Shapers of Islam in Southeast Asia: Muslim Intellectuals and the Making of Islamic Reformism

218 Pages·2022·4.62 MB·English

by  Khairudin Aljunied

Introduction
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The Islamic Reformist Mosaic in Southeast Asia lo
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It is almost commonplace, nowadays, to hear scholars and observers speaking s://a
of the need for a “Muslim Martin Luther.” What is meant here is a person c
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of deep piety and moral courage who raises embarrassing questions about e
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prevailing norms, beliefs, laws, customs, conventions, habits, and routines ic.o
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observed so religiously by Muslims globally. The Muslim Martin Luther, so p
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the reasoning goes, would eventually bring about an Islamic reformation like m
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that of Christianity, rescuing the decadent Muslim world into becoming an o
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enlightened civilization. Nailed into the hearts of each and every believer, his /4
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compelling theses would unravel the stranglehold of extremism, conserva- 0
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tism, dogmatism, fundamentalism, and authoritarianism. A noted Turkish- h
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Muslim scholar, Mustafa Akyol, stands unconvinced. Railing against the te
creation of a “Protestant Islam,” he maintains that “the contemporary r/37
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Muslim world needs not a Martin Luther but a John Locke, whose arguments 6
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for freedom of conscience and religious toleration planted the seeds of liber- 3
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alism. In particular, the more religion- friendly British Enlightenment, rather by
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than the French one, can serve as a constructive model.”1 The Lutheran revo- n
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lution, in Akyol’s eyes, is less desired, never welcomed, than a Lockean recon- rs
struction of the fastest-g rowing religion on earth. ity o
I was based in the USA as these debates over “Martin Luthers” and “John f E
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Lockes” in the Muslim world filled the columns of news outlets. A scion of b
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Southeast Asia, I found such intellectual exchanges stimulating and mean- rgh
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ingful but not quite applicable to the place where I trace my origins. Southeast s
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Asian Islam has not and perhaps will not be needing of any of these figures of r o
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European reformation, regardless of the manifold revolutions they may have 2
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initiated in the realm of thought. Though located far away and regarded in o
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many works on historical Islam as a periphery in the ever expanding ummah, m
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1 Mustafa Akyol, “The Islamic World Doesn’t Need a Reformation,” The Atlantic, October 10, 2017,
https:// www.thea tlan tic.com/ intern atio nal/ arch ive/ 2017/ 10/ mus lim- refo rmat ion/ 544 343/ .
Shapers of Islam in Southeast Asia. Khairudin Aljunied, Oxford University Press. © Oxford University Press 2022.
DOI: 10.1093/ oso/ 9780197514412.003.0001
2 Shapers of Islam in Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia has produced its own pedigree of intellectual-r eformers. They
have critiqued the limits of Islamic thought and propounded new lines of
thinking on the road to a better ummah. This book seeks to lay the argument
for a Muslim Martin Luther, John Locke, and even Voltaire, to rest.2
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In this, I follow the lead of John Esposito, who urges scholars to pay close w
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attention to the millennium-o ld contributions of Muslim intellectuals in lo
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making Islam relevant and of service to humanity. Esposito classifies Muslim ed
intellectuals in the contemporary period into three groups: “conservatives fro
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and traditionalists, Islamic activists, and Islamic modernists or reformers. h
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However, their methods and interpretations vary.”3 Such categorizations s://a
are indeed useful in interrogating the jagged terrain of Islamic thought in c
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Southeast Asia. Building upon such insight, I show that the third group—t he e
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Islamic reformers or Muslim reformists— were more multifarious, more in- ic.o
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ternally diversified, and yet, as a collective, more symbiotic than what has p
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been assumed thus far. m
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This book captures the progressive and pluralistic nature of Islamic re- o
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formism in Southeast Asia from the mid-t wentieth century onward, a pe- /4
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riod that can now be regarded as the age of networked Islam. Much has 0
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been written about various agents, movements, and organizations that have h
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shaped the course of reformism in the Middle East, South Asia, and Turkey, te
to name a few significant examples from the wider Muslim world.4 I ad- r/37
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dress here the rather undeveloped nature of studies on Islamic reformism 6
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in island Southeast Asia (also known as the Malay world), a domain that is 3
