Humor is important among educators to refresh their mind from busy work, strengthen friendship and interpersonal relationship, create happiness, and to improve working performance and cooperation of both personal and professional matters. This study aims to examine the humor in the perspective of linguistics and psychology, especially the semantic aspect among colleagues of lecturers in Islamic universities of Indonesia. A qualitative-descriptive method was employed to analyze data which were collected through participants’ observation and in-depth interview. The results indicate that to create humor from a linguistic perspective, lecturers used polysemy and homonym aspects as part of the language game. Polysemy is only a word while homonym is a word, abbreviation, and acronym. The words that indicate polysemy is margacinta, hawa, and kopi, while the words that indicate homonyms in the form of words maroko, farj, and tabrakan. On the other hand, the abbreviation homonymy is found in the phrases of peraturan pemerintah and pembimbing akademik and the acronyms are found in words akper, jatol, jaka, marisa and jelita. This language game then creates a joyful atmosphere among lecturers which ultimately affects their interpersonal relationships. The proximity of interpersonal relations also has implications for better employment relations and increased productivity to do works assigned to them. Finally, this research confirms that language games such as polysemy and homonymy can also be used to create humor aimed not only to refresh mind but also to create happiness and improve work performance to increase productivity in universities.Keywords: Humor, happiness, relationship, lecturer, Islamic Higher Education.

Albeit the studies on Matan Jurumiyah Book have been extensively conducted, few studies have been focusing on the critical content of Kitab Matan Jurumiyah. To fill the gap, this research aims to examine why Matan Jurumiyah Book is not applicable for novice Arabic learners. To collect the data, observation and in-depth interviews were conducted. The results of the study show that the material of the Matan Jurumiyah is not relevant to be used for the novice learners due to (1) the conciseness and condensation of the book contents, (2) the lackness of Arabic basic knowledge, (3) the raising of new problems for novice learners because of the number of syarah or explanation over the Book of Matan Jurumiyah.  That empirical evidence was anchored to the internal and external factors. Internal factors are closely related to the dichotomy of syntax and morphology while external factors are related to the absence of consideration of the Indonesian context and are arranged in a deductive way. Therefore, this study recommends empirical, contextual, and policy implications for the readers.

While studies on contextual coitus verses interpretations have been explored by many scholars, there is a paucity of research addressing the theme holistically and spotlighting the aspects of moral ethics of its communication. To fill this lacuna, this study aims to analyse the communication ethics of coitus words in the Qur’an. Two main questions are discussed in this study. Firstly, what is the semantic meaning of coitus in the Qur’an? Secondly, why does the Qur’an employ certain terminologies to convey the topic of coitus? This study applies a case study design to analyse the word ‘coitus’ in the verses of the Qur’an holistically. The results show that the Qur’an utilises 12 keywords related to coitus for the purpose of fostering the communication ethics of the Arab community at the time of revelation. Moreover, this study found that the Qur’an uses those specific keywords to respond to the (1) sexual behaviour of pre-Islamic Arab community, (2) narration of eroticism in other scriptures (Kitab) and (3) gender inequality in sexuality. This study resolves that the words of ‘coitus’ in the Qur’an have implications for the emergence of Quranic communication ethics, which respects the aspects of comprehensiveness, politeness, analogy, aesthetics, intensity and gender equality. These six aspects form sexual communication ethics that are probed from a humanist perspective.Contribution: This article contends to unify the concept of theology and the principles of communication ethics. In particular, this study provides a theoretical contribution to the ethics of sexual communication that is sourced from the worldview of Qur’anic theology. Also, the methodology of this study can be a prototype of semantic analysis research that discusses certain topics and spot important keywords around that topic.

Albeit the research into Junaid Sulaeman as the most famous Islamic Cleric in South Sulawesi was extensively undertaken, little empirical research addressed his political biography. This research aimed to explore his political Hijrah from Islamic fundamentalism to Islamic moderate. This research adopted a biography study design. To collect data, a documentary analysis based on Junaid Sulaeman’s diary and in-depth interview were conducted. The data analysis was carried out thematically using Azra’s and Al-Jauhari’s concept of fundamental and moderate Islam. The research revealed three findings. First, Junaid Sulaeman’s political Hijrah was conducted from Darul Islam toward Golongan Karya party. Second, the factors that drove Junaid Sulaeman’s participation in the political movement included the changing of socio-political context, the breadth and depth of his religious knowledge, the need to get Allah's guidance, and the consideration of dawah. Third, the implications of Junaid Sulaeman's political movement were known from the expansion of his local and national network, as well as the development of socio-religious institutions in Bone. The research concluded that a good cooperation between the ulama and the government could provide more benefits and blessings to the community.