing tendency of the Islamic conservatism in Indonesia to silence the expression of minority groups, including minority religious communities. This paper argues that to understand Utami's shift in position on marriage, we must understand the ways in which her position as a member of a minority and, sometimes endangered, religious community shapes her position. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fact that legal issues support local wisdom, ethics, and human rights and the way in which they operate in the nation-state are not well-understood; however, this is a significant issue. Indonesian independence, achieved on 17 August 1945, initiated substantial changes in the religious life of Indonesians. While most of Indonesia is Islamic, other religious beliefs include Hinduism and Christianity. Indonesia did not consider the Balinese a formal religious group in 1945. However, because of the Mount Agung eruption in Bali, many Balinese migrated outside the island. They lived in Lampung (Sumatra), certain places in Java, Palangkaraya (Borneo), Palu (Celebes), and other areas in the Indonesian archipelago, and have lived there for a long time. The total number of Balinese at the present day is around three million, but outside Bali, their number is 10 million. Their number increased throughout the Old Regime, the New Order, and the Reformation periods until the present time. They face many significant problems regarding the marriage and divorce laws juxtaposed with national law, as is the case with other religious communities, such as the Islamic community in Indonesia. Several important questions need to be addressed in this paper. First, what is adat law, or customary law, in Bali and outside Bali regarding the concept of Hindu Nusantara? Second, how should customary law be implemented, for example, relating to marriage and divorce issues in the building of the nation-state? Third, what is the customary law relating to the present situation of the Hindu communities in Indonesia? These are some significant questions. By using interdisciplinary approaches to customary laws, religious history, anthropology, and sociology, we expect to have a better understanding of how the Balinese customary law can become part of the formal law in modern Indonesia. By understanding these issues, it will be possible to strengthen national regulations by adopting certain values of customary law in modern Indonesia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rise of the Salafi movements in Indonesia during the last two decades has created an increasingly pessimistic view of the status of women in Islam. This paper aims to lessen this negative view by showing the tremendous contribution of 'Aisyiyah, the oldest modern Muslim women's organization in Indonesia, to transforming Indonesian society through literacy jihad for women and families. Using in-depth interviews with board members of 'Aisyiyah, combined with library research to collect primary data on the past activities of 'Aisyiyah, this qualitative research portrays how 'Aisyiyah has preserved and maintained its consistency in conducting literacy jihad since the 1920s. Through the establishment of 'Aisyiyah Bustanul Athfal Kindergarten, usually shortened to TK ABA, and the publication of Suara 'Aisyiyah magazine, the literacy jihad of 'Aisyiyah constantly empowers many Muslim women and families, especially those who live in urban areas across the country. Currently, the number of TK ABA has reached nearly 22,000 units, and the Suara 'Aisyiyah has also entered a digital platform to continue raising the voice of women's rights in Indonesia. Furthermore, we posit that the literary jihad programs of 'Aisyiyah provide a new perspective on the relationship between modernist Muslim organizations and the Salafi movements, which have been seen as similar because they both subscribe to the same purification ideology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aceh is the only province in Indonesia with an exceptional degree of autonomy to implement Sharia. This paper explores how Serambi Indonesia—the leading Acehnese local newspaper—framed the implementation of Sharia in the region. This study employed content analysis of the Sharia coverage in Aceh from 2012 to 2020 using a hybrid approach, combining issue-specific and generic frames. The results revealed the four identified frames: Sharia codification, deviance from Sharia, desirable Sharia enforcement, and Islamic morality. among those frames, the deviance from Sharia was much preferred. The frame prominence was more prevalent after Qanun Jinayat (Islamic Criminal Bylaw) took into effect in Aceh. It was also given more prominence on the front page than on other pages. However, other frames made up 60% of the articles, implying that the Acehnese local newspaper positively represented the implementation of Sharia in Aceh while highlighting Sharia problems surrounding its enforcement. These findings exemplify the use of a hybrid approach to better examine the media frames, support the effect of critical events on changes in the media frames, and confirm the different prominence of the frame based on the page placement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since independence, Islamic civil society groups and intellectuals have played a vital role in Indonesian politics. This paper seeks to chart the contestation of Islamic religious ideas in Indonesian politics and society throughout the 20th Century, from the declaration of independence in 1945 up until 2001. This paper discusses the social and political influence of, and relationships between, three major Indonesian Islamic intellectual streams: Modernists, Traditionalists, and neo-Modernists. It describes the intellectual roots of each of these Islamic movements, their relationships with the civil Islamic groups Muhammadiyah and Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), their influence upon Indonesian politics, and their interactions with the state. The paper examines the ways in which mainstream Islamic politics in