Faith and the state: a history of Islamic philanthropy in Indonesia

Deposited with permission of the author. © 2008 Dr. Amelia FauziaZakat (almsgiving), sedekah (donation, giving) and waqf (religious endowment) are forms of philanthropy Muslims in Indonesia, as well as in other parts of the world practice. This thesis examines the historical development of Islamic philanthropy and questions how Islamic philanthropic activities have affected the relationship between faith and the state. It discusses a contestation between the state and Muslim civil society in managing Islamic philanthropy. The thesis shows that the history of Islamic philanthropy in Indonesia is one of rivalry between faith and the state: between efforts to involve the state in managing philanthropic activities and efforts to keep them under the control of Muslim civil society which uses Islamic philanthropy to empower itself and to promote social change. Activities and efforts to modernise Islamic philanthropic practices have mostly been supported by Reformist Muslims in their aim to Islamise society and by Islamists who aim to Islamise the state. The interrelation between Muslim civil society and the state in the history of Islamic philanthropy in Indonesia is dynamic. It demonstrates a contested balance between private faith and the public realm, or between Muslim civil society and the state. From the time of the Islamic monarchs, through the period of Dutch colonialism and up to contemporary Indonesia, there have been different levels of development and interest in Islamic philanthropy, either from the rulers or from Muslim civil society. Philanthropy is an indication of the strength of civil society. Throughout Islamic Indonesian history, there has been a balance between the efforts to either keep philanthropy under the control of Muslims or to institutionalise it under state control. When the state was weak, philanthropy developed powerfully and was used to challenge the state. When the state was strong and powerful, Muslim civil society tended to weaken but still found ways to use philanthropic practices in the public sphere to promote social change. In modern-day Indonesia this phenomenon is very much still the practice. While state imposition of philanthropic practices, in particular zakat, has been contested, philanthropy remains a firm basis of civility. The thesis argues that although political circumstances influence the development of Islamic philanthropy, the state‘s capacity to control it is sharply limited because Muslim philanthropic practice is generated by the altruistic and reciprocal nature of people. For the most part, Islamic philanthropy remains in the hands of Muslim civil society, irrespective of the political nature of the state