Islam, Law, and Equality in Indonesia: An Anthropology of Public Reasoning

307 Pages·2003·1.83 MB·English

by  John R. Bowen

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Islam,Law,andEqualityinIndonesia
InIndonesia,theworld’slargestMuslim-majoritycountry,Muslimsstruggle
toreconcileradicallydifferentsetsofsocialnormsandlaws,includingthose
derivedfromIslam,localsocialnorms,andcontemporaryideasaboutgender
equalityandruleoflaw.Inthisnewstudy,JohnBowenexploresthisstruggle,
through archival and ethnographic research in villages and courtrooms
of Aceh province, Sumatra, and through interviews with national religious
andlegalfigures.Heanalyzesthesocialframeworksfordisputesaboutland,
inheritance, marriage, divorce, Islamic history, and, more broadly, about
the relationships between the state and Islam, and between Muslims and
non-Muslims.Thebookspeakstodebatescarriedoutinallsocietiesabout
howpeoplecanlivetogetherwiththeirdeepdifferencesinvaluesandwaysof
life.Itwillbewelcomedbyscholarsandstudentsacrossthesocialsciences,
particularlythoseinterestedinanthropology,culturalsociology,andpolitical
theory.
john r. bowen is Dunbar-Van Cleve Professor in Arts and Sciences,
ProfessorofAnthropology,andChairofthePrograminSocialThoughtand
AnalysisatWashingtonUniversityinSt.Louis.HeistheauthorofSumatran
Politics and Poetics (1991), Muslims through Discourse (1993), Religions
throughPractice(2ndedition2001),andtheco-editorofCriticalCompar-
isonsinPoliticsandCulture(CambridgeUniversityPress,1999).
ii
“Westerners seldom appreciate the array of competing religious and social
normsamongwhichMuslimsmustnavigate.Bowenskillfullydemonstrates
thatfortheseIndonesiansthequestformeaningamongalternativelegaland
practicalvaluesisattheveryheartofthetensionbetweenlocalpracticeand
universalfaith.Hiscogentexamplesandsuperbeyefortheirsurroundbring
homewithgreatpoignancyandinsight,bothforIndonesiaandthebroader
Muslimworld,the‘principledreflections’thatinformthelivesofMuslims
inthepresentday.”
Lawrence Rosen, William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Anthropology,
PrincetonUniversityandAdjunctProfessorofLaw,ColumbiaLawSchool
“Islam,LawandEqualityinIndonesiaisanengaging,richwork,aworkof
manyparts,manylevels,andgreatsubtlety.ItisatonceaboutIslamicpublic
spheres,aboutthecontradictionsofeverydayvillagelifeinSumatra,about
therelationshipbetweenthestateandreligion,aboutgenderandinequality
in Southeast Asia, about the negotiation of difference in a bewilderingly
complex, normatively diverse world. But, above all, it is about the way in
whichthelaw–increasingly,acrosstheglobe–isdeployedtomanagethe
unmanageable,toresolvetheunresolvable,todealwiththeincommensurable.
Asthissuggests,youareabouttoreadastudywhoseethnographicdepthis
matchedbythebreadthofitstheoreticalreach.”
JohnComaroff,HaroldH.SwiftDistinguishedServiceProfessorofAnthro-
pology, University of Chicago, and Senior Research Fellow, American Bar
Foundation
Islam, Law, and Equality
in Indonesia
An Anthropology of Public Reasoning
JohnR.Bowen
  
Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, São Paulo
Cambridge University Press
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Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York
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© John R. Bowen 2003
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without the written permission of Cambridge University Press.
First published in print format 2003
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Contents
Listofillustrations pageviii
Listoftables ix
Acknowledgments x
Glossary xii
Part1 Villagerepertoires
1 Law,religion,andpluralism 3
2 Adat’slocalinequalities 22
3 Remappingadat 44
Part2 Reasoninglegallythroughscripture
4 Thecontoursofthecourts 67
5 Thejudicialhistoryof“consensus” 89
6 Thepoisonedgift 123
7 Historicizingscripture,justifyingequality 147
Part3 GoverningMuslimsthroughfamily
8 Whosewordislaw? 173
9 Genderequalityinthefamily? 200
10 Justifyingreligiousboundaries 229
11 Publicreasoningacrossculturalpluralism 253
References 269
Index 283
vii
Illustrations
Figures
2.1 ThedescendantsofMpunJamat,1994 page26
2.2 Jul’srelatives 41
4.1 InheritancesharesinIslam 69
5.1 ThecaseofAmanNurjati’slands,1947 97
5.2 AmanNurjati’sheirs,1963 109
5.3 TengkuMukhlis’slandclaim 118
Map
1 TheGayohighlandsinAceh,Sumatra 23
viii