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home to nearly 300 million Muslims (some 14 percent of the global Muslim by
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population) and yet is all but neglected by most analysts of global Islam. The n
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scholarly ramifications of this neglect are especially significant when one rs
considers a whole array of advanced and pathbreaking ideas that Southeast ity o
Asian Islamic reformist intellectuals have put forth, particularly since the f E
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onset of globalization. To be sure, there has been no single-a uthored mon- b
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ograph in the English language that has provided a critical, comprehen- rgh
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sive, and theoretically informed analysis of some key intellectuals who have s
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2 Hamid Dabashi makes the same argument in his highly stimulating book, Islamic Liberation 2 N
Theology: Resisting the Empire (New York: Routledge, 2008), 243–2 44. o
3 John L. Esposito, Islam: The Straight Path, 5th ed. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2016), 261. ve
4 The literature on Islamic reformism in the Muslim world at large is far too wide to be cited in mb
f1u9l9l 4h)e; rBe.a rSboamrae Aex. aRmopbleerss oarne,: eAdl.i, RShaahpnienmg ath, ee dC.,u Prrieonnte eIrssla omf iIcs lRamefoicr mReavtiiovnal ((LLoonnddoonn:: FZreadn kB oCoaksss,, er 2
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2003); Gunes Murat Tezcur, Muslim Reformers in Iran and Turkey: The Paradox of Moderation 22
(Austin: University of Texas Press, 2010); and Safdar Ahmed, Reform and Modernity in Islam: The
Philosophical, Cultural and Political Discourses among Muslim Reformers (London: I. B. Tauris, 2013).
Islamic Reformist Mosaic in Southeast Asia 3
emerged as shapers of Islamic reformism in twentieth- century Southeast
Asia.5 Adding to this is the problem of proportionality. A few towering
figures— all Indonesian male scholar- activists— have dominated much of
the scholarship on Islamic reformism, namely Muhammad Natsir (1908– -
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1993), Haji Abdul Malik bin Abdul Karim Amrullah (Hamka) (1908– 1981), w
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Nurcholish Madjid (1939–2 005), and Abdurrahman Wahid (1940–2 009).6 lo
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With this book I aim to offer a fresh conceptualization of that domain ed
of inquiry in the hope of pushing the frontiers of studies on global Islam. fro
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Other than the aforementioned gargantuan figures whose specters linger in h
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the pages that follow, I argue that several Muslim intellectuals have been es- s://a
pecially influential in giving rise to what I term the “Islamic reformist mo- c
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saic” in Southeast Asia of the mid-t wentieth and twenty- first centuries. What e
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do I mean by this? “Islamic reformist” here refers to a long and unbroken ic.o
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line of fecund scholarship that derived its inspiration from two foundational p
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sources— the Qur’an and Sunnah (Prophetic Tradition) with the primary in- m
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tent of reform (islah) and renewal (tajdid) of the Muslim way of life. It is a o
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style of thought that rethinks commonly held ideas about Islam as both a /4
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belief system and a lived reality. Its roots can be traced to the era of Islamic 0
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empires from the eighth century up until the present. To quote Esposito h
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again, Muslim reformers “look to the early Islamic period as embodying a te
normative ideal. However, they distinguish more sharply than others be- r/37
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tween substance and form, between the principles and values of Islam’s im- 6
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mutable revelation and the historically and socially conditioned institutions, 3
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laws, and practices.”7 by
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By defining “Islamic reformist” as such, I exclude here streams of thought n
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that do not consider the sacred sources of Islam as essential in making sense of rs
Islamic reformism and intellectualism. The project of Islamic reformism, as ity o
Fazlur Rahman and Tariq Ramadan have reminded us, necessitates dialogical f E
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and dialectical interactions between texts and contexts. Muslim reformers b
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5 Peter G. Riddell, Islam and the Malay- Indonesian World: Transmission and Responses se
(London: Hurst & Company, 2001) provides a wide-r anging and brief excursus into the ideas of r o
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some Islamic reformist intellectuals. I build on his insights toward a deeper analysis of selected 0
intellectuals. 2
6 Khairudin Aljunied, Hamka and Islam (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2019); Greg Barton, No
Gus Dur: The Authorized Biography of Abdurrahman Wahid (Jakarta: Equinox Publishing Ltd., 2007); ve
Ann Kull, Piety and Politics: Nurcholish Madjid and His Interpretation of Islam in Modern Indonesia m
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(Lund: Lund University, 2005); Audrey R. Kahin, Islam, Nationalism and Democracy: A Political e
Biography of Mohammad Natsir (Singapore: NUS Press, 2012); James R. Rush., Hamka’s Great r 2
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Story: A Master Writer’s Vision of Islam for Modern Indonesia (Madison: University of Wisconsin 2
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Press, 2016).
