Negotiating Religiosity in a Secular Society: A Study of Indonesian Muslim Female Migrant Workers in Hong Kong

This study examined how Indonesian Muslim female migrant workers in Hong Kong, the majority of whom work in the domestic sector, negotiate their religiosity in a secular society. As a method of investigation, qualitative exploratory research was used. Observation and in-depth semi-structured interviews were used to collect data with eight Indonesian Muslim female workers in Hong Kong. The findings show that: 1) despite workplace restrictions, these workers adhered to their religious rites; 2) they utilized the most viable solutions to enable them to conduct their job obligations that were incompatible with their religion; 3) they established halaqas [religious study groups] in several mosques throughout Hong Kong and met regularly; and 4) the migrant workers gained strength from their faith, while the religious study groups greatly assisted them in overcoming and resolving life’s challenges. The researchers concluded that while it is critical for many workers to live according to their religion, many employers are unaware of their employees’ religion and religious values. There should be better dialogue and agreement on how workers and employers can negotiate their rights and obligations. In response to the study’s findings, several recommendations are made.

Saints of Resistance

Saints of Resistance is the first non-religious study focused on the dynamic life of saints and their devotees in the Spanish Philippines from the sixteenth through the early part of the eighteenth century. It offers an in-depth analysis of the origins and development of the beliefs and rituals surrounding some of the most popular saints in the Philippines during the period of early Spanish rule, namely, Santo Niño de Cebu, Our Lady of Caysasay, Our Lady of the Rosary La Naval, and Our Lady of Antipolo. This study recovers the voices of colonized Philippine subjects as well as those of Spaniards who, through veneration of miraculous saints, projected and relieved their grievances, anxieties, and histories of communal suffering. Based on critical readings of primary sources, it traces how individuals and their communities refashioned iconographic devotions to the Holy Child and to Mary by often introducing non-Catholic elements to their cults, derived from pre-Hispanic, animistic, or Chinese traditions. This book ultimately reveals how Philippine natives, Chinese migrants, and Spaniards reshaped the imported devotions as expressions of dissidence, resistance, and survival.

Implementasi Pengelolaan Sampah Rumah Tangga Melalui Pelatihan Pembuatan Pupuk Kompos Metode Takakura Pada Masyarakat Di Tangerang Selatan

Berdasarkan data dari Dinas Lingkungan Hidup Tangerang Selatan pada tahun 2018, Tangerang Selatan Tangerang selatan menghasilkan sampah hingga 1.000 ton per hari. Jumlah sampah tertinggi yaitu 43,39% sampah organik dari dapur rumah tangga. Kegiatan pengabdian masyarakat yang dilakukan oleh tim Kesehatan Masyarakat UIN Syarif Hidayatullah bertujuan untuk meningkatkan pengetahuan, keterampilan, kesadaran untuk menerapkan pengelolaan limbah rumah tangga dengan Pelatihan Pupuk Kompos Takakura di Tangerang Selatan. Kegiatan ini dilakukan kepada Majelis Ta’lim dan kader kesehatan RW 04 Lengkong Gudang. Hasil dari kegiatan ini menunjukkan 78,6% peserta pelatihan melakukan pengolahan sampah organik di rumah mereka dan 71,4% peserta pelatihan merekomendasikan metode Takakura kepada orang-orang di sekitar, 67,9% masyarakat yang berpartisipasi merespons positif pengelolaan limbah rumah tangga dengan metode Takakura. Kegiatan ini diharapkan mampu mendorong masyarakat untuk menerapkan pengelolaan sampah rumah tangga. Dengan demikian, ini akan mengurangi limbah rumah tangga dan risiko dampak lingkungan, sehingga secara tidak langsung juga akan meminimalkan dampak kesehatan.---Based on data from the South Tangerang Environment Office in 2018, South Tangerang produces up to 1.000 tons of waste per day. The highest amount of waste is 43.39% organic waste from household kitchens. Community service activities undertaken by the Public Health team of UIN Syarif Hidayatullah aimed to to increase the knowledge, skills, awareness to implement household waste management by Training Takakura Compost Fertilizer in South Tangerang. This activity was carried out for the religious study group and health cadres of RW 04 Lengkong Gudang. The results of this activity showed 78.6% of trainees doing organic waste processing in their homes and 71.4% of trainees recommending the Takakura method to people around, 67.9% participants responded positively to manage household waste by the Takakura method. It was expected to be able to encourage the community to implement household waste management. Thus, it will reduce household waste and the risk of environment effect , so it also will indidirectly minimize health effect.

