Consumption and Piety: Raising the Curtain on the Islamization of Taste and Fashion in Kendari's Muslim Middle Class

Abstract

The social phenomenon that was born from the expression of piety of the Muslim middle class in Southeast Sulawesi is no longer only concerned with Ansich’s faith. This is interesting to explore because it involes specific actors and capital (industry), and furthermore it also involves a religious dimension in which the Muslim community struggles with a space that continues to experience globalization and economic contestation in the midst of becoming devout Muslims. In this paper, Bayat’s post- Islamic approach was used to portray the atmosphere of the trend of Islamization of tastes and fashion of the Muslim middle class in Kendari City.The results of this research found that the relationship between consumption and piety in the Muslim midle class community in Southeast Sulawesi has occurred in the space of Islamization through three popular Islamic da’wah institutions: Wahdah Islam, Muaz bin Jabal and and the congregation of the recitation of Abdullah Taslim. The resulting segmentation can be seen in the Muslim middle class in the city of Kendari who like to use Islamic symbols in fashion and halal food. They are scattered in government institutions, bahtera mas hospital, and other government offices, as well as public campuses in the region. The resulting impact can be seen in the development of sharia-labeled industries and stalls related to fashion and halal food. The owner of the sharia industry in Kendari City is related ideologically and fiqh with the three groups of da’wah. This indicates that the trend of Islamization of Muslim societies does not only concern politics and the state. There is a preference for the soft (non-political) Islamic path where the satisfaction of Islamization is achieved through the inclusion of a sharia identity in daily life.
 Keywords: piety, Islamization, taste and fashion