MS3218 The Religious Life of the Malays Farhana Binte Mokhtar U082317U Term Assignment: Identify one major

transformation faced by the Malays in the realm of their religious life and the new challenges such transformation have created. Discuss and analyze this in the light of the ideas, concepts and theories derived from the assigned readings and other new sources that you have encountered.

In many ways, the lives of individuals and groups of people have drastically changed in these times of modernisation and globalisation. These twin processes have re-shaped and influenced the way in which Malays practice and understand their religion predominantly Islam. These transformations are results, whether intended or not, of globalisation where there is increasing connectivity, integration and interdependence in all spheres of the human life. Castells (2000) had put it that modernisation and globalisation have created a network society in which uncontrolled and confusing changes happen, hence compelling people to regroup around primary identities; religious, ethnic, territorial as well as national. To most modern individuals, there is the need to cope with the confusing, swift changes of these twin processes by reverting to their religion as a form of cultural ballast. However, even as people revert to their religion for support, the inevitable transformations that occur in their secular life are as unavoidable as in the means in which they perform in the religious sphere. As of most transformations, the Malays like any other groups, have to face challenges in the realm of their religious life. For the purpose of this discussion, one major transformation the Malays faced is precisely due to the emergence of the network society through the existence of the new media virtual and printed (although considered as conventional media, new forms have emerged in this respect). With new media, the way in which religious knowledge is being conveyed and gained has taken a whole new structure. This will be elaborated further and the challenges that came with this transformation will be highlighted from the point of views of the followers (the seekers of knowledge) and theulama (religious teachers). Historically, Islam was spread top-down; revelations that came from the Creator to Jibrail and finally to the chosen Messenger, Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). That legacy in spreading the religion 1

itself has since been adopted by many Muslim communities all over the world that there is a teacher and a disciple, denoting a vertical hierarchical structure as pedagogy of the Islamic religious knowledge. This is usually based on oral transmission and memory, which were later on translated onto writings and compiled as the Quran and Hadith, so that the teachings can be easily remembered and performed routinely. Therefore, religious knowledge in the traditional pedagogy requires an apprenticeship, discipline and order (Turner 2007: 62) for it is required [for] scribes and scholars to interpret the Word (ibid) and repeatedly forward the religious knowledge to newer generations. For the traditional Malay community specifically, this order of pedagogy had first existed in the form of simple Quran recitation sessions in the home, which later on translated into the formation of small, formal religious boarding-institutions called pondok or pesantren. The curriculum and syllabus of each pondok and pesantren are very much within the control of the management and hence designed according to the Islamic orientations and interpretations of the ulama of that school with their bases on specific selected texts. Contrastingly, the new media has caused the emergence of an unprecedented method of spreading the religion and its teachings. Whilst the traditional method had its boundaries spatially and physically defined, the new media has multiplied the chances of dissolving barriers of space and distance (Eickelman and Anderson 2003: 3) that does not presuppose a hierarchical relationship between master and discipline (Turner 2007: 62). This is especially so for virtual new media; internet and the World Wide Web. In tuned with the traits of the consumer society that focuses on individualism, information on the internet is readily available and accessible to the increasingly affluent people of the modern world. A plethora of information and literature on Islam is merely a click away, and in courtesy of this immediate and efficient trait of the internet, it makes it more convenient and less time consuming for the busy modern man to gain religious knowledge online. This can also be done through online discussion forums, social networking sites and so on, allowing for followers to be easily connected with other people of similar interests and backgrounds from all over the world. One instance is the Singapore-based Facebook group named Daily Reminders where young Muslims

discuss, advice and put up reminders on the Muslim conduct. It currently has over 2000 members since two months it was first started. On top of that, they can even connect with renowned religious personalities that they have not met before and seek advice and opinions on religious matters on a real-time basis through blogs. An epitome of an online active religious scholar is Dr. Mohd Asri Zainul Abidin, the former Mufti Kerajaan Negeri Perlis. On his professional blog, Minda Tajdid, he provides a personalised touch to the dissemination of religious information and knowledge, creating a virtually intimate rapport with his followers. They are given the avenue to post comments and share their personal views on the topics he discusses as well. As such, all members of the network society are put on parallels, suggesting that the new media provides a more horizontal structure and directly allows for a more democratic attitude in the learning and teaching of Islam, unlike that of the spirit of the traditional method (ibid). Unlike the specified religious and limited texts available in the religious schools, the religious texts that are available on the internet are far more varied, providing more options for the followers, simultaneously exposing them to varied interpretations and opinions on Islam from across the globe. Furthermore, most of the resources that are available online can be obtained for free, compared to the lessons offered by religious institutions that have to be paid for. These traits of the new media therefore lead to consumers to choose it over the traditional religious pedagogy in order to meet the needs of the increasingly personal and subjective religiosity in a globalised world. Despite so, it cannot be said that the traditional religious pedagogy is on the decline for the Malays in the Muslim Arc. While it is conducive to say that the religious information on the internet is inarguably provided by those that are well-learned in the religion, their origins cannot be ascertained for in the virtual world, there is space for expressive individualism the individual is free to express and display his preferred understandings and interpretations of Islam, whether or not they are authentic or accurate. As a result, the numbers of self-proclaimed religious authority and individuals, whose credentials in religious scholarship are hard to ascertain, are proliferating. Here is where we can analyse how the transformation of the religious pedagogy has resulted in challenges in the lives of the Malay laymen in searching for religious knowledge. 3

