In a novel approach to the field of Islamic politics, this provocative new study compares the evolution of Islamic populism in Indonesia, the country with the largest Muslim population in the world, to the Middle East. Utilising approaches from historical sociology and political economy, Vedi R. Hadiz argues that competing strands of Islamic politics can be understood as the product of contemporary struggles over power, material resources and the result of conflict across a variety of social and historical contexts. Drawing from detailed case studies across the Middle East and Southeast Asia, the book engages with broader theoretical questions about political change in the context of socio-economic transformations and presents an innovative, comparative framework to shed new light on the diverse trajectories of Islamic politics in the modern world.

Islamic Populism in Indonesia and the Middle East

China's recent education reforms are a result of selective policy borrowing from ‘the West’. Although comparativists have highlighted the importance of cultural context in policy borrowing in China, what remains relatively under-explored is the epistemological basis for cultural views that mediate policy transfer. This article argues that the dominant cultural factors (‘cultural scripts’) for teaching in China – students' respect for the teacher, student attention and discipline in class, and the importance of practice – find their genesis and justification in a Confucian worldview. Focussing on a Chinese classic text, Xueji (Record of Learning), this article elucidates the ancient Chinese views on the nature and transmission of knowledge and explains why the ‘teacher-dominated’ pedagogy is believed by many Chinese educators to be indispensable for ‘good’ teaching. An appreciation of the epistemological foundation of culture, it is argued, is salutary in enhancing our understanding of policy divergence ac...

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Education policy borrowing and cultural scripts for teaching in China

An Islamic school that subscribes to an educative tradition is essentially one that sees compatibility between the inculcation of religious values and the acquisition of ‘modern’ knowledge and dispositions. This article argues that most Islamic schools in Indonesia reside in an educative tradition as evident in three main ways. First, most Islamic schools in Indonesia are keen to obtain knowledge from both religious subjects and modern ‘secular’ subjects. Secondly, an increasing number of Islamic schools have incorporated student-centred pedagogies so that their students do not simply learn by rote or memorisation. Thirdly, many Islamic schools provide a variety of student activities to develop the students’ life skills and leadership abilities so as to encourage their students to internalise and put into practice the principles and values they have learnt. Notwithstanding its promotion of an educative tradition, many Islamic schools in Indonesia face a perennial challenge in infusing Islamic principles and values into the teaching of modern ‘secular’ subjects.

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Educative tradition and Islamic schools in Indonesia

Learning from Shanghai

Three questions command even greater attention today, as over forty countries, including many Muslim-majority states, unite against Daesh (the so-called ‘Islamic State’): How do Muslims relate to the Muslim ‘other’? How do Muslims relate to the religious ‘other’? What role can Muslim religious education play in fostering peace? Islam and Muslim education are suspected of promoting intolerance

This thesis investigates a group of Shia Ismaili Muslim trainee-teachers’ attitudes to plurality in their religious education programme The Secondary Teacher Education Programme (STEP) is a two-year postgraduate course of the Ismaili Muslim community to train religious
education teachers STEP, a novel development in Muslim education, experiments with an innovative pedagogical approach to plurality The research spanning over three years involved in-depth interviews, focus group, observations and textual analysis 21 trainee-teachers from 13 different countries participated in the study Alan Race’s (1983) typology ‘inclusivismexclusivism- pluralism’ serves as a key theoretical lens through which to examine attitudes to religious others

The thesis argues that a ‘rooted religious pluralisation’ is taking place in the Ismaili community facilitating the emergence of the ‘tradition’ of pluralism in the community The study shows that initially, the participants were inclusive of other religious communities and worldviews on ‘theological’, ‘humanistic’ and ‘instrumental’ grounds, but were selective about how they embraced it Many of them believed that their religious perspective exceptionally equipped them over their religious ‘other’ Gradually, STEP’s ‘civilizational, normative and humanistic’ approach cultivated an ‘academically informed pluralism’ in most trainee-teachers It strengthened their Ismaili Muslim identity on the one hand and generated an appreciation for diversity on the other The individuals developed not only greater socio-cultural and historical awareness of religion, but also their ability to make a space for faith academically It cultivated in the participants a degree of ‘inter-tradition competence’ and ‘intra-Islam competence’ The individuals were not ‘pluralist angels’, but they discursively participated in pluralism

The present study makes three key contributions Firstly, this is the first study to propose the thesis of ‘rooted religious pluralisation’ It identifies the key features and tendencies inherent in a religious community’s engagement with diversity through a five-dimensional
working framework Moreover, as a study of the socio-cultural process of ‘intra-faith pluralisation’ in Muslim religious education setting, it is unique It is about making sense of the everyday experiences of the Muslims who encounter diversity within their own faith The thesis identifies various stages involved in the process of developing intra-faith competence and provides tools and vocabulary to discuss them meaningfully Moreover, the study suggests the possibility of a Muslim education that can play a vital role in combating extremism and
sectarianism

Current scholarship does not sufficiently take account of new and thought-provoking pedagogical developments in Muslim education There is a dearth of studies on Muslim faith communities’ efforts to build ‘intra-Islam competency’ in their followers through faith-based
education The literature is also silent about how Ismaili Muslims handle differences among themselves regarding matters of faith, how they view differences within Islam and relate to wider religious plurality Thus, the study contributes to a niche in the existing literature on religious pluralism

Religious pluralism in Ismaili Muslim religious education: from difference to diversity

Preface. Introduction. 1. Struggling for Control: Indoctrination and Jihad 2. (De)constructing an Indoctrinatory Tradition 3. Indoctrination in Formal Education: The Case of Pondok Pesantren Islam Al Mukmin 4. Indoctrination in Non-formal and Informal Education: The Case of Jemaah Islamiyah 5. Weaving a Different Net: An Educative Tradition 6. Islamic Schools in Indonesia: Islam with a Smiling Face? 7. Whither Religious Pluralism, Strong Rationality, and Strong Autonomy? 8. Beyond Indoctrination: Towards Educative Muslim Traditions. Conclusion. Notes. Bibliography. Index.

Charlene Tan

Papers

Islamic Education and Indoctrination: The Case in Indonesia. Routledge Research in Education.