Literacy of Islamic Thought: Contestation, Claim of Truth, and Polemic of Religion in Islam in Gorontalo, Indonesia

Abstract

As many previous studies tend to discuss the biography of local Islamic figures and overly-textual interpretation in exploring the Hizb ut-Tahrir Indonesia and criticize the western concepts of democracy in Gorontalo, this study aims to explore the newly-found dynamics of contestation of local Islamic thought in Gorontalo Province. Conducting in Gorontalo, a northern province in Sulawesi Island inhabited mainly by Muslim communities, this study employs a qualitative approach with a descriptive method. In the present work, the discourse of Islamic thought in Gorontalo is found to develop into a massive and uncontrolled state, leading to polemics among the Muslim community in the area. The polemics among people, including in the social media, involve two groups that are ideologically and epistemologically different: the liberal Islamic groups, i.e., ANSOR and PMII, and the fundamental Islamic groups, i.e., Tablighi Jamaat and Wahdah Islamiyah. Issues of religion-culture debate, khilafiyah, religious pluralism, and prohibition of Christmas salutation are among the main highlights of the polemic, especially among Muslims in Gorontalo. The presence of fundamentalists represents the new phenomenon in the Islamic thought discourse in Gorontalo, which is known for its subjectivity in perceiving the absence of the basic principles or nash (Qur'an and hadith) of the fundamentalists. Consequently, a debate between the two groups, claiming which one has the absolute truth, is inevitable. This situation also ends up with fundamentalist extremism labelling others as infidels (takfiri) and deviant to Islamic teachings.