Indonesia, the world's largest majority Muslim nation, has been shaped by disagreements between modernists and traditionalists, beginning in the early 1950s. Disagreements resulted in a schism within Masyumi, the dominant Islamic party, that saw the traditionalists affiliated with NU leave to establish a separate NU party. Not only did this prevent Masyumi from coming close to garnering a majority of the votes in the 1955 election, but it also contributed to Masyumi veering into Islamism. This conservative turn coincided with elite contestation to define Indonesia as an Islamic state and was a factor in the party antagonizing President Sukarno to the point that he moved to ban it. The banning of Masyumi came as Sukarno imposed 'guided democracy' as a soft-authoritarian alternative to democracy and set in train dynamics that facilitated the emergence of military-backed authoritarianism under Suharto. During the four decades in which democracy was suppressed in Indonesia, Muhammadiyah and Nahdlatul Ulama, and associated NGOs, activists, and intellectuals were the backbones of civil society. They provided critical support for the non-sectarian principles at the heart of the Indonesian constitution, known as Pancasila. This found the strongest and clearest articulation in the neo-Modernist movement that emerged in the 1980s and synthesized key elements of traditionalist Islamic scholarship and Modernist reformism. Neo-Modernism, which was articulated by leading Islamic intellectual Nurcholish Madjid and Nahdlatul Ulama Chairman Abdurrahman Wahid, presents an open, inclusive, progressive understanding of Islam that is affirming of social pluralism, comfortable with modernity, and stresses the need for tolerance and harmony in inter-communal relations. Its articulation by Wahid, who later became president of Indonesia, contributed to Indonesia's transition from authoritarianism to democracy. The vital contribution of neo-Modernist Islam to democracy and reform in Indonesia serves to refute the notion that Islam is incompatible with democracy and pluralism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study focused on integrating energy-saving education within the realms of natural science and religious, aligning with Islamic environmental values. Specifically, the aim was to create a teaching framework for instilling energy-saving values in Islamic secondary schools, integrating with the boarding school system (pesantren) guided by Islamic ethical principles. This research employed a descriptive case study approach in two Islamic school locations within Bandung Regency. Qualitative data were collected and analyzed using NVivo 12. Initially, a rich picture was used to depict the program's setting, identify issues, and assimilate energy-saving Islamic values. The result was the synthesis of a triangular model, illustrating the internalization of Islamic ethical values related to energy conservation across science, religious subjects, and daily school activities. This model serves as a viable solution, particularly for Asian countries such as Indonesia, where the education system intertwines religious and scientific education in their curriculum, fostering students' ecological awareness. The findings emphasize the need for competent educational stakeholders capable of innovatively integrating religion and science, possessing a solid understanding of energy conservation, to effectively implement these programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This qualitative study investigates teachers' and students' conceptualization of well-being at an Islamic higher education institution in Indonesia. Drawing on a constructivist research design, data for this study were collected via interviews with three experienced teachers and a focused group discussion with eight students. The collected data were analyzed using a thematic analysis framework assisted by the NVIVO Pro 11 application. The results of this study reveal that, for the teacher participants, well-being should be conceptualized with reference to spiritual and transcendental dimensions (chaironic). For the student participants, meanwhile, genuine positivity with mutual respect and understanding (eudemonic) should be more emphasized. Nevertheless, both teachers and students believe that subjective well-being (hedonic) is particularly important in the fulfillment of physical and material needs on campus. This study also uncovers that, besides a context-driven conceptualization of well-being, a set of preconditions is required in order to make well-being part of campus culture, university policies, and teaching and learning practices at Islamic higher education institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the sources of Islamic knowledge among young Muslim activists in Bima, Eastern Indonesia, who are often stereotyped as a hotbed of radicalism, and their religious types to reveal their intellectual dynamics. This article argues that, in modern times, as Islamic tendencies and orientations have diversified, young Muslims in the Bima region engage with many different aspects of the production and use of religious knowledge under the umbrella of Indonesian Islam. Moreover, they actively build peer-group-based intellectualism, fostering patron–client connections in the form of discussion and literacy development through student organizations, and this is influential in shaping their religious identities and religious types. This qualitative research involved 47 young Muslim activists, who are also senior high school and university students, 20 of whom were interviewed in-depth, while 27 others participated in focus group discussions. This research reveals that their sources of learning vary. However, the most critical media in shaping and confirming their religious understanding are the training and discussions held by their respective peer groups and organizations. Their literacy and references are also further developed through these forums. Learning resources accessed via social media are considered essential but unreliable in