Culinary in Petik Sari Tradition: Meanings and Values along Society Empowerment

Tradition is a local activity with mystical nuances, a religion that has been around for a long time and flows in people's lives. The purpose of this article is to explain a cultural community tradition with its culinary variety. Community empowerment (rewang) which is represented as a joint movement to build traditions and empower together. In this paper the author uses the socio-religious study method using a phenomenological approach and theoretical framework. This approach is relevant to this study because phenomenology can analyze it to an event that some people might consider normal. However, there are hundreds of meanings that can be expressed in each blade of the Nusantara’s culinary offerings. It is also embedded in the attitude of empowering women, mothers or the entire community so that they can share recipes and cook in a tradition. There is also an educational, spiritual value that will be embedded in every culinary dish of the Nusantara. The theory that I want to use is Auguste Comte’s theory of evolution and Acculturation from Koentowijoyo's point of view. Typical foods in traditions that hold meaning include Jenang, Tumpeng, Takir, and Ingkung Chicken meat. Community empowerment is the key to the preservation of Various traditional culinary delights with their economic, cultural, and historical aspects. Keywords: Tradition, Culinary, Empowered

Trade and Religious Conversion in the Malay World: Study on Islamization in the Inderapura Kingdom in the 17 th - 18 th Centuries AD

This study was derived from a paradegm developed by historians that the process of conversion to Islam in the Malay world was spread dominantly by the Sufis. As a result, historical reconstruction in this region has always been linked to the teachings, rituals and religious behavior of the Sufi. Based on available sources (manuscripts and archives), the role of traders was very significant in conversion to Islam in the Malay world. Through trade and religion, the countries in the Indian Ocean were interconnected. The religious conversion among traders grew faster as in the 17-18th century AD traders from various regions came to the West Coast of Sumatra to get spices. Most of these traders have embraced Islam. The Muslim traders carried the spirit of the Koran in their right hands and the commodities in the left hand. This spirit of spreading Islam was the driving force of the merchants to spread Islam in every place they visited. This research has implications for the community’s perspective on Islam in the Malay world because Islam that was brought by traders was progressive and flexible about the local culture. This study is a historical socio-religious study that is examined through three ap- proaches, namely historical approach, social approach, and religious approach. This study found that the religious conversion in the Malay world was succeeded mostly by the merchants. To facilitate the conversion, they married local women and negotiated with the authorized Sultan.

Paradoxes of Identity with ἄθεος and religio in Religious Studies Discussions of Modern Russia

From the perspective of philosophical religious study, religion and atheism are viewed as social phenomena and legacy periodically defined and redefined in lo­cal contexts. Historically and in modern spiritual culture, they are a collective set of heterogeneous forms ascending to the Greco-Roman cultural context of the terms “ἄθεος” and “religio”. Explicit and implicit characteristics of these cross-cultural and trans-historic symbolizations of normative images of true forces of being are analyzed as disconnected from various marginalities and de­viations constructed at different stages of global civilization development in lo­cal centers, including Russia. The lexeme “ἄθεος” is viewed in the spectrum of connotations from the tragic abandonment by gods to the heroic enthusiasm of the denial of false images of gods”. The lexeme “religio” is shown in the range of connotations from horror of ominous signs to the jubilant veneration of legiti­mate gods leading to harmony with the supreme forces of nature (Cicero). Insti­tutional and elementary phenomena of religious commitment and atheism are separated and defined in the light of distancing unfamiliar and familiar rather than by traditional division of faith and mind or sacred and profane (N. Luh­mann). Man has always created speculative realms (magic, myth, religion, phi­losophy, and science) where the unknown was symbolically presented as hope of communication with mysterious actors, experienced as joy and jubilation in the case of support, or as disappointment and weeping in the case of absence of such support.

