What is Religious Authority? Cultivating Islamic Communities in Indonesia.

• Date: 01 August 2022
• Author: Haryanto

What is Religious Authority?: Cultivating Islamic Communities in Indonesia. By Ismail Fajrie Alatas. Princeton & Oxford: Princeton University Press, 2021. Softcover: 268pp.

Throughout history, Islamic communities grew and developed along diverse trajectories. While some prospered, others withered. Some theorists hold that religious authority plays an important role in the sustenance of Islamic societies. However, within these societies there are varying levels of acceptance towards religious authorities, and this can determine whether Islamic communities expand or diminish. Ismail Fajrie Alatas' book, What is Religious Authority?: Cultivating Islamic Communities in Indonesia, provides a fresh perspective on how religious authority is created and maintained in Islamic societies.

The book is based on the author's research into the historical and cultural practices of Islamic community leaders in Java, who sought to align community interests with the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad so that the former could serve as sites for the transmission and social realization of the latter (p. 210). The main focus is on a Sufi leader of Arab descent from Hadramawt (Yemen), Habib Luthfi (b. 1947), who is still influential in Muslim communities in Indonesia today. Following Hannah Arendt's political philosophy, Alatas explains...