Islam in World Cultures: Comparative Perspectives - Islamic Books ...

2 1 0Islam i n World Cult u r e smodels and uniquely Southeast Asian aesthetic expression, combining them ina way that is both authentically Islamic and characteristically Indonesian. TheJavanese performing arts of the gamelan (a gong orchestra) and the shadowpuppet theater are well known. Although some have viewed aspects of these Javanesecultural practices as “un-Islamic,” contemporary Muslim perf o r m e r ssuch as Emha Ainun Naguib, a Javanese poet, combine, for example, the Javanesegamelan with Arabic vocal performance and contemporary studio instrumentsto produce a unique kind of popular Muslim musical perf o r m a n c e .Another example of the combination of local and global traditions in Muslimaesthetic expression in Indonesia, this one from the visual arts, is the workof an artist from Aceh, A. D. Pirous. Pirous has used Qur’anic verses, indigenousIslamic expression such as the poetry of a Sumatran from an earlier era,Hamzah Fansuri, and his own unique vision to render a personal expression ofa global Islam (George and Mamannoor, 2002). His work is informed by hisown unique experiences as a citizen of Indonesia and also as a member of aspecific local Muslim community, that of Aceh. Drawing on patterns shared byall Muslims, individual expressions of Qur’anic and Islamic piety among conte m p o r a ry Indonesians affect others in the community and the nation, and inturn reflect back out to the rest of the Muslim world.All of these changes in the spheres of personal piety and cultural Islamizationin Indonesia are also part of a broader global phenomenon. The mainstreammovement of Islamic religious revitalization in contemporary Indonesia, evidencedby remarkable creative production, draws not only on the Qur’an andbasic Islamic principles but also on Southeast Asian values of aesthetics, inclusivism,and participation. At the same time, and despite the New Order’s sustainedefforts to separate a cultural religious revival from any political manifestationsof this turn to Islam, a number of Indonesian Muslims appear to see suchdistinctions as artificial and foreign to their understanding and experience of Islamicreligious renewal, and they support transformation in both areas. Intellectualand cultural Islamization in Indonesia progressed steadily through the lastdecades of Suharto’s New Order, and this process prepared the way for a renewedemergence of Islam onto the national political stage in the final years ofthe twentieth century. Especially in the post-Suharto years, Indonesian Muslimshave developed distinctive, Islamically grounded orientations to issues of justice,pluralism, and participation in pious and political life in ways consistent withother aspects of Muslim life in a diverse and globalizing world.Global and Local Trends in Muslim Politics: Islam and the State after Suhart oIn 1997, a financial crisis of staggering proportions in Southeast Asiaprompted the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to press the Suharto gov-