2. Consuming Islam: Commodified Religion and Aspirational Pietism in Contemporary Indonesia

Gender and Islam in Indonesian Cinema

“…In her study on Muslim performativity in Ayat-ayat Cinta, Paramaditha (2010) found that the director's re-writing, or as he describes it 'deconstruction', of the male protagonist Fahri in the film was meant to construct an imperfect Muslim man through his insecurity, innocence, and sense of doubt (Paramaditha, 2010: 82). A number of authors agree that the rise in Islamic media and youth consumer trends are also in dialogical relationship with the emergence of a more pious Muslim middle class since 1998 (Fealy, 2008;van Wichelen, 2010;Heryanto, 2011). …”

Citizenship and Democratization in Southeast Asia

“…In recent decades, new mosques have sprung up, syariah banking and Islamic entrepreneurship have expanded (Rudnyckyj 2010;Sloane 1999), Muslim televangelists like aa Gym and Arifin Ilham have acquired superstar status (Hoesterey 2015;Howell 2008), and urban Sufi groups have organized conspicuous, highly publicized, mass zikir (religious chanting) sessions. At the same time, expressions of religiously inspired popular culture (books, magazines, films, music, blogs, et cetera) have spread across the Muslim world (Fealy 2008a;Weintraub 2011). One of the most generally visible and conspicuous changes, however, is the widespread adoption of Muslim dress.…”

“…Such an argument is supported by the observation that the Islamic revival has been, in important measure, a generational shift. In countries like Indonesia and Malaysia, it has been particularly the younger generations of Muslims who have looked for new interpretations of their faith that go beyond the religious practices of their parents (Beatty 2009;Fealy 2008a;Nagata 1996; see Herrera and Bayat 2010 for a more comparative perspective).…”

The Meaning of Collective Identity Amongst Muslim Women: The Case of Persaudaraan Muslimah (Salimah) in Makassar

“…Some religious habits and collective identities are common view in a public sphere such as wearing hijab, stopping by at the mosque for taking pray, publishing of Islamic books, the establishing of Islamic banks and modern Islamic schools. Fealy called it as Islamic commodification that turning of Islamic faith and symbol into commodity capable of being bought and sold for profit, [7] whereas Hasan [8] describes it as the making of public Islam piety. In addition, the increasing number of majelis taklim (study group of Muslim women) is also a remarkable phenomenon of religious movements which have spread out in every regions of Indonesia.…”