this digital era. Therefore, in their intellectual development, young persons need teachers and families to act as learning resource providers that co-exist with the literacy obtained through organizations. Such sources and ways of learning form a type of religiosity that is "practical" (embodied in daily practice) for most. Meanwhile, the "ideological" type of religion (fundamental to the Islamization movement) is only found in right-wing activists of Islamic organizations and does not thrive among the young people of Bima, Eastern Indonesia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Religion and dignity are a two-sided coin for followers of Indigenous Religions in Indonesia. Dignity is the relationally inherent worth in both human and non-human beings. To give and receive dignity, one ought to be religious, which is to engage in interpersonal relationships with all beings, human and non-human. This article draws on data from two decades of engagement with followers of Indigenous Religions through extensive fieldwork, activism, and community service. It explores the distinctive worldviews and practices of Indonesian Indigenous Peoples, which many have maintained in the face of external incursions by governments, corporations, and missionaries, and internal encroachments from within their communities. Their worldviews spring from interrelational cosmology, which posits that relational dignity is a religious norm. This cosmology is institutionalized with adat (customary) systems that enact and reproduce relational dignity. The article concludes with a call to better understand and recognize Indigenous Religions by expanding the definition of religion to include the notion of relational dignity when considering how scholars and policymakers conceptualize and implement policies on freedom of religion or belief. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article will explain how garbage care can be a way of realizing eco-spiritual care in the multifaith context of Indonesia. In Indonesia, the environment is a common concern, and waste is also a common problem. With a qualitative reflective method, the activities in garbage care are reflected in an eco-spiritual care perspective. Eco-spiritual care is an effort to assist human beings to find themselves in their environment. This reflection concludes that with a phenomenological approach, garbage care will make people find their 'oneness'. This will underlie the renewal of attitudes toward their lives in a deeper, more positive way. In addition, this reflection on the eco-spiritual will broaden the understanding of pastoral care that has existed so far, because eco-spiritual care is not only for people who are sick, but those who want to find their natural selves. This also means that the meaning of eco-spiritual care is much broader than pastoral care because it means giving 'good food', not just shepherding and merely giving spiritual food. Indeed, it must be a good and healthy spiritual food to let people grow better spiritually. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article portrays how the Catholic Church in Indonesia in the 1980s faced some legal civil decrees that were contrary to Catholic beliefs, but they nonetheless responded in a wise manner. Since the Second Vatican Council, the Catholic Church has had a new outlook on the relationship between Church and State. As stated in canon 22 of the 1983 Code of Canon Law, the Church is willing to accept and observe civil law, as long as it is "not contrary to divine law and unless canon law provides otherwise". There were three instances in which the Catholic Church in Indonesia had to deal with such controverting matters. The first was the divorce issue and the second was the enforcement of family planning. In both cases, the Catholic Church strongly opposes them. The third issue was the law on inter-religious marriage, which the State strongly prohibits, although the Catholic Church provides dispensation. The observation of the Indonesian Bishops' Conference's opinions shows that the Catholic Church were able to maintain good relations with the State because the bishops could apply the Catholic teachings in the Indonesian context and better distinguish the rights of being Catholic from the rights of being an Indonesian citizen. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When a person identifies with a particular religion, they identify not only with the ingroup's religious values but also with the ingroup's evaluations towards the relevant religious outgroup. Using a theoretical notion of ethnocentrism, this study offers religiocentrism to explain how one favourably perceives their religious affiliation and unfavourably evaluates the religious outgroup. Specifically, this study is focused on the recent interreligious conflicts between Muslims and Christians in Indonesia. In carrying out the study, we employ relevant constructs to test our hypothesis that religiocentrism is indirectly related to support for interreligious violence via perceived injustice and that this relation is stronger for individuals with high collective efficacy. We perform a confirmatory factor analysis to test all the measures' validity. In testing the hypothesis, we conduct a moderated mediation analysis to test the indirect relations between religiocentrism and support for interreligious violence via perceived injustice and to test the conditional effect of collective efficacy on the relationship. The results show that collective efficacy significantly moderates the relation between religiocentrism and support for interreligious violence. The finding contributes to the discussion of the various roles of collective efficacy in interreligious conflicts, dependent on the nature of the conflicts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the face of uncertainty, people tend to look for ways to manage discomfort, often through religion. Growing conservatism in the Muslim society in Indonesia has encouraged people to restore meaning when dealing with uncertainties triggered by a