Religiosity Among Criminals With Death Pinalty: A Study Of Nusakambangan Prison

This article discusses religiosity among criminals who pleaded guilty with death penalty at Lembaga Pemasyarakatan (Lapas) Permisan Nusakambangan. This focuses on two major issues; religiosity among the criminals and factors that contribute to the level of religiosity. The author carries out a field research by conducting interview and documentation. Subjects of the research are limited to three main categories; Muslim males in Indonesia, punished with capital punishment, and waiting for execution for more than ten years. The data obtained are analyzed using a theory of religiosity that is developed in religious study and psychology. The result of the study shows that the religiosity of the criminals who are punished with capital punishment are very good based on aspects of religiosity, such as; belief, Islamic law, and behavior of the criminals. Moreover, this religiosity is affected by internal and external factors. Internal factors relate to their confession of the past sins and the fear of death, while the external factors relate to the roles of their parents, children, and wife. Artikel ini membahas tentang religiusitas narapidana vonis hukuman mati di Lembaga Pemasyarakatan Permisan Nusakambangan. Terdapat dua pembahasan utama yang dikaji dalam artikel ini: kondisi religiusitas narapidana vonis hukuman mati yang saat ini mendekam di lapas Permisan dan faktor-faktor yang membentuk sikap religius mereka. Untuk mendapatkan data seputar dua pembahasan utama tersebut, penulis menggunakan jenis penelitian lapangan dengan metode wawancara dan dokumentasi. Subjek dalam pembahasan ini juga dibatasi pada tiga kategori, yaitu orang Indonesia yang beragama Islam, mendapatkan vonis hukuman mati, sedang dalam masa menunggu eksekusi mati lebih dari sepuluh tahun dan berjenis kelamin laki-laki. Pada tahap selanjutnya, informasi yang didapatkan pada subjek penelitian tersebut dianalisis menggunakan teori religiusitas yang terdiri dari tiga dimensi utama, yaitu akidah, syariah, dan akhlak. Berdasarkan beberapa data yang didapatkan, kondisi religiusitas narapidana vonis hukuman mati di lapas Permisan sangat baik, hal ini terlihat dari pelaksanaan tiga dimensi utama religiusitas itu sendiri. Pada sisi kedua, religiusitas narapidana dipengaruhi oleh faktor internal berupa kesadaran atas dosa masa lalu dan ketakutan akan kematian. Sedangkan motivasi eksternal didapatkan dari orang tua, anak dan istri.

MANAJEMEN DAKWAH PADA MAJLIS TAKLIM DAN PEMBERDAYAAN PEREMPUAN

The problem in this research is how dakwah management is applied to majelis taklim and how is the activity empowering women? This research is a field research with a qualitative descriptive approach. The object is majelis taklim Ar-Ridwan, Garut. The data collection technique is done by using interviews, questionnaires, observation and documentation study. The results show dakwah management implemented in the majelis taklim and its activities has empowered women. This can be seen from the implementation activities handled by the management of majelis taklim, where the benefit experienced by the members is as much as 75%, and their satisfaction level on religious study materials associated with women empowerment in health and economy sectors raises 62.5%. Keywords: Management; Dakwah; Empowerment.

Rainmakers for the Cosmopolitan Empire: A Historical and Religious Study of 18th Century Tibetan Rainmaking Rituals in the Qing Dynasty

Although Tibetan rainmaking rituals speak of important aspects of both history and religion, scholars thus far have paid only biased attention to the rituals and performative aspects rather than the abundant textual materials available. To address that issue, this article analyzes a single textual manual on Tibetan rainmaking rituals to learn the significance of rainmaking in late Imperial Chinese history. The article begins with a historical overview of the importance of Tibetan rainmaking activities for the polities of China proper and clearly demonstrates the potential for studying these ritual activities using textual analysis. Then it focuses on one Tibetan rainmaking manual from the 18th century and its author, Sumpa Khenpo, to illustrate that potential. In addition to the author’s autobiographical accounts of the prominence of weather rituals in the Inner Asian territory of Qing China, a detailed outline of Sumpa Khenpo’s rainmaking manual indicates that the developmental aspects of popular weather rituals closely agreed with the successful dissemination of Tibetan Buddhism in regions where Tibetan Buddhist clerics were active. As an indicator of late Imperial Chinese history, this function of Tibetan rainmaking rituals is a good barometer of the successful operation of a cosmopolitan empire, a facilitator of which was Tibetan Buddhism, in the 18th century during the High Qing era.