Islamic Studies Review

Foreword

Syamsul Rijal — 2025-06-30

Seventy years ago, Indonesia hosted one of the most renowned conferences in modern history: the Asia-Africa Conference. Since that pivotal 1955 Bandung moment, numerous commemorative events have been held by governments, academia, and civil society across the globe—particularly in major cities of the Global South. The profound legacies of this moment continue to resonate throughout the world, including within academic discourse, especially in what has increasingly been referred to as “decolonization”—a term coined in Latin America that now echoes across many regions. In academia, decolonization is more than a buzzword. It has become the subject of serious inquiry, with scholars seeking multiple tools—not just a singular approach—to redefine notions of ‘selfhood’ and ‘explanation’ beyond Eurocentric frameworks.

The Role of CIPSI in Epistemic Decolonization: Integrating Islamic Philosophy and Local Wisdom into Educational Reform in Indonesia

Nuruddin Al Akbar — 2025-06-30

This paper explores the role of the Center for Islamic Philosophical Studies and Information (CIPSI) in decolonizing education in Indonesia, focusing on its efforts to challenge colonial influences by integrating Islamic philosophy and local educational systems into the curriculum. CIPSI contributes to a culturally relevant educational model by translating key Islamic texts, conducting research in Islamic philosophy, science, and mysticism, and advocating for the inclusion of local wisdom. This study highlights CIPSI’s role in bridging Islamic and Western knowledge systems, emphasizing the importance of indigenizing curricula. The paper also examines the challenges CIPSI faces and how non-state actors can collaborate with state institutions to reform the education system, contributing to the development of an educational framework that reflects Indonesia’s cultural and intellectual heritage.

Reimagining Tradition: Faisal Kamandobat and the Fusion of Islamic Values, Poetry, and Contemporary

Nabilla P. Fiandini — 2025-06-30

Discourses on globalization, contemporary art and tradition often revolve around power dynamics, positioning them in binary terms of domination or emancipation. This paper proposes an alternative framework that moves beyond power relations, emphasizing the role of Bildung—a process of cultural and intellectual formation—in understanding the interaction between these forces. Through a critical analysis of Faisal Kamandobat's artistic practice, the paper argues that globalization, contemporary art and tradition are not opposing forces, but rather interconnected elements that shape cultural and artistic expression. Kamandobat's approach to art, which is deeply rooted in the pesantren tradition, shows how tradition can be reinterpreted through a modern and cosmopolitan sensibility. By exploring Bildung as a conceptual lens, this study reveals how culture functions as a living and evolving entity that bridges the past and the present. Ultimately, Kamandobat's work demonstrates that artistic practices can serve as spaces for creating meaning, resilience, and dialogue, rather than mere contestations of power.

Aceh and Mindanao: A Comparative Study of Postcolonial Muslim Experiences in Democratic States

Syarifah Huswatun Miswar — 2025-06-30

This study offers a comparative analysis of the postcolonial experiences of Muslim communities in Aceh (Indonesia) and Mindanao (Philippines), focusing specifically on the impact of colonialism on institutions, legal structures, and religious identity. Both regions, while sharing a Muslim-majority population and a long history of colonial domination, have developed distinct trajectories in their approaches to governance, law, and cultural identity within contemporary democratic frameworks. Aceh, as a province of Indonesia, implements Islamic Sharia through special autonomy, reflecting a negotiated balance between local religious identity and national legal structures. In contrast, Mindanao continues to face challenges in securing Muslim rights through peace agreements, such as the Bangsamoro Organic Law, highlighting ongoing struggles over institutional autonomy and legal recognition. Employing a comparative approach, this study analyses three main aspects: the legacy of colonial institutions and legal systems, postcolonial transformations in governance and identity, and the dynamics of Muslim political participation in democratic states. The findings demonstrate that colonialism has left a profound imprint on the social, legal, and religious structures of both regions, but their responses have diverged due to differences in cultural contexts, national policies, and local agencies. This study contributes to broader discussions on decolonization and Islamic studies in the Global South by highlighting the diversity of post-colonial Muslim experiences in democratic societies.

