Siting Islamic feminism: The Indonesian Congress of Women Islamic Scholars and the challenge of challenging patriarchal authority

ABSTRACT

This article takes the first ever Indonesian Congress of Women Islamic Scholars (Kongres Ulama Perempuan Indonesia, KUPI), and its methodology for formulating religious opinions, as an entry point for analysing the challenge of challenging male, male-centred, and patriarchal authority in Islam. Although a recent initiative, KUPI must be understood in the context of a long and often contentious history of Indonesian secular activists and Islamic scholars (men and women) sounding each other out and seeking common ground in their efforts to reinterpret religious sources and develop new ideas about the position of women in society. Studying the event ethnographically as a site of public communication and exchange – of religious knowledge, views, and experiences – , and contextualizing it in the history of Indonesian Islamic practices and institutions, we argue that the main significance of KUPI lies in the way in which it expands the global Islamic feminist project from a scholarly and intellectual movement into a locally resonant and potentially impactful social movement.

KEYWORDS:

• Islamic feminism
• women
• female religious authority
• Indonesia

Acknowledgements

We thank our interlocutors for giving us their valuable time and for their willingness to share their views and experiences. We would also like to acknowledge Nor Ismah’s research assistants, Annise Sri Maftuchin, Nazhifatum Muthahharoh, and Halimah, particularly for their help during the conference. The research on which the article is based was supported by the Dutch Research Council through its Talent Scheme (Kloos) and the Indonesian Endowment Funds for Education (LPDP-RI) (Nor Ismah). Earlier versions were presented at the workshop ‘Unsettling Encounters: Scholarly Study, Religious Knowledge, and Difficult Histories in Asia and the Caribbean’, at the Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies (KITLV) in Leiden (2017), the Women in Asia Conference, University of Western Australia, Perth (2017), the seminar series of the History department of the University of Groningen (2018), the conference on the Empowerment of Women in Contemporary Indonesia: Progress and Challenges, at the University of California, Los Angeles (2019), the seminar/webinar series of the Department of Asian Studies, Hebrew University of Jerusalem (2020), and the International Conference of Asian Studies and Biennial International Online Conference of the Special Branch of Nahdlatul Ulama in the Netherlands (2021). We thank the conveners of these events and the audiences – including the other contributors to the special issue of which this article is part – for the inspiring discussions and comments. Marieke Bloembergen, Syafiq Hasyim, History and Anthropology’s anonymous reviewers, and the journal’s editor, David Henig, helped us improve the manuscript through their critical reading and by providing many instructive and thoughtful comments.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 The opinions, and their full argumentations, can be found, together with a wealth of other information, on the KUPI digital repository. See https://kupipedia.id/index.php/Khazanah (Accessed 22 May 2023).

2 ‘Perempuan Ulama Punya Peran Besar’, Kompas, 28 April 2017. According to KUPI’s own observation, the conference received at least 109 press reports in Indonesia, and at least 24 press reports in international media, from the UK to Pakistan. Tim KUPI, Liputan Media Kongres Ulama Perempuan Indonesia 25–27 April 2017 (Cirebon: KUPI, 2017).

3 On the role of pesantren as a site of local Islamic formation and its relation to government supported Islamic formal academic teaching in Indonesia, see also the article by Millie (this special issue).

4 P3M was established under the umbrella of LP3ES (Lembaga Penelitian, Pendidikan dan Penerangan Ekonomi dan Sosial, Institute for Economic and Social Research, Education and Information), an NGO initiated by progressive former student activists in 1971. Important figures in the establishment of P3M, apart from Abdurrahman Wahid, were Sahal Mahfud, Yusuf Hasyim, Dawan Rahardjo, Adi Sasono, and Johan Effendi. P3M’s women program was established at a later date, in 1994 in consultation with feminist scholars such as Lies Marcoes. Syafiq Hasyim, personal communication, 14 February 2020.

5 See the conference booklet: Manual Kongres Ulama Perempuan Indonesia (Cirebon: KUPI, 2017), pp. 73-74; Tim KUPI, Dokumen Resmi Proses dan Hasil Kongres Ulama Perempuan Indonesia (Cirebon: KUPI, 2017), pp. v-vi.

6 Halaqah, in Nahdlatul Ulama’s formulation, means ‘a pedagogical system used in pesantren in which students sit in a cross-legged position around the teacher’. See the online Ensiklopedi NU: https://www.nu.or.id/post/read/40946/halaqah (Accessed January 23, 2020).

7 This goal has been substantiated by KUPI-affiliated scholars in their theological elaborations of concepts such as ‘substantive justice’ (keadilan hakiki) (Nur Rofiah, see this article, below) or ‘reciprocal reading’ (qira’ah mubadalah) (Faqihuddin Abdul Kodir 2019).

8 See the program of the international conference: International Seminar on Women Ulama: Amplifying Women Ulama’s Voices, Asserting Values of Islam, Nationhood and Humanity (Cirebon: KUPI, 2017).

9 Tim KUPI, Dokumen Resmi, p. 37.

10 International Seminar on Women Ulama, p. 4.

11 The Pancasila (literally ‘The Five Principles’) is the official philosophical foundation of the Indonesian nation-state. It prescribes, among other things, belief in the ‘Almighty God’ (Ketuhanan Yang Maha Esa) but it is not exclusively Islamic in character.

12 Tim KUPI, Proyeksi Masa Depan Ulama Perempuan Indonesia, Kumpulan Tulisan Refleksi tentang KUPI (Cirebon: KUPI, 2017), pp. 13-15.

13 For an overview of her progressive views, see, e.g. (Masriyah Amva 2012).

14 For a remarkable portrayal of Pondok Pesantren Kebon Jambu, see Shalahuddin Siregar’s documentary film, Pesantren (Negeri Films, 2019).

15 Interview, April 26, 2017.

16 The MUI itself issues both fatwas and ‘fatwa-like statements’, such as ‘tazkirah (“Admonition”), pernyataan sikap (“Position Statement”), himbauan (“Appeal”), and sumbangan pemikiran (“Contribution to Thought”)’ (Kaptein 2004, 122). While these are also expressions of religious authority, they are ‘not regarded as having the same authority as fatwa, because a fatwa is surrounded by stricter procedures’.

17 The female form is alimat, but Indonesians tend to use the male form for both men and women.

18 Manual Kongres Ulama Perempuan Indonesia, p. 26.

19 Manual Kongres Ulama Perempuan Indonesia, p. 27.

20 On the importance of claims to grassroots knowledge in public contestations for religious authority, see also Mandal (this special issue).

21 In fact, no one we talked to, including Nurhayati and Rahimun, actually agreed to be called an ulama. This is a common contradiction in Indonesian discourse about religious learning. The concept of ulama refers, simultaneously, to a real and recognizable class of people and to a standard of moral perfection that is close to unattainable. Refusing the label of ulama is thus an act of piety.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Dutch Research Council (NWO); Indonesian Endowment Fund for Education (LPDP).