crisis. This study aims to explore the dynamics of meaning restoration through hijra, a collective spiritual transformation process. Using a qualitative approach, findings showed that people going through hijra were driven by significance loss and potential significance gain, both taking validation in relational significance and group identity. In Indonesia, where religion is acknowledged as central to identity, religious groups become a prescription sought for closure, and all are directed towards managing uncertainty and restoring significance. The study found that individuals started the hijra journey provoked by either personal significance loss or the need to gain significance and resorted to the collective orientation of relational significance to gain closure. Once a new collective identity is established through the spiritual transformation, significance is restored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Religious individuals and communities often struggle with anger toward God (ATG) upon experiencing suffering. ATG is related to poor mental health. Certain types of religiousness can moderate the effect of this negative feeling on well-being; however, research varies. Therefore, this study aims to determine whether religion at the individual (spirituality) or communal levels (moral community) may affect the association of ATG with well-being. Moderation analysis was performed on data from 307 students at a Christian university in Indonesia. Spirituality lowered the effect of ATG as one form of a religious stressor on well-being, but moral community did not. Both the cognitive and affective aspects of spirituality (individual level) are needed to buffer the effects of ATG on well-being. Conversely, the moral/behavior and belonging/communal aspect of a moral community (communal level) do not appear to ensure support for the individual with ATG. The implications of this study are discussed below. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies have highlighted the increased vulnerability of women during and after disasters. Thus, there has been a call for gender-aware disaster management—an approach which is certainly needed, especially when a patriarchal culture is embedded in a society. Unfortunately, studies on women as vulnerable agents are often not balanced against careful examinations of instances where women help women. Drawing on (digital) ethnography conducted between 2020 and 2022, this article focuses on analysing the voices and activities of gender-just ʿulamāʾ (Muslim scholars) in Indonesia during the COVID-19 pandemic. The COVID-19 pandemic, which has affected traditional religious gathering practices, has led to creative solutions to social proximity restrictions. Many ʿulamāʾ have been "forced" by the situation to adjust to digital religion. This article analyses how female religious authorities who colour the daily daʿwa (proselytization) landscape in Indonesia deal with the uncertainties brought on by the pandemic. The daʿwa scene in Indonesia has long been the site of contention among various competing ideological understandings. The pandemic and the proliferation of digital religion has led gender-just ʿulamāʾ to relegitimize their authority through an online presence so they can compete and counter the narratives of tech-savvy conservative Muslims. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Indonesia receives a high religious harmony index every year; however, intolerance and religious radicalism threaten this harmony. Moderate Islam (Islamic religious moderation) has become a national policy as a solution to prevent intolerance and radicalism. In this study, we aimed to determine the factors influencing religious moderation. We examined the variables of religiosity and demographics, which play essential roles in forming religious moderation. A total of 578 students at state Islamic universities in Indonesia participated in this research. We measured religiosity with the Centrality of Religiosity Scale (CRS-5) by Huber and Huber. The CRS-5 consists of five dimensions: intellect, ideology, public practice, private practice, and religious experience, which we adapted to the Indonesian language. The Religious Moderation Scale consists of three dimensions: national commitment, rejecting violence, and accommodating culture. We collected data through questionnaires that we distributed online, and we analyzed the responses using multiple regression analysis. The results show that religiosity positively affected religious moderation, meaning that religious intellectuality, ideology, public practice, private practice, and religious experience supported a person in being moderately religious and might prevent intolerance and radicalism. Socioeconomic factors (sex and parents' income) also strongly affected religious moderation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the National Commission for the Protection of the Rights of Women and Children of Indonesia's annual report, in 2020 there were 11,105 cases of domestic violence reported. Those domestic violence cases were caused by complex factors. One of the causes is the limitation of religious freedom in the family. In Indonesia, between 2010 and 2019, there were several cases of domestic violence caused by women choosing different religions from their parents or husband. Domestic violence involving limitation of the rights of religious freedom is sometimes resolved by divorcing or by completing it with coercive efforts. The rights of religious freedom in Indonesia, although protected by the Constitution and by the Act of Protection of Human Rights No. 39 of 1999, still face various challenges in implementation. The choice of religion in some families is highly influenced and determined by the authority in the family. This article analyzes the secondary data from online news, verdicts, and statistics from the Supreme Court Directory between 2010 and 2019. Findings are analyzed using the perspective of gender studies and anthropology of law. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]