Defending the Majesty of Islam: Indonesia’s Front Pembela Islam (1998–2003)
Jajang Jahroni

ISBN 978-974-9511-11-4
2007. 145x210mm, 84pp, 200g,
Baht 250

Indonesia’s 1998 reformation movement spawned numerous organizations aimed at either establishing an Islamic state or applying Islamic law. The present monograph focuses on one such movement, Front Pembela Islam (FPI), a paramilitary group devoted to the Islamic ideal of “commanding righteousness and preventing corruption.”

The study presents the biography of Habib Muhammad Rizieq Syihab, one of FPI’s  founding fathers and its current head. After discussing the group’s creation and paramilitary activities, it examines FPI’s ideology with particular reference to Islamic law in Indonesia.

Finally, it analyzes FPI’s organizational bases, recruitment practices, and training methods, including the use of religious teachings to justify the deliberate destruction of entertainment venues where gambling, prostitution, and drinking occur—activities which are seen as corrupting according to Islamic teaching.

Jajang Jahroni received an MA in Islamic Studies from Leiden University in 1999 and is currently a lecturer at the Faculty of Literature and Humanities at Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University in Jakarta. He also works as a researcher at the Center for the Study of Islam and Society in Jakarta. His current interests include issues of Islamic fundamentalism, democracy, civil society, and the mainstreaming of religious education.