Preserving and Transmitting the Teaching of the Thariqah ‘Alawiyyah: Diasporic Ba ‘Alawi Female Preachers in Contemporary Indonesia
Wednesday Forum – 14 Oct 2020
Within the academic discussion on Indonesian Hadhrami diaspora, women’s voices are generally silent and have often escaped scholarly attention. This presentation focuses on the changing roles of three contemporary Indonesian Ba ‘Alawi (the children of ‘Alawi, referring to the descendants of the Prophet Muhammad) female preachers, in Jakarta, Surabaya and Solo, in their da’wa (preaching) of the teachings of Thariqah ‘Alawiyyah (a Sufi path established by Muhammad bin ‘Ali ‘Alawi, d. 1255). While some scholars have problematized the sustained Hadhrami diasporic identity in their host countries, my grounded observations show that these Indonesian Ba ‘Alawi females have, to a great extent, been successful in preserving and transmitting the teachings of the thariqah amidst the marginality of Muslim women’s voices in the field.
Fatimah Husein is an Associate Professor at the State Islamic University “Sunan Kalijaga” Yogyakarta, and is the Associate Director of the Indonesian Consortium for Religious Studies. Her teaching and research interests include Inter-religious Dialogue, Philosophy of Religion, and Islam and Social Media. Her recent publications include “The Revival of Riya’: Displaying Muslim Piety Online in Indonesia,” American Ethnologist (2017) and “Online Piety and Its Discontent: Revisiting Islamic Anxieties on Indonesian Social Media” (together with Martin Slama), Indonesia and the Malay World (2018).
Look at the full poster of this event here.
