Faith and the State: A History of Islamic Philanthropy in Indonesia

Abstract

Amelia Fauzia (2013). Faith and the State: A History of Islamic in Indonesia. Leiden, Netherlands: Brill. ISBN: 9789004233973. i-xxxi + 346 pages.Amelia Fauzia's thorough analysis of Islamic philanthropic practices in Indonesia from the early decades of Islam in the archipelago to today is more than a timely review of a tradition that both perpetuates and influences state-civil society relations. Given their historical continuity, cultural tenacity, and social, political, and economic relevance, these practices - also referred to as zakat (almsgiving), sedekah (donation, giving), and waqf (religious endowment) - play a vital role in Indonesian society today.As a lecturer of Islamic History and Civilization at the Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University in Jakarta and holding a PhD in Indonesian history and Islamic studies from the University of Melbourne, Amelia has been working on the topic of Islamic philanthropy since 2002, when she engaged with a global research project on Philanthropy for Social Justice in Muslim Societies. This project brought together researchers from six different countries under her leadership, supported by a team of experts at the Center for the Study of Religion and Culture (CSRC) in Jakarta (in- cluding Chaider S. Bamualim and Irfan Abubakar, with whom she co-edited Filantropi Islam dan Keadilan Sosial [Islamic philanthropy and social justice] in 2006). Following several publications on the above-mentioned topics as well as on Islamization, Islam- ic identity, and civil society, Faith and the State is the subsequent publication of her PhD thesis - extensive review and detailed analysis of the practices of zakat, se- dekah, and waqf in Indonesia and their role in shaping the between the state and Muslim civil society. Her central argument is that Islamic philanthropic ac- tivities, including the establishment of educational institutions, the provision of com- munity services, or the financial support of community development projects, repre- sent element of a strong civil society and grow in the face of a weak state (p. 7). Amelia maintains this idea throughout her book without ignoring the complexity of the specific historical, socio-political, and cultural contexts.Faith and the State deals exclusively with Islamic philanthropic practices in Indone- sia and their development from the early centuries of Islamization to the more recent events of the post-New Order regime. It looks at the social and cultural consolidation of different forms of giving against the background of Islam and at various processes of reformation, (re)organization, and legislation of these practices. Islamic philan- thropy is presented as a dynamic and a highly contested space between the private and the public realm, between faith and the state (p. 6). Both a part of civil society (following Kathleen D. McCarthy, author of the American Creed: and the Rise of Civil Society) and an indicator of the state-civil society relationship (p. 9), philanthropy renders a neat separation between the private and public as well as between the state and society hard to achieve. Avoiding structural and conceptual di- chotomizations, Amelia indicates how, regardless of the role played by Muslim elites, religious authorities, or the state, Islamic philanthropy will never be fully formalized or regulated, mainly because of its authentic origin in the altruistic and reciprocal nature of people (p. xvii) and in the collective awareness and concern for the wel- fare of others (p. 1). And, although Islamic philanthropic activities are every so often used as a tool to communicate advanced ideas of social justice and to promote social change, the majority of philanthropic practices remain mostly traditional and self- contained, performed by Muslims motivated mainly by their faith.The book is chronologically structured around three major periods in the history of Indonesia. …