With the availability of endless and countless information, it is easier for one to be confused and get trapped in falsehood of information. Therefore, with such confusion going on in the virtual world, there is definitely an increase in emphasis on faith and authenticity. Turner (2007) rightly argued so but he fails to see how there is a strong link between authenticity and scholarship. For the Malays, these two aspects generally come hand in hand. There is still high reverence for the religious authority whether or not they are government-recognised, as long as their credentials can be accounted for. The traditional religious authority is still held in high regard by the Malay masses for the ulama are deemed to have deeper and better formal knowledge of the sacred and profane, that has its roots in the Prophetic legacy, compared to the laymen. To the masses, authenticity and religious scholarship are important in their search for religious knowledge as these provide security and help to avoid confusion. As such, the expressive individualism and popular activisms in ijtihad as Turner (2007) had mentioned, are ironically confined to those who consider themselves highly intellectual, educated in tertiary institutions (secular and religious) and confident in their religious knowledge albeit the fact that everyone is modernising and globalised. The personal religiosity can only be said to exist insofar as the person finds the interpretation suitable and convenient to the needs and conditions of his lived experiences. In terms of theology, the Malays in general, are cautious to exercise individual ijtihad. Therefore, religious institutions are likely to remain relevant. As opposed to the traits of postDurkheim society, where new media marginalises the importance of master and disciple relations, I would argue that the new media paradoxically catalyses the need for these hierarchical structure that the Malay community craves for the security and authenticity in knowledge and that there is appreciation of scholarship in meritocratic societies. It can be said that the inclination towards searching for religious knowledge online is the first inspiring step to gaining a deeper knowledge of Islam later on in a religious institution. This attitude of limited expressive individualism of the Malays can also mostly be justified by the bureaucratisation of religious leadership that have been put in place and become especially prominent post-9/11 and the apprehension of the members of the Jemaah Islamiyah. In Singapore, there is the Asatizah Recognition Scheme (ARS) in order to curb the permeation of online radical Islamic 4

teachings that can easily influence young Muslims. This is spearheaded by the official Islamic body in Singapore, the Majlis Ugama Islam Singapura (MUIS) with aims to enhance the standing of [the] religious teachers (asatizah) and to serve as a reliable source of reference for the Singapore Muslim community (MUIS, 2010). The availability of information on the internet whose origins cannot be accounted for, have thus become challenges for the ulama in general, be it those from the traditional generation or the newer generation. For this part of the discussion on the ulama, I find it necessary to categorise the ulama into 3 groups; not to necessarily imply that they are distinct and separate, rather to highlight their heterogeneity. They are (1) the traditionally-trained ulama in the traditional religious institutions, (2) the newer generation of traditionally-trained ulama and (3) the self-trained, independent ulama. They all play active roles in interpreting the Quran and Hadith and for some, provide the information online and in other media forms. In the globalised consumer market, the different religious authority groups are forced to compete with each other for a greater followership base. The inability of the ulama to gain a larger audience would most probably be due to the lack of dexterity and knowledge to take advantage of the new media. Since there is higher preference for Islamic knowledge on the World Wide Web, most of the ulama tend to be challenged in the manner in which they are to disseminate knowledge effectively; from the hierarchical, face-to-face method to making the materials electronic yet understandable and not inadequate in essence. In conveying knowledge and messages, the effectiveness of the pedagogy of religious knowledge would depend highly on the language medium. In traditional Malay societies, the mastery of the Malay and Arabic languages was conceived in some sense as the vehicle of the sacred (Turner 2007: 58). Those who were masters in both languages were considered to be of high intellect and possessing political and symbolic power. Raja Ali Haji, a 19th century Malay writer of Bugis descendent, was a master in both languages. This was apparent in his writings, such as Gurindam XII and Syair Hukum Nikah which incorporated Islamic teachings into Malay creative literature; these teachings include the righteous conduct of Muslim children towards parents as well as law of Muslim marriage, with explicit reference to Allah and Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). Similarly, in the 5

