Becoming Better Muslims

Religious Authority and Ethical Improvement in Aceh, Indonesia

David Kloos (Autor)

Buch | Softcover

240 Seiten

2017
Princeton University Press (Verlag)
978-0-691-17665-9 (ISBN)

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How do ordinary Muslims deal with and influence the increasingly pervasive Islamic norms set by institutions of the state and religion? Becoming Better Muslims offers an innovative account of the dynamic interactions between individual Muslims, religious authorities, and the state in Aceh, Indonesia. Relying on extensive historical and ethnographic research, David Kloos offers a detailed analysis of religious life in Aceh and an investigation into today's personal processes of ethical formation. Aceh is known for its history of rebellion and its recent implementation of Islamic law. Debunking the stereotypical image of the Acehnese as inherently pious or fanatical, Kloos shows how Acehnese Muslims reflect consciously on their faith and often frame their religious lives in terms of gradual ethical improvement. Revealing that most Muslims view their lives through the prism of uncertainty, doubt, and imperfection, he argues that these senses of failure contribute strongly to how individuals try to become better Muslims.
He also demonstrates that while religious authorities have encroached on believers and local communities, constraining them in their beliefs and practices, the same process has enabled ordinary Muslims to reflect on moral choices and dilemmas, and to shape the ways religious norms are enforced. Arguing that Islamic norms are carried out through daily negotiations and contestations rather than blind conformity, Becoming Better Muslims examines how ordinary people develop and exercise their religious agency.

David Kloos is a researcher at the Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies (KITLV) in Leiden.

List of Illustrations ix

Preface and Acknowledgments xi

Note on Spelling, Transliteration, and Italicization xvii

Map of Aceh xix

Introduction: Inner Islam and the Problem of Acehnese Exceptionalism 1

A Narrative of Violence and Piety 2

Religious Agency and Ethical Improvement: An Interactive Approach 6

Ordinary Ethics, Moral Failure, and the Sense of a Life Unfolding 10

Islam in Aceh as a Subject of Study 14

Fieldwork 17

Organization of the Book 23

1 History and the Imagining of Pious Aceh 26

Reconfigurations of Authority 28

Islam and the Imperial War 33

Belief and Practice in a Society in Flux 38

Islamic Activism 44

Violence and the Transformation of the Public Sphere 48

Conclusion 51

2 The Limits of Normative Islam 53

Occupation, Revolution, Rebellion 56

Exemplars of Reform 60

The Limits of Normative Islam 63

Villages in the New Order 67

The Lheueh Dispute 71

Conclusion 75

3 Village Society and the Problem of Moral Authority 77

Beyond the Politics of Violence and Grief 78

A Crisis of Solidarity 82

Generation and the Perception of Moral Authority 88

The Theft from the Dayah 92

"My Father Is a Good Man but Too Stubborn" 97

Village Politics and the Reconceptualization of Local Leadership 100

Conclusion 103

4 Islamic Scripturalism and Everyday Life after the Disaster 105

Routines and Debates in a Tsunami-Affected Neighborhood 107

A Lost Zeal for Business 111

Heaven Lies under Mother's Feet 115

Money, Piety, and Senses of Community 118

Age, Life Phase, and the Inward Turn 123

Conclusion 129

5 Becoming Better Muslims: Sinning, Repentance, Improvement 131

Sinning, Shari'a, and the Moral Pressures of the Postwar, Post-tsunami Moment 132

Early Life Discipline, Older Age Consciousness: The Repentance of Rahmat 137

The Responsibilities of Yani 143

Aris, Indra, and the Morality of Failure and Success 148

The Knowledge of Sins: Competing Models of Ethical Improvement? 153

Conclusion 158

Conclusion 159

Notes 171

Glossary and Abbreviations 185

References 191

Index 207

Erscheinungsdatum	29.01.2018
Reihe/Serie	Princeton Studies in Muslim Politics
Zusatzinfo	1 Maps
Verlagsort	New Jersey
Sprache	englisch
Maße	152 x 235 mm
Gewicht	369 g
Themenwelt	Geisteswissenschaften ► Philosophie ► Östliche Philosophie
	Geisteswissenschaften ► Religion / Theologie ► Islam
	Sozialwissenschaften ► Ethnologie
	Sozialwissenschaften ► Soziologie ► Spezielle Soziologien
ISBN-10	0-691-17665-5 / 0691176655
ISBN-13	978-0-691-17665-9 / 9780691176659
Zustand	Neuware