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Islam and Scholarship in Indonesia
Indonesia is the biggest country in the world whose major population is Muslim, about more than 190 millions. This number will bring about significant effects on dynamics of "Muslim countries". Hence, Fazlurrahman, a most prominent Muslim scholar, predicted that the crescent of Islamic renaissances would emerge from Indonesia. Rahman's prediction seems quite reasonable for his short visit to Indonesia showed him remarkable phenomena of Muslim societies. He was impressed by the fast growing number of Islamic higher education institutions. Especially significant was the development of Islamic higher education in the last two decades. In relation to this, the number of Muslim scholars grew rapidly. Recently, more than six hundreds (doctors and professors) have specialization in Islam. They spread out in more than 20, mostly, state Islamic universities and 35 Islamic colleges.
Method
The Guide (bibliographies) has been compiled from various information found especially in published materials, Ph.D. thesis abstracts, and by directly contacting many persons who were to be inserted into the compilation. In attempting to collect the necessary data, several sources proved beneficial. One of the first documents mainly used was the Ph.D. Thesis Abstracts issued by the Post Graduate Studies of the State Islamic University of Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta, Indonesia. The Abstracts were prepared by the individual Ph.D. students who intended defending their thesis. The Abstract contains, partly, the summary of the thesis, and the curriculum vitae of the students, including their recent publications. Second was the questionnaire which was directly filled by individual scholars or provided by the institution where the scholars permanently worked. Third are published materials, that are, mainly books and academic journals.
This Guide is meant as an effort to give more access to the research and studies conducted in the field. It is for this reason that the Team invites corrections and comments on the information contained herein. Insofar possible, the data are updated by the most current information. All potential input on this Guide, including responses to updating data, is greatly appreciated.
The Team of this projects initially has compiled 306 Muslim scholars. The characters the scholars are, first, working permanently in state Islamic higher educations, second, the accessible information on them was limited to the last fifteen years, third, based on the Goethe request, only 74 scholars are reported here, fourth, only books and academic journal (publications) are mentioned. Due to the shortage of the data, some information about the scholars should be completed and updated. For this purpose, the individual scholars will be subsequently contacted to complete and update the data.
Some results
Their specializations (disciplines) differ widely, including Law, Education, Sociology, Anthropology, Politics, Communication, History, Philosophy, and the field of Islamic Studies (Theology, Law, Literature, Arabic Language, Education, Psychology, Islamic Mission/Da'wah, Philosophy, Sufism-mysticism, Ethics, Hadith and Qur'anic Studies). Differentiated according to the various academic specialization, it appears that some 64 persons hold degrees in the faculty of Islamic Studies - Law (21 persons), Education (8 persons), Qur'anic Studies (7 persons) Islamic Thoughts (6 persons), History (5 persons), Theology (4 persons), Sufism-Ethics (3 persons), Psychology (2 persons), Hadith (2 persons), Politics (1 person), Sociology (1 person), Literature (1 person), Arabic Language (1 person), Islamic Mission/Da'wah (1 person), and Philosophy (1 person). The rests of scholars hold a variety of non-Islamic studies degrees (secular sciences) that is, Education (3 person), Law (1 person), Anthropology (1 person), Sociology (1 person), Philosophy (1 person), Communication (1 person), History (1 person), and Politics (1 person).
The topical interests of the persons listed here differ greatly. Though they mainly conducted "library researches" (normative studies), the growing number of research based on the social sciences went up significantly. Even those whose previous research basically focused on normative issues have turned, at least partially, to empirical studies. This trend seems related to the growing number of Muslim scholars who hold degrees in social sciences during the 1990s. However, it is crucial to note that more than 95 % of Muslim scholars mentioned in the Guide hold, at least, one degree on Islamic studies, either BA, MA or Dr.
Their research covers various historical periods, from classical to comtemporary Islam. Their regional specialization mainly focused on Indonesia and South East Asia. A small number of the scholars specialized on Middle East, other Asian countries, and USA. The majority of scholars have published, mainly in Indonesian language, and in academic journals, though at a national level. Some of the academic journals have been accredited. A considerable number have published articles in international journals which were predominantly published in Indonesia. Those who published their publications in international levels were mostly educated overseas, either in English or Arabic speaking countries.
(Masykuri Abdillah, Noryamin Aini, Hakim Jamil)
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