Navigating Belonging and Identity: Representation of Indonesian Muslims in the United Kingdom

Efri Arsyad Rizal — 2025-06-30

Indonesian Muslims, despite navigating their adaptations to new life circumstances in the United Kingdom, actively contribute to the country's socio-cultural landscape through academia, festivals, art exhibitions, and culinary events that promote and preserve Indonesia’s cultural heritage. Examining Indonesian Muslim organizations in the UK such as KIBAR, PCINU UK, PCIM Britania & Irlandia, and Indonesia Islamic Centre (IIC) London, this research explores the sense of belonging and unbelonging among Indonesian Muslims in the UK, focusing on individual and collective identities. By employing Christensen's framework on belonging and unbelonging and Mossovici’s framework of social representation, this study discusses how Indonesian Muslims construct and uphold their identity in different circumstances. The results reveal that Indonesian Muslims navigate their identity by preserving their traditions and practically applying their traditions in a diaspora setting through religious agendas. This research also highlights their religious commitment and contribution to socio-cultural problems in their homeland, Indonesia.

Deconstruction of Women’s Testimony in Fiqh: Promoting Gender Equality in Hilal Sighting Through Sociological and Astronomical Perspectives

Muhammad Nurkhanif — 2025-06-30

This study aims to deconstruct the traditional views in Islamic jurisprudence regarding women's testimony in the determination of the beginning of lunar Islamic calendar months, by examining gender equality through the perspective of the sociology of change and Islamic astronomy. This process, which has traditionally involved more men than women, is revisited with consideration of the role of women in contemporary society. In Islam, both men and women have equal capacity to provide testimony in various matters. Advances in science and technology have increasingly blurred the distinctions between men and women, as evidenced by the equal opportunities and positions in social, cultural, structural, and even religious domains. Unfortunately, women's involvement in moon sighting (rukyat al-hilal) remains very limited. In fact, in the history of the Ministry of Religious Affairs' decisions on the confirmation (istbat) of the new moon for the beginning of Ramadan, Shawwal, and Dhu al-Hijjah, there has only been one accepted and recorded testimony from a woman in the official decree of the Ministry of Religious Affairs (KMA). This raises a significant question: is there a restriction on women's participation in rukyat al-hilal activities due to their social status? This study highlights how social dynamics and developments in knowledge, particularly Islamic astronomy, can drive a more inclusive reinterpretation of Islamic law. The research employs a qualitative method with a descriptive and critical analysis using the sociology of change and Islamic astronomy in the process of deconstruction. This study also explores how gender equality can be realized in religious practices and its implications for the reform of Islamic law. The findings of this study include the formulation of women's testimony in rukyat al-hilal and its validity compared to men's testimony.

Beyond Debt: Islamic Experiments in Global Finance

Wayne Huang — 2025-06-30

Daromir Rudnyckyj. Beyond Debt: Islamic Experiments in Global Finance. Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press, 2019.

It is remarkable how few scholars of Southeast Asia have thought to look to Islamic finance, and how few scholars of Islamic finance have paid attention to Southeast Asia, for clues as to how global Islamic networks and global finanscapes converge. In part, this two-way oversight reflects the lack of interest in finance capitalism in conventional Southeast Asian studies and the marginal position Southeast Asia continues to occupy in Islamic studies. On this point alone, anthropologist Daromir Rudnyckyj's Beyond Debt: Islamic Experiments in Global Finance, arguably the first ethnography documenting the ongoing experiment of Islamic finance in Malaysia, is a significant contribution.

Studying Islam in the Arab World: The Rupture Between Religion and the Social Sciences

Kante Hamed — 2025-06-30

Education plays a central and pivotal role in the fabric of societies and is a crucial aspect of human development. Governments, scholars, and institutions have long worked to enhance systems that deliver both meaningful knowledge to learners and effective ethical guidance. This issue is particularly relevant in the Arab and Islamic world, where traditional Shariah colleges and Islamic education curricula have historically been foundational but often stagnant. These systems have increasingly faced criticism for failing to address contemporary realities effectively.

Muslims and Humour. Essays on Comedy, Joking, and Mirth in Contemporary Islamic Contexts

Rizky Bangun Wibisono — 2025-06-30

In 2015, French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo became a global symbol of free speech after a deadly attack on its office, following its publication of cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad. The Western world rallied around the slogan Je suis Charlie, hailing the magazine as a bastion of comedic defiance against religious extremism. But amid the outpouring of solidarity, a deeper question lingered: Was this truly about defending humor, or was it about reinforcing the idea that some cultures, some religions, are inherently hostile to satire? After all, outrage over religious mockery is hardly exclusive to Islam—Hindu nationalist groups have protested depictions of their gods, and conservative Christians have long decried irreverent portrayals of Jesus. Yet, in public discourse, Islam alone is framed as uniquely humorless, its followers unable—or unwilling—to take a joke.