7 Esposito, Islam: The Straight Path, 263.
4 Shapers of Islam in Southeast Asia
undertake ijtihad (independent reasoning) to revitalize approaches to the
Qur’an and Sunnah so as to offer innovative solutions to the social, political,
economic, legal, and other associated problems confronting Muslim socie-
ties, solutions that remain grounded in foundational sources.8 Still, John Voll
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correctly notes that “while the effort to bring society into conformity with w
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the norms defined by the Qur’an and Sunnah is, in general terms, a constant lo
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element in the tajdid- islah tradition, the role of the muslihun [reformers] and ed
mujaddids [renewers] in any given social context will vary.”9 fro
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To capture the variation and plurality highlighted by Voll, I append the h
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word “mosaic” to my proposed nomenclature. Derived from the world of art s://a
to refer to a mural or image that is produced through the arrangement of c
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small pieces of stone, tile, glass, or fabrics onto a solid surface, I use it here to e
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highlight, first of all, the various strands of reformist thinking in Southeast ic.o
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Asia, each intellectual viewing their message of reform as most urgent and p
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important. Even though these strands are diverse, they have coexisted, m
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sometimes in a state of tension and at other times in dialogue and mutual o
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agreement. Put another way, while differing in their visions and aims, when /4
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viewed as a whole, these strands of Islamic reformism form a unified and co- 0
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herent frame of thought that distinguishes itself from the ultra- traditionalist h
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and ultra- secularist leanings in Southeast Asian Islam. From this vantage te
point, Islamic reformism is thus a sum of seemingly discordant parts that in r/37
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its entirety has shaped and pushed the boundaries of thought in Southeast 6
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Asia in novel directions. Kuntowijoyo, who is one of the figures discussed 3
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in this book, underscores this characterization. Although different in terms by
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of their specializations, social backgrounds, and styles of writing, reformist n
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Muslim intellectuals, says Kuntowijoyo, question and counter established rs
cultures and paradigms of the day to free their societies from beban sejarah ity o
(the burden of history).10 f E
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Secondly, the word “mosaic” captures the reality that Islamic reformism b
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in Southeast Asia was scarcely divorced from society at large. Much like rgh
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the pieces of decorative materials that are permanently affixed and even- s
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tually become part of a given surface, the Muslim intellectuals described r o
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in this book were initially seen as outsiders and outliers, but they quickly 2
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8 Fazlur Rahman, Revival and Reform in Islam: A Study of Islamic Fundamentalism mb
(LOibxefroartdio: nO (Nneeww oYroldrk :P Ouxbfloicradt iUonnsiv, e1rs9i9ty9 )P; reTsasr, i2q0 0R9a),m 1a1d–a4 n0,. Radical Reform: Islamic Ethics and er 2
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9 John O. Voll, “Renewal and Reform in Islamic History,” in Voices of Resurgent Islam, ed. John L. 22
Esposito (New York: Oxford University Press, 1983), 35.
