The Fragmentation of Religious Authority in Provincial Towns in Indonesia: The Case of the mui (Indonesian Muslim Scholar Council) in Pekanbaru and Pontianak

This article discusses the fragmentation of religious authority in Pekanbaru and Pontianak, Indonesia, focusing on the local mui (Indonesian Muslim Scholar Council). Employing qualitative methods, the mui Pontianak and Pekanbaru experience similar religious authority fragmentation due to the human agency. Members of the mui Pontianak and Pekanbaru represent Islamic organisations in Indonesia’s fight for the religious authority of their Islamic organisations, not for the cohesion of religious authority in the mui. Because religious authority has the desired will, it is no wonder that outside the mui Pontianak and Pekanbaru many Muslim figures struggle to preserve it. Individuals challenge the religious authority of the mui Pontianak and Pekanbaru. Some of them are local Muslim preachers. They strengthen and preserve their religious authority by preaching Islam, thus contributing to the growth of the mui fragmentation in these two cities.

The Dagestani Thinker Hasan Alqadari

The author of this article shortly describes the philosophical aspects of the thought of Hasan Alqadari. A Lezghian Sunni Muslim scholar Hasan Alqadari (1834–1910) is widely regarded as one of the prominent and impressive jurist and historian in Imperial Russia’s Caucasian Dagestan region. Contemporary Islamic scholars present him as Shafi‘i jurist, historian, teacher and enlightener. This article sets out to reconsider Hasan Alqadari’s legacy and to study his representative writings such as Divan alMamnun and Djirab al- Mamnun that allow rethinking Hasan Alqadari as a Muslim thinker. It demonstrates that Hasan Alqadari developed ideas on philosophical issues and topics. The article analyzes those ideas of Hasan Alqadari that he considered the most important for Muslim community. It examines his philosophical and social views and ethical thought. The author outlines specific directions for future research on Hasan Alqadari’s legacy.

The image of Qazi-Mullah in the poetry of A. I. Polezhaev (in commemoration of the 225th anniversary of the birth of Imam Ghazi-Muhammad)

The object of this research is the poems (“Erpeli” and “Chir-Yurt”) by A. I. Polezhaev. The authors explore the peculiarities of artistic presentation and interpretation of the image of the Muslim scholar and theologian, first imam of Dagestan and Chechnya, leader of the Caucasian highlanders – Imam Ghazi-Muhammad (Qazi-Mullah) in the poetry of A. I. Polezhaev. The relevance of this publication is caused by heightened interest and enormous controversy around the topic of the Caucasian War and its leading figures. It is noted the evolution of views on the liberation movement of highlanders headed by Ghazi-Muhammad can be traced on the works of A. I. Polezhaev. The article reveals Polezhaev’s perception of the activity of the imam as the manifestation of religious fanaticism. Herewith, A. I. Polezhaev describes the idealized image of Qazi Mullah in a hyperbolized form, objectively depicting his positive qualities. The novelty of this research lies in the fact that the analysis of the image of Imam Ghazi-Muhammad through literary works contributes to comprehension of the heroic concept of a real person in literature and profound understanding of the problem of historicism overall. The article leans on the contrastive method, which involves comparative analysis (subjective personal reflections and manifestations of the author are correlated with the historical facts).

تفسیر فتح العزیز اور اس کی تکمیل و عدم تکمیل کی بحث

Shāh ‘Abd al-‘Azīz was the son of an illustrious Muslim scholar of the Indian Subcontinent, Shāh Walī Allah. Like his father, he was greatly interested in Qur’ānic Studies and wrote a commentary on the Qur’ān in Persian titled Fatḥ al-‘Azīz. This commentary, however, is not found in its complete form anywhere. Only the commentary on 184 verses (ayāt) of the second chapter, al-Baqarah and on the last two parts (ajzā’) of the Qur’ān is published in two volumes. It is commonly thought that the commentary had remained incomplete and only the parts that have been published were penned down. There are, however, certain clues to the possibility that Shāh ‘Abd al-‘Azīz might have completed the commentary but most of it was lost. This article appraises the views about the completion or non-completion of this commentary and assesses the evidence of each side.

Mawlana Mawdudi’s Concept of Political Islam

Syed Abul A'la Mawdudi was a Muslim scholar, ideological thinker, philosopher, jurist and journalist. He worked for the revival of Islam and disseminated his understanding of ‘true Islam’. This paper is categorized into two sections. The first section of this paper aims to explore the concept of Mawlana Mawdudi regarding political Islam and his role as a 20th century Islamic revivalist. The second section deals with critique of Mawlana Wahiduddin Khan on Mawlana Mawdudi’s powerful Islamic ideology. Mawlana Mawdudi viewed Islam as the religion that is all-encompassing and Islamic state as universal that should not be limited to a particular geographical region and Muslims should strive for the establishment of Islamic state through Islamic revolution. In Mawlana Khan’s ‘The Political Interpretation of Islam’, he considered Mawlana Mawdudi’s distinctly political interpretation as problematic.

