Semar Makes the Hajj. Shadow Puppet Theatre and Islam in Indonesia

Cohen, M.I.

Indonesia, with a population of more than 200 million, of which perhaps 80 percent is Muslim, is frequently portrayed in popular presses as 'the world's largest Islamic nation.' Typically, this statement is then immediately qualified. But, portrayals often continue, 'the' Islam practised by Indonesians is different than that practised in the countries of the Middle and Near East. It is more tempered or syncretic, less dogmatic, doctrinal, or fundamentalist. If proof of this more 'relaxed' attitude to the strict observance of Islam is offered, more often than not it is not through what Indonesian scholars of Islamic law have written (which tends to be rather conservative) nor by attendance figures at Friday mosque services or the number of women who are wearing jilbab head covers (both of which are escalating at remarkable rates). Rather, commentators characteristically turn to the continuing popularity of pre-Islamic cultural forms in contemporary Indonesia Ð Java's celebrated...Show moreIndonesia, with a population of more than 200 million, of which perhaps 80 percent is Muslim, is frequently portrayed in popular presses as 'the world's largest Islamic nation.' Typically, this statement is then immediately qualified. But, portrayals often continue, 'the' Islam practised by Indonesians is different than that practised in the countries of the Middle and Near East. It is more tempered or syncretic, less dogmatic, doctrinal, or fundamentalist. If proof of this more 'relaxed' attitude to the strict observance of Islam is offered, more often than not it is not through what Indonesian scholars of Islamic law have written (which tends to be rather conservative) nor by attendance figures at Friday mosque services or the number of women who are wearing jilbab head covers (both of which are escalating at remarkable rates). Rather, commentators characteristically turn to the continuing popularity of pre-Islamic cultural forms in contemporary Indonesia Ð Java's celebrated shadow puppet theatre or wayang, with its stories based on the characters and situations of the Indic epics of the Mahabharata and Ramayana, above all.Show less

Leiden University Scholarly Publications

View statistics

Documents

In Collections

Semar Makes the Hajj. Shadow Puppet Theatre and Islam in Indonesia