10 Kuntowijoyo, Dinamika Sejarah Umat Islam Indonesia (Yogyakarta: Pustaka Pelajar, 1994), 123.
Islamic Reformist Mosaic in Southeast Asia 5
embedded themselves within the context in which they were operating in
order to reform and reconstruct Muslims in their midst. In the process, they
transformed what they believed could have become a banal and regressive
society into an intellectually effervescent one. The Muslim intellectuals I will
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be examining fit neatly into Barbara Misztal’s list of “scientists, academics w
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in the humanities and the social and political sciences, writers, artists and lo
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journalists who articulate issues of importance in their societies to the ge- ed
neral public.”11 In other words, they were not tucked in ivory towers be- fro
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reft of any real contact with the common man. They are not mere armchair h
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theoreticians or scholarly priests whose works no one reads or knows about. s://a
They were an integral part of the society they were writing about and dis- c
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played a strong awareness of and adherence to their faith. e
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Like the Muslims they were hoping to reform, these Muslim intellectuals ic.o
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saw Islam as more than just an inherited identity. It is not something that they p
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were merely born into without any real attachment or meaning. For them, m
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Islam was their basis for thinking, their foundation for contemplation and o
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their source of inspiration. Islam provides a perpetual impetus for innovative /4
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thought and creative actions for Muslims in Southeast Asia. These Muslim 0
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intellectuals kept abreast of the developments in societies in their endeavor h
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to change the existing state of affairs. They were also great synthesizers who te
combined knowledge shared throughout global Muslim communities with r/37
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modern Southeast Asian Muslim culture and sensibilities. They were thus 6
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powerful popularizers of reformist ideas specifically affected by and geared 3
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toward the communities from which they emerged. by
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The reformist careers and activisms of these Muslim intellectuals have n
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been amplified by advances in information technology. As Dale Eickelman rs
has correctly observed, “The proliferation and increased accessibility of the ity o
means of communication in today’s global society, together with the rise of f E
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mass education, has increased the power of intellectuals to communicate and b
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of audiences to listen and discuss.”12 To expand the scope of their influence, rgh
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the seven Muslim intellectuals examined in this book affiliated themselves s
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with a plethora of mainstream institutions, social movements, and grassroots r o
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organizations. They were well acquainted with the pertinent local, regional, 2
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11 Barbara A. Misztal, Intellectuals and the Public Good: Creativity and Civil Courage e
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007), 1. r 2
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12 Dale F. Eickelman, “Clash of Cultures? Intellectuals, Their Publics and Islam,” in In Intellectuals 2
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in the Modern Islamic World: Transmission, Transformation, Communication, ed. Stéphane A.
Dudoigon, Komatsu Hisao, and Kosugi Yasushi (London: Routledge, 2006), 291.
6 Shapers of Islam in Southeast Asia
and global issues of their time and wrote extensively about such issues, just as
they were adept at actively advocating that ordinary Muslims to rethink their
approaches to faith, piety, and worldly life.
