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Diversity and Unity in Contemporary Societyby Michael G. Peletz Ethnic and Religious Diversity In contrast to their up-country brethren, people living in lowland areas, where the vast majority of Southeast Asians reside, tend to adhere to one or another of the World Religions (also known as Universal or Great Religions) such as Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Confucianism, or Christianity. In most instances, however, their beliefs and practices incorporate animist and/or other traditions as well and are, thus, examples of syncretic religions (religions that incorporate beliefs and practices from two or more distinct traditions). The doctrines of World Religions are more formal, more systematic, more abstract, and “better able to travel” in the sense that, unlike their animistic counterparts, they are not tied to particular locales. Some of the World Religions, such as Christianity and Islam, are monotheistic (premised on a belief in a single God); others, like Hinduism, are often described as polytheistic (or pantheistic) because believers orient themselves toward more than one deity (or different deities that are held to be manifestations of a single supreme being or force). Other World Religions, like Buddhism, deny the idea of god altogether. For example, Buddha, who was born in India in the sixth century BCE and proceeded to found the religion that spread hroughout mainland Southeast Asia, and beyond, insisted that he was not divine and rejected the notion that deities or supernatural spirits of any sort exist. Despite orthodox views on these matters, most
Buddhists in Southeast Asia believe in the existence of
spirits (known as pi in Thai, and as nat in Burmese) and
do in fact make periodic offerings—of flowers, fruit,
eggs, tobacco, etc.—to them in order to help insure their
assistance and good will. Most Muslims in Southeast
Asia also believe in spirits (known by the Arabic-origin
word jinn, which is the source of the English-language
term “genie”), though at present they are less inclined
than Buddhists to seek out their assistance through offerings
or sacrifices. Despite Southeast Asia’s rich ethnic and cultural diversity,
there are shared values throughout the region.
Many of these shared values inform family life, marriage,
and divorce. Southeast Asians generally take it for granted that everyone wants to get married and have children, and that everyone will eventually do so. (This expectation does not pertain to the small minority in Buddhist countries who join monasteries or nunneries, undertake life-long vows of celibacy, and thus forego marriage altogether.) One of the questions commonly put to a stranger in their late teens or early twenties is, “Are you already married?” (emphasis added). If one has never been married, the only acceptable answer is “not yet” (a simple “no” will not do), which acknowledges the legitimacy of the expectation as well as one’s intention to marry. In order to be considered a full (social) adult, one must not only marry but also have (or adopt) children. In former times, most marriages were arranged by parents or other relatives—or matchmakers—and in many cases husbands and wives had never interacted socially or even seen each other prior to their weddings. Part of the reason for this is that, especially in Islamic areas, standards of propriety discourage unrelated males and females from interacting with one another after the age of eight to ten or so. Arranged marriages are less common at present but many youth still feel that choosing an appropriate spouse is a responsibility that is too important to be left up to the individual. For reasons such as these, they welcome the input and assistance of others. Most parents regard the weddings of their children (particularly their daughters) as among the greatest joys in life. Wedding ceremonies and accompanying festivities are usually the occasion for large public celebrations. Many people (family members, as well as friends and neighbors) are invited to these celebrations and large numbers of guests are typically fed in the context of lavish feasts. Islamic law permits men to have up to four wives simultaneously as long as they can deal justly with each wife and provide each of them with adequate material support. Partly because it is very difficult to meet these latter conditions, the vast majority of Muslim men in Southeast Asia and elsewhere have only one wife at any given time. In these and various other respects (such as the basic expectations informing the roles of husbands and wives), Muslim and Christian experiences of the institution of marriage are quite similar. Divorce is generally seen as unfortunate and is
frowned upon, especially if there are children involved;
it is also regarded by Muslims as sinful in the eyes of
God (Allah). At the same time, most people recognize
that some marriages do not turn out as expected and
that it may be better for all concerned if a couple seeks a
divorce. Islamic law allows men and women alike to obtain
a divorce but provides men with far more prerogatives
in terminating a marriage. A man need only recite
a standardized divorce formula (“I divorce you, I divorce
you, I divorce you”) to effect a legally binding, irrevocable
divorce. Options such as these are not available to
