In Pursuit of Promoting Moderate Indonesian Islam to the world: Understanding the diversity of Islamic practices in Bima, Sumbawa Island

DOI

10.2991/icsps-17.2018.56How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Islam, Eastern Indonesia, Islamic diversity, Bima, Sumbawa

Abstract

This paper suggests an ethnographic account of the different Islamic practices among Muslims in Bima, Sumbawa island. This paper calls for the need to understand that Islam in Indonesia is diverse. Anthropological works on Javanese Islam have shaped the national and international understandings of Islam in Indonesia (Geertz 1960, Hefner 1985 and Woodward 1989). Assessments of political, organizational forms and institutional elites have also focused on the Javanese centre of the nation-state. The account of Islamic picture outside Java Island is, however, understudied. This paper argues that Islamic practices vary significantly across Indonesia Islam, not only within Java itself, but outside Java. Cultural diversity and ecological adaptation have made Islam in Indonesia is complex. And as such, to borrow Brakel (2004, 10), 'it would be a considerable error to speak of a uniform Indonesian Islam'. Through a 12-mont-fieldwork in Bima (2011-2012), I found that although Islam becomes the unifying factor, varied expressions of Islamic practices among Muslims reflect different cultural legacies and socio-political contexts. Although differences arise, Bima Muslims rely on local wisdom to mediate the differences and to foster harmony among them

Copyright

© 2018, the Authors. Published by Atlantis Press.

Open Access

This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/).

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Muhammad Adlin Sila
PY  - 2017/11
DA  - 2017/11
TI  - In Pursuit of Promoting Moderate Indonesian Islam to the world: Understanding the diversity of Islamic practices in Bima, Sumbawa Island
BT  - Proceedings of the Third International Conference on Social and Political Sciences (ICSPS 2017)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 253
EP  - 256
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/icsps-17.2018.56
DO  - 10.2991/icsps-17.2018.56
ID  - Sila2017/11
ER  -