Muslim Women in Contemporary Indonesia: Online Conflicting Narratives behind the Women Ulama Congress

ABSTRACT

Recently, Indonesian Muslim women successfully convened the world’s first congress of women Muslim scholars (KUPI). This is only one segment of the story of Indonesian Muslim women. There are many narratives regarding Indonesian Muslim women and their diverse agenda. This article focuses on what has been brought by KUPI into a broader discussion of Islam in Indonesia. Drawing on intermittent offline research predominantly conducted in Jakarta and online research from 2017 to 2018, this article argues that KUPI, with its symbolic preferences, has strengthened the voices of civil Islam in Indonesia. KUPI has productively generated global attention due to its progressive emphasis that women can be ulama. However, there are other women’s voices of Islam and gender that are robust, particularly due to their rigorous use of information and communication technology. At the same time, this might be seen as promoting conservatism. Within the local context, this ideological position that is contrary to KUPI has gained more traction. Additionally, this article argues that progressive and conservative Indonesian Muslim women feature not only in the democratic pluralism of religious expression in the Indonesian offline and online spheres but also in the ongoing intricate interplay between Islam, civil society and gender equality.

ABSTRACT IN INDONESIAN

Baru-baru ini, perempuan Muslim Indonesia berhasil menyelenggarakan Kongres Ulama Perempuan (KUPI) pertama di dunia. Ini hanya satu segmen kisah perempuan Muslim Indonesia. Ada beberapa narasi tentang perempuan Muslim Indonesia dan banyak lagi agenda lainnya. Artikel ini fokus pada agenda yang telah diinisiasi oleh KUPI dalam diskusi yang lebih luas tentang Islam di Indonesia. Berdasarkan penelitian offline intermiten yang sebagian besar dilakukan di Jakarta dan penelitian online dari 2017 hingga 2018, artikel ini berpendapat bahwa KUPI, dengan preferensi simbolisnya, telah memperkuat suara-suara civil Islam di Indonesia. KUPI secara produktif telah mengundang perhatian global karena agenda progresifnya yang menekankan bahwa perempuan memiliki kapasitas menjadi ulama. Namun, ada suara-suara perempuan lain yang berkaitan dengan Islam and gender yang tidak kalah kuat, karena mereka menggunakan teknologi informasi dan komunikasi secara militan. Pada gilirannya, posisi mereka bisa dikatakan mempromosikan konservatisme. Dalam konteks lokal, posisi ideologis yang tidak sejalan dengan agenda yang diusung KUPI ini memiliki daya tarik lebih besar. Selain itu, artikel ini juga berpendapat bahwa perempuan Muslim Indonesia yang progresif dan konservatif tampil tidak hanya dalam konteks pluralisme demokrasi ekspresi keberagamaan di ranah offline dan online, tapi juga dalam interaksi rumit yang berkelindan antara Islam, masyarakat sipil dan kesetaraan gender.

KEYWORDS:

• Muslim women
• civil Islam
• social media
• ulama
• Muslim scholars
• conservative Muslims
• Indonesia
• gender equality
• Internet
• polymedia

Acknowledgments

The author would like to thank Robert Hefner, Gustav Brown, Amelia Fauzia and David Hundt, as well as the anonymous reviewers, for their helpful comments on earlier versions of this article.

Notes

1. This includes speakers, women ulama, activists and researchers from 13 countries.

2. This number is based on the result of the surveys issued by the Indonesian Survey Institute (LSI, Lembaga Survey Indonesia) in 2013 (see Mustaqim, 2018).

3. I interviewed 11 women from progressive Muslim groups and 11 women of diverse Islamist and other conservative groups, such as the elites of the Tarbiyah Movement – an Islamist movement influenced by the Muslim Brotherhood of Egypt – and the elites of Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia (HTI), the Indonesian chapter of Hizbut Tahrir, which was banned in Indonesia in July 2017, and women of diverse Salafi groups. I also interviewed 14 progressive male thinkers and male elites of diverse conservative groups.

4. Kodrat refers to God-given nature.

5. P3M was founded in Jakarta in 1983 and was one of the first organisations to focus its work on women’s rights from an Islamic perspective (Brenner, 2011, p. 483).

6. According to Faqihuddin Abdul Kodir, the term fatwa was initially used by the participants and the media. After certain considerations, the committee decided to use the term sikap dan pandangan keagamaan (religious position and view) or the more neutral term hasil Musyawarah Keagamaan (results of Religious Deliberation). However, the committee also admits that in the end KUPI’s “religious position and view” will be seen as a fatwa by the public (interview, 9 May 2017).

7. Throughout the congress, a few male ulama who are concerned with women’s issues were also among the speakers and attendees.

8. The participants believe that in an unequal social structure of relations between groups of people, including men and women, all environmental degradation impacts different groups of people in different ways.

9. Indonesia has 13 Ma’had ‘Aly to date (Tim KUPI, 2017, p. 160).

10. It is noteworthy, however, that some Islamist elites also have strong traditional pesantren backgrounds.

11. Aurat or ʿawrah (Ar.) literally means “deficiency or flaw”. In this context, however, the term refers to parts of a woman’s body that need be covered, especially their hair.

12. Muslimah Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia is the women’s division of Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia (see Nisa, 2014).

13. Persis, a modernist organisation founded in 1923, also has the same view on the realm of women (Hefner, 2000, p. 105).

14. This differs from the agenda posted by KUPI on gender equality. The last post on gender equality within Islamic boarding schools, for example, only generated 175 likes (ulamaperempuan, 2018).

15. The terms jilbab syar’i and hijab syar’i in Indonesia are often used interchangeably (see also Nisa, 2018). GEMAR, in its campaigns, usually uses the term jilbab syar’i.

16. In addition, the organisers of GEMAR, namely ACI and Peduli Jilbab, have 158,000 and 328,000 followers respectively.

17. These Instagram accounts, however, were created after the KUPI congress. Mubaadalah, for example, made its first post on 9 October 2017, while the Islamist women’s Instagram daʿwa account was born long before these progressive Muslim accounts existed. In comparison, the first post uploaded by Indonesia Menutup Aurat was on 13 October 2015.

Additional information

Funding

This article is a result of the research project “Islamic (Inter)Faces of the Internet: Emerging Socialities and Forms of Piety in Indonesia” (FWF P26645-G22) funded by the Austrian Science Fund.