Islamic renewal is having a considerable impact on politics and society in Indonesia. This article discusses the way in which Islamic movements shape the nature and interpretation of citizenship by focusing on Wahdah Islamiyah, a Salafi organisation with over 120 branches nationwide. By examining how Wahdah Islamiyah promotes an idea of citizenship amongst followers and the community, it seeks to show how Islamic and national identities can overlap. Wahdah Islamiyah does not see Indonesian nationalism as anathema to adherence to strict Islamic faith; instead they have been actively synthesising Islamic identity with national pride, often using the 'secular' terminology of state, citizenship and security to do so. Yet, Wahdah Islamiyah's interpretation of citizenship differentiates between Muslim and non-Muslim Indonesians. They inevitably aim to foreground the position of Sunni Muslims by calling on the state and civil society to regulate public spaces to free them from non-Muslim elements. So citizenship is an identity, our identity, we are Indonesian citizens. Since we are born, grew up and will die in Indonesia, Indonesia is our homeland … so therefore, we have an obligation to improve the citizens that are here-Founding member of Wahdah Islamiyah, 4 July 2016 Islamic activism within Indonesia is increasingly influencing how segments of the Muslims community come to understand notions of citizenship and identify themselves as Indonesian citizens. Foregrounding the importance of their faith, Muslims have sought to influence the public sphere through religious commodities (Lukens-Bull 2008), or increased philanthropy and acts of social welfare (Latief 2013). More controversially though, the country has simultaneously witnessed ever-more vocal campaigns by religious conservatives who seek-often successfully-to create alliances with political institutions in order to influence political debate and regulate public norms. Such acts, frequently done on grounds of 'religious morality' , have negatively influenced the quality and depth of citizenship amongst the country's religious minorities or anyone deemed of 'immoral' character. Taking account of

Over the past 30 years, the translocal Salafi movement has expanded rapidly across Indonesia. Propagating a strict ‘literal’ interpretation of Islam, Salafis place strong emphasis on separating themselves from un-Islamic (non-Salafi) society. However, the daily implementation of such rigid boundaries remains rife with tension, depending less on Islamic scripture and more upon how adherents interpret it in a given time and place. A reflexive approach to ethnography provides a unique tool to examine and make visible these anxieties, placing the ethnographer at a vantage point to observe the communal interactions through which religious ethics are given meaning. By reflecting upon my study of the al-Hasanah mosque in Yogyakarta, I describe the ways my informants and I negotiated each other’s presence and how this illuminated the struggles to create a Salafi selfhood and modern religious ethic.

Indonesia has witnessed the emergence of a market of Islamic goods, services and media platforms that have catalysed a qualitative shift in the ways individuals come to express their religious convictions. Salafi Islam is no exception to this transformation, and this article provides a case study of contemporary Salafi propagation amongst Yogyakarta’s students and graduates. Through description and analysis of campus based religious lectures, websites, magazines and fashion outlets linked to the al-Atsary Islamic Education Foundation, this article explores the intricacies of campus affiliated da’wa. Linked to a ‘literalist’ interpretation of Islam reliant on scholars in Saudi Arabia, Salafism is frequently denounced as foreign to Indonesian norms. Yet, while activists do indeed promote a rigid adherence to Islamic tenets, they also align Islamic values to concerns with a modern Muslim identity. By framing Salafism as sensitive to ideas of professional employment, while juxtaposing it against images of a less well-educated rural Islam, they have thus have created a unique strand of urban Salafi propagation.

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This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 Unported (cc-by-nc 3.0) License. Kees van Dijk and Nico J.G. Kaptein (eds.)