Why 72 Percent of Indonesians Want Sharia

 

[Read this article in English on The Common Ground News.]
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[Baca artikel ini dalam Bahasa Indonesia di The Common Ground News.] 
[Read the reprint of this article on The Eurasia Review.] 
[Cited by and discussed at Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University.] 

by Jennie S. Bev

Santa Clara, California – A Pew Research Center’s report titled The World’s Muslims: Religion, Politics, and Society published last month caused a stir in Indonesian media as it concluded that 72 per cent of Muslim Indonesians, including women, prefer the implementation of sharia. The survey included 1,880 Indonesians in 19 provinces. 

So, what does the survey indicate? 

The fact that a high percentage of Indonesians welcomed the implementation of sharia should not be alarming, considering the semantic differences in the use of the term sharia among Indonesians. These Pew survey results should not be taken as a sign of Indonesian society’s approval for what is often stereotyped as a legal system that enforces harsh corporal punishment, a strict Islamic dress code and the public classification of non-Muslims.

Islam as a religion, a legal system, a culture and a lifestyle means many things to many people. One person’s definition of sharia is not identical to another’s, even amongst scholars and religious leaders. 

The term sharia is often associated with equality and social justice, as Amaney Jamal, special adviser for Pew Research from Princeton University clarifies. Words mean different things to different people. Sharia in Arabic means “path” or “way.” It is similar to tao in Chinese, which also means “path” or “way.” However, contemporary use of the term sharia has been associated with Islamic law, and to permission (halal) and prohibition (haram). Another meaning of sharia is related to social justice and fairness among those who have lost faith in the government and institutions. 

In short, the Pew Research report must be read with this caveat.