What Is Religious Authority: Cultivating Islamic Communities in Indonesia

(Hardback)

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An anthropologist's groundbreaking account of how Islamic religious authority is assembled through the unceasing labor of community building on the island of Java This compelling book draws on Ismail Fajrie Alatas's unique insights as an anthropologist to provide a new understanding of Islamic religious authority, showing how religious leaders u

Reviews

"Through this highly original study of such articulatory labours in Java, Alatas has written one of the most important books on Islam in Indonesia in years, and crafted a work that deserves to become a central reference for all scholars of Islam and Islamic authority."---Robert W. Hefner, Journal of Islamic Studies
"Successfully argues that what is known as Islam the universal religion does not reside in the consistency of its teachings. However, one aspect of Islam that is universal is the work of congregational building."---Hasan Mustapa, International Journal of Asian Studies
"Provides rich insights for readers who wish to gain a better understanding of comparative Islamic authority. The authors success in blending historical, anthropological and political analyses together makes this book a worthwhile read and a useful source of reference for scholars interested in Islam in Indonesia." * Contemporary Southeast Asia *
"A groundbreaking contribution. . . . The book will certainly find its ways to become an important reference in the historical and anthropological study of Islam and religious authority in Indonesia from the premodern to the present times."---Wahyuddin Halim, Religion and Social Communication
"A theoretical contribution that presents not only a refined understanding of Islamic authority but also the universality of Islam as a concrete universality."---Zacky Khairul Umam, International Quarterly for Asian Studies
"Alatas makes an important contribution to the specific case of a Sufi master in Indonesia, one of the many ways in which religious authority is grounded in a specific cultural context."---Daniel Martin, Bibliotheca Orientalis
"A thorough examination of the concept of articulation, enabling scholars and researchers to create a nonhistoricist interpretation of Islam and Islamic history."---Asif Mohiuddin, Public Anthropologist

Author Bio

Ismail Fajrie Alatas is assistant professor of Middle Eastern and Islamic studies at New York University. Twitter and Instagram @ifalatas