INDONESIAN JOURNAL OF INTERDISCIPLINARY ISLAMIC STUDIES (IJIIS)

We are very pleased to present the new issue of the Indonesian Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies (IJIIS). This issue mainly consists of selected papers whose main topics and discussions revolve around the construction, pluralization, fragmentation, and contestation over Indonesian Islam. These papers raise and discuss some important questions over how Indonesian Islam has been historically constructed and re-constructed, and how the nature of religious and political authorities within it has been debated and reconfigured in light of the country’s changing political and religious landscapes as well as global socio-political developments.
The first article, written by Muhammad Abdul Karim, discusses the historical construction and development of a distinctive Indonesian Islam. The second article by Faisal Ismail then critically surveys some defining moments of ideological debates on the relationship between Islam and the state ideology in Indonesia. Following this, Suwarsono Muhammad’s article offers a fresh insight on the fate and trajectory of Indonesian political and cultural Islam in the light of changing political and economic context, especially during the New Order and the Reformasi periods. The next article by Munirul Ikhwan discusses more specifically on how shari’a has been appropriated in the context of modern nation-state, looking at how certain Indonesian Muslim intellectuals develop the discourse of ‘democratic shari’a’. Another important account on how the ideal of Islamic leadership is attached to cultural products is then presented in the next article by by Ganjar Widhiyoga.
This issue also includes another three articles with different focuses. Gowhar Quadir Wani’s article offers some preliminary discussions on Maqashid al-Shari’a while John C. Simon and Stella Y.E Pattipeilohy’s article examines how Mahmoud Mustafa Ayoub’s discourse on Islamic Christology resonates with Christian Christo-praxis. The latest article, written in Arabic by Dzulkifli Hadi Imawan, discusses the role and contributions of Indonesian ulama toward academic and da’wah movements in the Islamic world, especially during the 19th century.
It is hoped that this publication will encourage further research and discussion on various issues concerning Islam and Muslim societies from various disciplinary backgrounds.