Page 41 - AEI Insights 2019 - Vol. 5, Issue 1

AEI Insights: An International Journal of Asia-Europe Relations, Vol 5, Issue 1, 2019, ISSN: 2289-800X

ISLAMIC REVIVALISM IN INDONESIA: CONTESTATION
BETWEEN SUBSTANTIVE AND FORMALIST MUSLIMS

Lili Yulyadi Bin Arnakim
Department of International Relations,
BINUS University,
Jakarta, Indonesia

E-Mail: yulyadi@yahoo.com

Abstract

Indonesia in the late 1970s saw a rejuvenation of Islam among Muslim communities just as it
occurred elsewhere in the Muslim world. Islam gradually became a popular source of
Indonesian social, ethical and spiritual life. As a result, Indonesia witnessed the proliferation
of mosques, religious schools, and devotional programs, the emergence of a vast market of
Islamic books, magazines, and newspapers has developed, and a well- educated Muslim middle
class that had begun to raise questions about modern issues, including on the role and rights of
women, the challenges of pluralism, the merits of market economies, and most generally, the
proper relationship of religion to the state. This paper aims at highlighting the dynamic Muslim
communities in facing modern challenges. Using historical analytical method, this paper finds
that Islamic revivalism in Indonesia was unique as was provided for the demands of a new style
of religious and political activities. Muslim intellectuals arose with nontraditional training and
unconventional concerns. New Muslim intellectuals were responding to the demands of the
modern world and the threat posed by the West. Though traditionally trained Muslim scholars,
who are considerably formalists, responded equally to the modern social and religious issues,
the new Muslim intellectuals, who are considerably substantive Muslims, prevailed in the
Islamic discourses in Indonesia.
Keywords: Islamic Revivalism, Substantive, Formalistic, Pluralism and Indonesia

Introduction
The term Islamic Revivalism has been used interchangeably with the words resurgence, re-
1
awakening, revitalization, and reassertion by many Muslim as well as non-Muslim scholars.
It has been defined as “the desire to revive and return to fundamental teachings and precepts of
the Islamic faith” (Mutalib, 1993, p. 1). Chandra Muzaffar (1986) asserts that Islamic
resurgence implies three significant points. Firstly, many Muslims see the growing impact of
the religion among its followers. Secondly, it suggests a phenomenon which has happened
before. Finally, it carries the notion of a challenge or even a threat for other groups of different
religious affiliation. John L Esposito (1984, p. 32) says Islamic revival denotes “a sense that
something had gone wrong in Islam and diagnosis that decline in Muslim fortune due to a
departure from the straight part of Islam.” Esposito (1984, p. 32) further says that “revivalist

1 The terms are interchangeably used. However, Candra Muzaffar differentiated them by emphasizing that
resurgence refers to “act of rising again”. Islamic resurgence means Islam is becoming important again, which is
closely related to awakening (re-awakening). Re-assertion tends to refer to the absence of challenges to the
existing social organisation. Finally, revivalism indicates the idea of returning to the past and a desire to revive
what is antiquated (Muzaffar, 1986).

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