Muslim Merit-making in Thailand's Far-South

Joll, Christopher M.

doi:10.1007/978-94-007-2485-3

Cited by 15 publications

(11 citation statements)

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“…There is a small body of ethnographic work or commentary focusing on religious attitudes or behavior of Muslims in the area. These works suggest that collective identity formation among these Muslim communities is characterized by a general trend toward more orthodox Islam, as opposed to localized versions, though clearly the local or syncretic influences persist (Joll, 2011). This conservative identity formation reflects the influence of modern reformist Islam in the area, local ethno-nationalism and an expression of cultural resistance to the Thai state and society (Marddent, 2007a).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Religiosity and Social Problems among Muslim Adolescents in Southern Thailand

Sateemae¹,

Abdel-Monem

Sateemae³

2015

Journal of Muslim Mental Health

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Substantial commentary has been written about the historical context of the Malay-Muslim minority in the deep south of Thailand. Much of the recent scholarship on the Malay-Muslim minority of Thailand has focused on the ongoing ethnic insurgency in southern Thailand, the region's troubled history of annexation, and its relevance to Thailand's political landscape. However, there is little empirical research on the Malay-Muslim population itself, although it is assumed that expressions of their religious identity are a fundamental aspect of collective identity formation. In an effort to fill this gap, this study explored perceptions of religiosity and risk behavior among Muslim adolescents affiliated with a private Islamic school in the province of Yala, Thailand. The study examined perceptions of this group's religious behavior and relationships to perceived social problems of concern to the community, and found that increased religious adherence mediated engagement in risk behaviors. We also found that girls were perceived to be more likely to engage in religiously adherent behavior, and less likely to engage in socially problematic behavior, than boys. This study and its findings are relevant to deepening empirical knowledge about Malay-Muslim adolescents in southern Thailand. It may also have implications for community leaders and policy makers interested in improving wellbeing among Muslim adolescents in the area.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Religiosity and Social Problems among Muslim Adolescents in Southern Thailand

Sateemae¹,

Abdel-Monem

Sateemae³

2015

Journal of Muslim Mental Health

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“…Amongst these the search for salvation is the most important: the generation of merit (pahala; thawāb in Arabic) and sustenance (rezeki; rizk in Arabic) through the performance of compulsory and recommended acts of piety is of central importance in achieving redemption. It is tacit knowledge both in Indonesia and elsewhere in the Muslim world that the undertaking of obligatory forms of worship such as praying five times a day and fasting during Ramadan, as well as the performance of supererogatory devotion such as the frequent recitation of the Quran and recommended prayers, not only accrue salvific credits (pahala) necessary in the Hereafter, but also open up the gates of sustenance (rezeki), improving conditions in this life (Schielke 2009;Joll 2012;Mittermaier 2013). The multiplication effect ordinary acts of piety involve is very much taken-for-granted: people in Java frequently discuss the correct manner, precise details, and most opportune timing for fasting, praying, and alms-giving, with Ramadan held as of exceptionally efficacious in proliferating rewards, as is the case with the voluntary nighttime and early morning prayers.…”

Section: Ex-ante Causalitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Multiplication through division: Value, time, and prosperity in Indonesia

Retsikas

2018

HAU: Journal of Ethnographic Theory

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The paper explores contemporary practices of value multiplication amongst Muslims in Indonesia, paying particular attention to the rise to public prominence of 'the mathematics of alms giving'. 'The mathematics of alms giving' provides the faithful with a systematic method of achieving prosperity both in this world and the afterlife through encouraging them to divide their property up, spread it around and share it with others. Such practices are held to have the miraculous effect of ensuring the parted property's eventual return in multiplied form. Much of this effect is mediated by a literalist understanding of the Quran and the rendering of alms as an investment carrying the promise of divine increase.

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“…The relative neglect of exploring value transfers in their own right is, however, beginning to be addressed (Joll, 2012). A new generation of scholars is keen to view charitable donations as central rather than incidental to academic concerns regarding the ways in which the religious articulates with the economic, and explore the manner in which poverty as an ongoing political concern is intimately connected to practices of giving.…”

Section: Charity Religion Subjectivitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…(Parry, 1986: 467)When situated within salvific contexts, the value of value transfers changes radically: it no longer derives from the service they perform to the political economy but rests on the contributions they make to the likelihood of securing salvation. For making gifts, giving alms and transferring value in general, adherents of all major world religions are rewarded in the salvific currency of merit, known as bun in Thai (Buddhism, from puñña in Pali) and pahala in Malay (Islam, sawāb in Arabic) (Joll, 2012: 192–194). This alternative currency allows for the conversion of monetary wealth generated and accumulated through market transactions into posthumous well-being.…”

Section: Salvation Credit Uncertaintymentioning

confidence: 99%

Value transfers in South East Asia

Retsikas

2017

South East Asia Research

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The special volume sets out to explore the complexities arising from contemporary intersections of religion and the economy as the later apply to public projects of transferring value to the poor for the purpose of alleviating their suffering, and improving their condition. It provides evidence of the new significance that religious interventions in the field of poverty alleviation are assuming in that part of the world in the era of neoliberal reform, with its case studies drawing upon ethnographic materials from Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand in the north, to Malaysia and Indonesia in the south.

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Muslim Merit-making in Thailand's Far-South

Cited by 15 publications

References 0 publications

Religiosity and Social Problems among Muslim Adolescents in Southern Thailand

Religiosity and Social Problems among Muslim Adolescents in Southern Thailand

Multiplication through division: Value, time, and prosperity in Indonesia

Value transfers in South East Asia

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