Tuhfah al-Mursalah ila Ruh al-Nabiy as the Source of the Doctrine Seven Grades of Being in the Malay-Indonesian Archipelago

The doctrine of seven grades of Being (Martabat Tujuh) has been widely known to be a sufi interpretation of God’s Oneness (al-Tawhid). It originated in the subcontinent of India in the early seventeenth century. The doctrine was later introduced in Aceh and gained popularity among the Malay sufi authors and practitioners until the present day. Amid its wide acceptance, the teaching has long been considered by many scholars to be incompatible with the Islamic principle teachings of God’s Unity. The purpose of this article is to give an insight into the background of the writing of the Tuhfah al-Mursalah Ila Ruh al-Nabiyy and to establish its credibility as an authentic Islamic work by a recognized Muslim sufi scholar. To achieve its objectives, data of this writing was gathered through the usage of document analysis and then described using deducted and inducted analysis. This article found that the Tuhfah al-Mursalah was originally written to combatting misinterpretation of the teaching of wahdat al-wujud in the subcontinent India. It was later exported to the Aceh in the early sixteenth century. The work was written by a knowledgeable and important Indian Muslim sufi scholar. His credentials as a Muslim scholar were testified with few commentaries on the Tuhfah al-Mursalah by famous and well-known Muslim scholars in the Muslim world. Therefore, this work occupies an important place in providing a true comprehension of the doctrine of seven grades of Being.

Explaining the Minutes of Philosophy and Revealing its Symbols with the Arguments of Conclusive Legitimacy in the Light of AlTamez by Allama Abdulaziz

This article aims to explore the philosophical approach and the methods used by ‘Abdul-‘Azīz Firharvi in his valuable manuscript Al-tamyīz, which dealt with the philosophers and scholars differences about the interpretation of philosophy from Quran and Sunnah.‘Abdul-‘Azīz Firharvi was the famous Muslim scholar of British India in all over the world.He was adept in all Islamic sciences, but he is regarded as one of the greatest ever Mutakalim born in the land of Indo-Pak. He has written more valuable works on Ilm Al-Kla’m and Al-Tami’z is the part of his aims.This manuscript is infact the middle ground between the fanatical scholars and the philosophers who have the correct ideas, That is: philosophy should not be rejected outright because of prejudice, nor should any philosophical thought be adopted without weighing the criteria of thinking and the Qur'an and Sunnah.Allama Farharvi has adopted the same style in terms of occasion and place and has used Qur'anic and rational reasoning. This article is a link between philosophy and Islamic thought, which will not only eliminate violence from society, but will also pave the way for new scholars to examine philosophy and Islamic thought in a new perspective.

ABU RAYHAN AL-BIRUNI’S STUDY OF OTHER RELIGIONS: A CASE ON HINDUISM

Studying other religions is a legacy left by medieval Muslim scholars. As a Muslim scholar, al-Biruni’s Kitab al-Hind was a unique contribution to the study of Hinduism. This study explores al-Biruni’s approaches to studying Hinduism, culture, and civilisation by reviewing related manuscripts and literature. Al-Biruni studied the Hindu scripture in its original language. He investigated Hindu theology and philosophy, their caste system in the society, law and ethics, rituals, and festivals. In Kitab al-Hind, an entire chapter was dedicated to Hindu scriptures which included Veda and Puranas. Concerning religious beliefs and divinity, there were various perceptions between the educated and uneducated people. Murti puja was a form of worship to express love and devotion towards God. However, the educated classes considered that idols were no more than intermediaries, and the idol-worshippers were being deluded from the actual worship of God. The Hindu caste system was established upon religious foundations where every caste used to have their mode of living and daily routine. Furthermore, Hindu rules, guidelines, and religious laws were developed by divine sages called Rishis, who provided laws of murder and theft, punishment of adultery, treatment for prisoners, and inheritance law. Al-Biruni took an objective, in-depth, scientific and authentic approach in presenting Hinduism, which made his work accepted by both Muslim and nonMuslim religious scholars. It is hoped that this paper would offer new perspectives to Muslim scholars on studying other religions, which may consequently enhance religious harmony in a multireligious society. Keywords: Al-Biruni, Hinduism, religion, comparative religion, Muslim scholar. Cite as: Al Masud, A., & Abdullah, M. F. (2021). Abu Rayhan Al-Biruni’s study of other religions: A case on Hinduism. Journal of Nusantara Studies, 6(2), 116-132. http://dx.doi.org/10.24200/jonus.vol6iss2pp116-132

The Meaning of al-Hurriyyah in QS. al-Baqarah [2]: 256 and QS. al-Kahfi [18]: 29: A Maqâṣid Approach of Ibn ‘Asyur

Ibn ‘Asyur is a modern Muslim scholar, he is also a commentator and expert on jurisprudence. His well-known works of interpretation and fiqh suggestions are Tafsir al-Tahrir wa al-Tanwir and Maqâṣid al-Syari’ah al-Islamiyyah. Furthermore, this article explores the meaning of “alhurriyyah” in the context of the maqâṣid al-syari’ah from the perspective of Ibn ‘Asyur. The object in this discussion is his interpretation work entitled Tafsir al-Tahrir wa al-Tanwir, which focuses on analysis in QS. 2: 256 and QS. 18: 29. This research is motivated by the new maqâṣid al-syari’ah concept which was initiated by Ibn ‘Asyur since the vacuum of the maqâṣid concept which was previously brought by al-Syathibi. This concept of Ibn ‘Asyur is universally oriented. One of the terms in the maqâṣid al-syari’ah is “al-hurriyyah.” This research was conducted to answer questions about how the concept of maqâṣid al-syari’ah Ibn ‘Asyur is implemented in the QS. 2: 256 and QS. 18: 26. The method used in this research is descriptive analytical. After conducting theresearchit can be concluded that in the two letters that have been analyzed, the meaning of “al-hurriyyah” which is meant by Ibn ‘Asyur is a freedom to choose the religion that is believed and there is no compulsion in choosing it. Ibn ‘Asyur explained that a Muslim is allowed to help fellow humans in the social aspect and not in the aspect of religion, belief or creed