Religiosity and Participation in Islamic Organization among Indonesian Muslim in Sydney and Canberra

Abstract

Indonesian Islam has its own unique characteristics as it is inseparable from local traditions and has been connected to the role of Indonesian Islamic organizations such as Nahdlatul Ulama and Muhammadiyah. This study observes the religiosity among Indonesian Muslims in Australia, especially in Sydney and Canberra in 2018. By conducting an online survey with 108 respondents, the study found that beside mandatory religiosity, Indonesian Muslims still very often perform nahdliyin-related religious activities such as celebrating halal bi halal, performing selamatan, requesting dua from ustadz, performing tahlilan and commemorating maulid an-Nabi. However, they prefer to pray teraweh with 11 rakaats and only very few respondents chose often and very often for teraweh with 23 rakaats. While most respondents felt being part of Nahdlatul Ulama, very few of them were an active member and a board member in Nahdlatul Ulama or Muhammadiyah. This is very interesting given the current rise of Islamism among Indonesian Muslims in Indonesia and overseas, as well as efforts made by some Indonesian Islamic organizations to spread moderate Islam throughout Western countries.

Voluntary Diaspora and Missionary Purposes: Mapping Indonesian Muslim Diaspora in Western Countries

“…Ashabul Kahfi, one of the Indonesian Muslim diaspora communities in Sydney, for example, was founded under this missionary agenda and its leading Islamic teachers have become permanent residents there (Nasir 2019). This phenomenon of the missionary is also one of the key findings of the recent works of Toyibah et al (2020) and Toyibah et al (2017) who underline that there is a strong relationship between diaspora and the Islamic missionary.…”

Indonesian Muslim in the Netherlands: Responding to Nationalism, Islamism, Democracy, and Pluralism

“…For example, for a particular night prayer performed during Ramadhan, i.e., shalat teraweh, people associated as traditionalists tend to choose 23 raka'at while modernists tend to choose 11 raka'at. This difference is due to the result of the interpretation of the Sunnah (habits of the Prophet Muhammad) (Toyibah, 2022) .…”