world of globalisation, as many groups try to reassert and polarise their identities in the process of globalisation in reverse (Friedman 2006: 480) via the new media online, the main practical communicative language should be a universal one, primarily English. Therefore, in order to capture an instant international audience (Turner 2007: 58), the ulama will have to be proficient in the languages that cater to the needs of the followers. This is precisely what that could be lacking in the ulama of (1). As they were trained and educated in the traditional religious institutions of the older generations, the language mediums that they were exposed to were mainly Malay and Arabic. The Islamic terms and jargons of the tenets were largely described in these languages and the lack of exposure of these similar texts and the low literacy in the English language has cost the traditional Malay ulama their position in the new media. Although they are still needed by religious institutions, there is a tendency for them to lose out on opportunities to preach in institutions that are increasingly giving in to the use of the English language as a teaching medium. As such, these ulama tend to depart from the boundaries of their institutions to go on air in television and radio broadcasts as a means of overcoming that challenge. For example, Hang FM of the Batam Centre acts as the main Islamic radio broadcast for the Muslim community which allows for traditional ulama to share their knowledge with the listeners. The challenge of the transformation in the pedagogy of Islamic knowledge is slightly different for the ulama of (2). Again, to highlight the heterogeneity of the ulama, this group can be further subdivided into: a) those that have undergone religious education throughout his/her life and b) those that made the switch from secular education (usually in national schools) to religious education at the tertiary level. Being taught in the traditional religious institutions in the newer, modernised generations, they are fairly exposed to the English language and the mechanisms of new media. For the ones that were in the national schools prior to their religious education pursuit, however, the level of exposure and literacy in English language is considerably higher. Nonetheless, despite having the dexterities to leverage on new media, which is the internet per se, there is still this vivid break between how they were taught in the religious institutions and the structure that exists in the new media. The challenge comes in when they will have to merge the two as effectively as possible; that 6

they have to keep the meaning and essence of the knowledge in tact despite the change in language. As some of these become impossible to achieve, the three languages (English, Malay and Arabic) are sometimes used in printed media. These can be seen in the footnotes of the infamous Indonesian novel, Ayat-ayat Cinta published in 2004. The writer, Habiburrahman El-Shirazy, is a postgraduate scholar from Al-Azhar University in Cairo. The novel also mirrors (I assume) the body language that has been used in their known traditional face-to-face pedagogy, manifested in the description of characters in the novel. Therefore, the transformation of the ways in which Islam is being taught has forced these ulama to rethink their traditional methods to overcome their limitations in using new media. For the ulama of (3) who mainly achieved technical degrees in secular universities, there is an important affinity between their scientific backgrounds and their neo-fundamentalist interpretations of Islam (Turner 2007: 66). They hence face the challenge of credibility; the challenge of a possible lack of ability to translate Arabic and Islamic terms perfectly into English. As such, the ways in which the Islamic principles and their interpretations of Islam are expressed are seen as dubious by the general Malay population even though these expressions might contain reasoned argument in a context where everybody can, in principle, check the resources for themselves (ibid). Again, with the lack of confidence in personal ijtihad and the need for assurance, the writings and teachings of these self-taught ulama might be labelled as unauthentic or un-Islamic by both followers and the traditional ulama although, yes, there have been cases of the spread of radical Islam and Islamic cults that are generally not accepted and recognised by Muslims all over the world, such as the demolished Sky Kingdom in Terengganu, led by Ariffin Mohamed (Ayah Pin). In relation to the points above, it is obvious that with the new media, the Malays are bombarded with the problem of authority; who is right and accurate and who is to decide on who is authentic? With the availability of the various interpretations online, there is worry among the

traditional religious authority that the expressive individualism and individualised religiosity can lead to misguided ijtihad, opening doors for possible terrorism and apostasy. The
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religious authority is hence forced to compete for followership in order to reach out to as many people as possible in their efforts to spread their Islam that they each claim to be authentic and pure, resulting in a never-ceasing confusion for the consumers of new media.

REFERENCES Castells, M. The Rise of The Network Society (The Information Age: Economy, Society and Culture) Second Ed., (Blackwell Publishers, 2000) Eickelman, D.F., and Anderson, J.W., Redefining Muslim Publics in New Media in the Muslim World: The Emerging Public Sphere Second Ed., (Indiana University Press, 2003) pp. 1-18 Friedman, T.L., The World Is Flat, The Globalised World in the Twenty-First Century Updated and Expanded, (Penguin Books, 2006) 8

Turner, B.S., The Crisis of Religious Authority in Anthoney Reid and Michael Gilsenan (eds.), Islamic Legitimacy in A Plural Asia, (London: Routledge, 2007), pp. 53-70 Asatizah Recognition Scheme by MUIS. MUIS: Islamic Education, 29 Sept 2010. URL: http://www.muis.gov.sg/cms/services/Islamic.aspx?id=506 (accessed on 15 Apr 2011)