Celebrating Victory from the Sea of Reeds to the Eschatological Battle Field: Miriam’s Timbrels and Dances in Exodus 15 and Beyond

In 4Q285 frg. 7 the eschatological Branch of David defeats the Kittim (the Roman army) and puts to death the king of the Kittim (the Roman emperor). After this victory the women of Israel beat timbrels and dance, even as Miriam and the women did (Exod 15) after the destruction of the Egyptian army in the Sea of Reeds. It is proposed that Miriam’s action reflected a custom, perhaps even inaugurated it, that is witnessed in the song of Deborah (Judges 5) and in the song of Judith (Judith 16). It is further proposed that the figure of Miriam loomed large in Israel’s sacred story—inside and outside the literature that became canon—and that her custom of timbrel, song, and dance will be observed one more time in the aftermath of the anticipated great eschatological battle.

HIKAYAT NABI MIKRAJ: SEBUAH ANALISIS INTERTEKSTUAL

The purpose of this study was to determine the intertextuality relationship of the text of the Story of the Prophet Mikraj with the Sahih Bukhori Hadith about isra mikraj. The spiritual story of isra mikraj is a very sacred story for Muslims. Even today many writings still discuss the sacred event from various perspectives. Similarly, the ancients have perpetuated the story in a variety of writings, including in the form of story prose. Of course, the writing is sourced from the story of isra mikraj contained in muthatith hadith texts, such as Sahih Bukhari, Sahih Muslim, Sunan at Tirmidzi, and so forth. One ancient text that was successfully preserved was the Hikayat Nabi Mikraj. This manuscript contains a text about the events of the Prophet Muhammad SAW. Thus, it can be assumed that the existence of the text of the Hikayat Nabi Mikraj cannot be separated from the previous texts, namely the text contained in the muthatith Hadith.

UTOPIA KHILĀFAH ISLĀMIYYAH: Studi Tafsir Politik Mohammed Arkoun

<p class="Iabstrak"><strong>Abstract:</strong> <em>This paper aims to study Muhammed Arkoun’s political interpretation thought about the ideal state. He shows that each political contestation often uses religion as a legitimation of political interest. Many of discourses in Qur’an, such as old narratives of Qur’an </em>(<em>amtsal al-Qur’an</em>)<em>, is often presented to modify the existing political conditions. Moreover, some of the terms of Quranic discourse, like as ‘Muslim’ or ‘Kafir’ </em>(<em>infidel</em>)<em>, is always in a binary position to create sharp differences between the militant and the opposition. The Qur'anic discourses, intentionally or not, since the time of revealing of the Qur’an has been dragged into the political territory as well the theological territory, so it is able to change the profane history into the sacred story with the great power of sacralization. Although the Qur’an is within the dialectic area, some of Islamist always reduces the meaning of Qur’an to support their agenda in realizing the Islamic State </em>(<em>Khilafah Islamiyah</em>)<em>. For Arkoun, that desire is a utopian politics idea and nothing more than an interpretation of religious texts. There is no agreement among the people about the ideal state concept. Therefore, Arkoun offers the concept of ideal state is if religious authorities and political authorities apply their function professionally yet integrated.</em></p><strong>Abstrak:</strong> Tulisan ini menggagas pemikiran tafsir politik Muhammed Arkoun tentang negara ideal. M. Arkoun menggambarkan bahwa dalam setiap kontestasi politik sering menyeret agama sebagai legitimasi pemangku kepentingan. Wacana-wacana dalam al-Qur’an seperti teladan-teladan kuno (<em>amthāl</em> <em>al-Qur’an</em>) sering dihadirkan untuk memodifikasi kondisi politik yang ada. Selain itu, beberapa istilah dalam wacana al-Qur’an, seperti ‘Muslim’ dan ‘kafir’, diposisikan biner untuk menciptakan perbedaan tajam antara kelompok militan dan oposan. Wacana-wacana qur’ani tersebut, dengan sengaja atau tidak, sejak masa turunnya ayat telah diseret masuk ke dalam wilayah politik sekaligus wilayah teologis, sehingga mampu mengubah sejarah yang profan menjadi kisah sakral dengan kekuasaan sakralisasi yang besar. Meskipun al-Qur’an berada dalam ruang dialektis yang bebas, oleh sebagian kelompok Islamis pemaknaan al-Qur’an direduksi dan dibawa untuk mendukung agenda mewujudkan <em>Islamic State </em>(negara Islam). Bagi Arkoun, keinginan tersebut merupakan gagasan politik yang utopis dan tak lebih dari sebuah interpretasi atas teks agama. Tidak ada kesepakatan di kalangan umat mengenai konsep negara ideal. Karena itu, Arkoun menawarkan konsep negara ideal adalah jika otoritas keagamaan dan otoritas politik berlaku sesuai dengan fungsinya namun tetap terintegrasi.

The Aesthetics of Healing in the Sacredness of the African American Female’s Bible: Zora Neale Hurston’s Moses, Man of the Mountain

Zora Neale Hurston’s Moses, Man of the Mountain (1939) stands in the tradition of African American use of the biblical musings that aims to relativize and yet uphold a new version of the sacred story under the gaze of a black woman that manipulates and admonishes the characters of the gospel to offer a feminist side of the Bible. The novel discloses Hurston’s mastering of the aesthetics that black folklore infused to the African American cultural experience and her accommodation to bring to the fore the needed voice of black women. Rejecting the role of religion as a reductive mode of social protest, the novel extends its jeremiadic ethos and evolves into a black feminist manifesto in which a world without women equates disruption and instability. Hurston showcases the importance of an inclusive and ethic sacred femininity to reclaim a new type of womanhood both socially and aesthetically. Three decades before the post-colonial era, Hurston’s bold representation of the sacred femininity recasts the jeremiad tradition to pin down notions of humanitarianism, social justice and the recognition of politics of art. All in all, in an era of a manly social protest literature Hurston opts for portraying the folkloric aesthetics of spirituality as creative agency simply to acknowledge the leadership of the sacred femininity that black women could remodel into art.