Vol. 15, Iss. 1, 2021

Complete issue as PDF

Ambivalence, Discontent, and Divides in Southeast Asia’s Islamic Digital Realms: An Introduction

30 Jun 2021

Ambivalence, Discontent, and Divides in Southeast Asia’s Islamic Digital Realms: An Introduction
Martin Slama, James Bourk Hoesterey Editorial This introductory article to the special issue Ambivalence, Discontent, and Divides in Southeast Asia’s Islamic Digital Realms discusses the latest transformations in the field of Islam in Southeast Asia with a particular focus on digital media. It introduces the three key themes – ambivalence, discontent, divides – through which the special issue approaches contemporary socioreligious phenomena in Islamic Southeast Asia as they find their expressions…

Editorial

Digital Theology: Saintly Marvels and God-talk on Facebook

30 Jun 2021

Digital Theology: Saintly Marvels and God-talk on Facebook
Ismail Fajrie Alatas Article Among Indonesia’s traditionalist Muslims, anecdotes of saintly marvels (karāma) relating occurrences that contradict reason or human understanding of nature are lodged in everyday conversations. While scholars have noted how recounting and listening to karāma anecdotes is believed by Muslims to transmit the blessing (baraka) of the saints and facilitate their intercession, this article explores such anecdotes’ capacity to engender conversations about God and other issues…

Article

Humor, Piety, and Masculinity: The Role of Digital Platforms in Aiding “Conversations” Between Islamic Preachers and Waria in Indonesia

30 Jun 2021

Humor, Piety, and Masculinity: The Role of Digital Platforms in Aiding “Conversations” Between Islamic Preachers and Waria in Indonesia
Amirah Fadhlina Article This article explores the influence of digital platforms in opening up ways for Islamic preachers in Indonesia to conduct dakwah and connect with their Muslim audience using distinct affective mechanisms, such as localized humor, pious activism, and display of Islamic knowledge–authority. Since 2016, influenced by online preachers who have earned a loyal following through YouTube, there has been a spike in national interest toward the…

Article

Nahdlatul Ulama’s “Funny Brigade”: Piety, Satire, and Indonesian Online Divides

30 Jun 2021

Nahdlatul Ulama’s “Funny Brigade”: Piety, Satire, and Indonesian Online Divides
James Bourk Hoesterey Article Indonesia’s largest Muslim organization, Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), arrived relatively late on the Islamic social media scene. By the time Nahdlatul Ulama leadership recognized and commissioned the need for online advocacy, a generation of young media-savvy preachers had already stoked the embers of sectarian divides and cast suspicion on those deemed secular or liberal. Even within Nahdlatul Ulama, a sprawling network of religious leaders and Islamic…

Article

Negotiating Salafism: Women Prayer Groups and their Preachers in Indonesia’s Islamic Digital Mediascapes

30 Jun 2021

Negotiating Salafism: Women Prayer Groups and their Preachers in Indonesia’s Islamic Digital Mediascapes
Fatimah Husein Article This article is concerned with Muslim women’s negotiation of Salafism at the intersection of online and offline spaces. It focuses on two groups of Indonesian Muslim women who formed majelis taklim (study groups on Islam), namely Majelis Mutia (lit. Assembly of the Obedient) and Majelis Sahabat Cinta (lit. Assembly of the Friends of Love), to examine how these social media-savvy women, who demand a more…

Article

Reading the Digital Muslim Romance

30 Jun 2021

Reading the Digital Muslim Romance
Alicia Izharuddin Article This article considers the practices of social formation on the online self-publishing platform Wattpad. Interactive and interfaced with other social media, Wattpad was founded in 2006 by Allen Lau and Ivan Yuen to facilitate self-publishing by well-known and emerging authors alike. Wattpad is popular among Malay readers and authors in Malaysia with stories clocking up millions of reads each. Most stories are aimed at women…

Article

Mualaf Chic: Conversion and Mediation in Indonesian Pious Sociality

30 Jun 2021

Mualaf Chic: Conversion and Mediation in Indonesian Pious Sociality
Carla Jones Article Scholars of the visible rise of public forms of Islamic piety movements in Indonesia in the past two decades have noted its transnational character. Unsurprisingly, Arab inspiration has been prominent, as direct clerical influence and indirect aesthetic prestige. In this article, I suggest that another feature of this shared religious community relays a slightly different allure, that of accessing and domesticating foreignness through conversion and…

Article

Ambivalence, Virtual Piety, and Rebranding: Social Media Uses among Tablighi Jama’at in Indonesia

30 Jun 2021

Ambivalence, Virtual Piety, and Rebranding: Social Media Uses among Tablighi Jama’at in Indonesia
Wahyu Kuncoro Article Advanced smartphone technology and easy access to the Internet have contributed to the embeddedness of social media in the daily lives of many Indonesians. However, among conservative Muslims, social media are regarded as potentially harmful, and their use is largely discouraged. The article discusses the ambivalence that characterizes social media usage within the Tablighi Jama’at, an Islamic reformist movement known for its missionary activities. Many…

Article

Online Halal Dating, Ta’aruf, and the Shariatisation of Matchmaking among Malaysian and Indonesian Muslims

30 Jun 2021

Online Halal Dating, Ta’aruf, and the Shariatisation of Matchmaking among Malaysian and Indonesian Muslims
Eva F . Nisa Article Halal (permissible according to Islamic law) matchmaking and anti-dating campaigns and businesses have mushroomed since the 2000s in Indonesia and neighbouring Malaysia. In Malaysia, the Soul Seekers of Marriage Conference was established in 2008 and Halal Speed Dating was launched in 2014. In Indonesia, Rumah Taaruf MyQuran (MyQuran’s House to Get to Know Each Other) was founded in 2014 and Indonesia Tanpa Pacaran (Indonesia Without…

Article

Emerging Islamic Representations in the Cambodian Muslim Social Media Scene: Complex Divides and Muted Debates

30 Jun 2021

Emerging Islamic Representations in the Cambodian Muslim Social Media Scene: Complex Divides and Muted Debates
Zoltan Pall, Alberto Pérez Pereiro Article This article explores the characteristics and structure of the Cambodian Muslim social media scene and considers what they tell us about the sociopolitical setting of the country’s Muslim minority. It focuses on how the relationship between Islamic actors of the Cambodian Muslim minority, that is, groups, movements and institutions, and their offline environment shape their online representations and proselytization activities. It particularly considers the observation…

Article

Tracing Digital Divides in Indonesian Islam: Ambivalences of Media and Class

30 Jun 2021

Tracing Digital Divides in Indonesian Islam: Ambivalences of Media and Class
Martin Slama Article The article examines questions of the digital divide from a religious perspective. It asks about the consequences of unequal access to and limitations on uses of social media among Indonesian Muslims with regard to their Islamic practice and sociality. The article concentrates on two phenomena: Islamic preachers and their affective-cum-economic relationship with their followers who are often organized in Islamic study groups; and online Qur’an…

Article