women. However, if a woman has not received financial
support from her husband for more than four (in some
areas, six) months, or has been seriously mistreated by
her husband (or if her husband turns out to be impotent
or insane), she may petition the court for a divorce. Most
cases brought to Islamic courts in Indonesia, Malaysia,
Singapore, and elsewhere concern civil matters bearing Islamic Law Concerning Gender and the Body,
Food, and Fashion For the most part, the differences among the major maddhab in Sunni Islam are relatively minor. In some cases, moreover, elements of law from one tradition have been incorporated into one or more of the others, further reducing their distinctiveness. Some such “melding” occurred during the colonial era, when European colonial authorities and Southeast Asian legal specialists sought to resolve certain legal dilemmas by effecting solutions that involved borrowing from a legal tradition in another colonial jurisdiction (such as Pakistan or India). A more general point to note is that even in Southeast Asia’s Muslim-majority countries (Indonesia, Malaysia, and Brunei), the legal systems are overwhelmingly secular, an enduring legacy of the colonial era. It is also important to bear in mind that Islamic law, which generally pertains only to Muslims, tends to be confined to a very limited range of Muslims’ lives and is for the most part restricted to personal status law (including matters of marriage and divorce, sexuality, etc.). Many of the guidelines of Shafi’i law and the other
major schools of Islamic law were fixed in legal text by
the tenth century. But this does not mean that present-day
Islamic judges (kadi) and others who interpret or
administer the law are bound by centuries-old legal
conventions or interpretations. In the first place, kadis are enjoined by Islam to render evaluations and judgments
based on reasoning by analogy (kias), consensus
with fellow legal specialists (ijma), and/or “local custom”
(adat). They are, moreover, equipped with various
pamphlets and booklets published by the state that
provide compilations of relevant enactments and other
guidance. Most important, though, Islamic judges have
broad powers of discretion, which they use to help ensure
that the cases before them are dealt with in ways
that are in keeping with their notions of “justice,” “equity,”
and “due process” (Indo-Malay keadilan). These
notions (like ours) are cultural, as are their (and our)
understandings of “fact” and “truth.” Among the more
controversial issues in many parts of the Muslim world
today are laws and other formal standards bearing on
gender, especially female attire and comportment, and interactions including marriage) between Muslims and
non-Muslims. There is much debate, for example, concerning
standards of modesty pertaining to girls and
women, and whether Islam mandates that females cover
their hair and faces in public. According to many readings
of the Qur’an and other relevant sources, women
are enjoined to dress and behave modestly (as are men)
but are not required to cover their hair or faces in public
settings. That said, in recent decades the wearing of
headscarves and other headgear (but not complete veiling
of the face) has become commonplace throughout
Muslim Southeast Asia, especially in urban areas, which
have seen a revival or resurgence of Islam and the adoption
of various standards common in the Middle East. Recent advances in medical and other scientific
technologies have raised a host of legal and ethical questions
for Islamic theologians and jurists, as have new
networks of communication and more encompassing
processes of globalization. Some such questions concern
the appropriateness for Muslims of contraception
and other forms of birth control, blood transfusions, One way to approach diversity in Southeast Asian
Islam is to examine the major variants (or visions) of
Islam in the region in relation to the main institutions,
organizations, and groups that help support and reproduce
them. The major “carriers” of Islam in Malaysia—to focus for the moment on the country that has sustained
a pace of economic development that is probably Religious landscapes in certain other areas of Muslim Southeast Asia are even more complex. In Indonesia, for example, the range and prominence of national religious organizations (such as Nahdlatul Ulama and Muhammadiyah) is far more extensive. So too is the tradition of religious boarding schools (pesantren), many of which promote regionally variable and otherwise distinctive visions of Islam. Contemporary political organizations and movements (some seeking partial autonomy or complete independence for outlying regions, as is the case in the southern Philippines) are also far more varied than Malaysia’s. Feminist groups in Java and other areas of Indonesia, for their part, are highly diverse as well and much more variegated than in Malaysia. Indonesia’s national motto, “unity in diversity,” is nonetheless relevant here, as it is in Malaysia and elsewhere in Southeast Asia. More generally, there are important commonalities among Muslims throughout Southeast Asia that derive from their observance of common rituals, their embodiment of broadly shared values, and their shared identity as Muslims living in an ethnically diverse and rapidly modernizing world.
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