I shall present these intellectuals as representing various strands within
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the Islamic reformist mosaic, reflecting recent scholarship that calls for w
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rethinking existing categories used to analyze Muslim societies.13 These lo
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strands are desecularist, epistemologist, rationalist, historicist, integrationist, ed
legalist, and moralist. They best reflect the recurrent concerns of twentieth- fro
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and twenty- first- century Southeast Asian Muslim reformers. They should h
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not be seen as mutually exclusive. Rather, the concerns and objectives of s://a
one strand flow into another as these intellectuals all seek to reform Muslim c
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thought and praxis. e
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All of these intellectuals sought to overcome and mediate the effects of ic.o
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secularism, modernity, and other ideologies. They reconstructed and pro- p
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vided alternatives to the various political, social, and economic systems put m
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in place by European colonizers and promoted by radical Muslims. They also o
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reinterpreted history and redefined its functions so as to chart new desti- /4
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nies for future generation of Muslims. Finally, they underlined and accentu- 0
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ated the importance of ethics, virtues, and values in the shaping of societies. h
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Should it need to be mentioned, my primary criterion for selecting Muslim te
intellectuals to discuss is their being prolific writers whose works have r/37
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influenced Muslim thinking in their home countries and across Southeast 6
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Asia. Their oeuvres cover an impressive range of issues falling to most, if not 3
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all, of the strands of the Islamic reformist mosaic. I have, however, situated by
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these Muslim intellectuals in specific strands in view of the wide impact they n
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have had in that area. rs
I also wish to emphasize here that the intellectuals I have selected are ity o
from different countries within island Southeast Asia and that their works f E
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are relatively well known throughout the region. Many other Muslim b
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intellectuals and their reformist leanings could, of course, be included. rgh
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Their omission here is not at all meant to downplay their importance. If any- s
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thing, the intellectuals covered in this book echo the works of other Muslim r o
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intellectuals such as Imam Zarkashi (1910– 1995), Suryani Thahir (1940– 2
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2015), Ahmad Sonhadji (1922– 2010), and Ismail Lutfi (1950– ). As well, o
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much work has been done lately to extend the already established studies on m
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13 Shahab Ahmed, What Is Islam? The Importance of Being Islamic (Princeton, NJ: Princeton
University Press, 2016), 106–1 08.
Islamic Reformist Mosaic in Southeast Asia 7
Muslim reformist intellectuals in Southeast Asia to include the scholarship of
women.14 Zakiah Daradjat, one key figure who dealt with women’s and issues
relating to youth and childhood, is featured prominently in this book. It is a
task for future scholars to deepen, expand, and even question the conceptual
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framework and typologies that I am offering here. w
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Lastly, I should stress that the intellectuals covered here all belong to lo
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or could be situated within the third generation of Muslim reformist ed
intellectuals in the modern Muslim world. The first generation engaged in fro
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cutting criticisms of the various internal factors that led to the decline of h
ttp
Muslim societies in the modern world. Faced with the burden of colonialism s://a
from the early nineteenth century to World War I, these intellectuals focused c
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on the problems of Muslim education, the dearth of philosophical and sci- e
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entific spirit, as well as the retreat from practical engagement with social is- ic.o
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sues toward fatalism and mysticism among Muslims. The second generation p
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took on a more defensive posturing and blamed external forces for causing m
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Muslim backwardness. These Muslim reformist intellectuals were domi- o
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nant especially in the immediate post– World War I period up until the 1960s /4
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during the heat of struggles for independence from colonial rule.15 One 0
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example of the second generation of reformist intellectuals was the famed h
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Muslim philosopher Muhammad Iqbal (1877– 1938) who famously declared te
in his magnum opus, The Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam, r/37
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“Believe me, Europe today is the greatest hindrance in the way of man’s eth- 6
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ical advancement. The Muslim, on the other hand, is in possession of these 3
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ultimate ideas on the basis of a revelation, which, speaking from the inmost by
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depths of life, internalizes its own apparent externality.”16 n
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The Muslim intellectuals examined in this book lived with or were exposed rs
to the ideas of these preceding generations of reformers. They recognized the ity o
limitations of these viewpoints and brought the spirit of ijtihad to another f E
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level toward achieving islah and tajdid in the minds of their co- religionists. b
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In taking up the mission of rethinking Islam, the third generation of Muslim rgh
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intellectuals had to draw creatively and appropriate judiciously from Islamic s
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and non- Islamic traditions of scholarship while having to communicate and r o
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write in persuasive prose to convince their constituents to be attuned to the 2
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14 For an updated survey of works in this field, see Etin Anwar, A Genealogy of Islamic e
Feminism: Pattern and Change in Indonesia (London: Routledge, 2018). r 2
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15 Tamara Sonn, Islam: A Brief History, 2nd ed. (Chichester: Blackwell Publishing, 2010), 148–1 49. 2
2
16 Muhammad Iqbal, The Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam (Stanford, CA: Stanford
University Press, 2012), 142.