Bulletin of Indonesian Islamic Studies

Internalizing Islamic Values in a Multicultural Context: A Case Study of Identity Preservation among Indonesian Migrant Children in Malaysia

2026-08-10T08:36:24+07:00

Islamic Religious Education plays a crucial role in preserving the religious identity of Indonesian migrant children who grow up in multicultural environments with limited access to formal education. This study aims to detail the process of internalizing Islamic values to shape the Muslim identity of Indonesian migrant children at the Sungai Mulia 5 Gombak Learning Center (Sanggar Bimbingan) in Malaysia. Grounded in a constructivist perspective, this research emphasizes the subjective experiences and social interactions of migrant children as they navigate the internalization of Islamic educational values within a multicultural context. Utilizing a qualitative approach and a case study method, data were collected through semi-structured interviews with teachers, students, and learning center managers, alongside participatory observations. The findings reveal that the internalization of Islamic values is achieved through the integration of formal curricula and non-formal activities, such as daily worship practices and character-building exercises. This process unfolds through three systematic stages: value transformation, value transaction, and value trans-internalization, which collectively promote discipline, honesty, and responsibility among students. This research underscores the significance of non-formal educational institutions as vital havens for moral guidance and identity preservation for marginalized children living abroad. The results offer practical insights for similar educational providers seeking to enhance faith-based character development amidst the complexities of cultural diversity.

Unequal Learning Access and Distributed Intergenerational Learning in the Islamic Atib Ko Ambai Tradition

2026-10-03T05:09:30+07:00

Atib Ko Ambai brings communal remembrance of God, customary knowledge, and intergenerational learning into the religious life of a Malay Muslim community in Riau, Indonesia. Its continuity raises a question that participation alone cannot answer: who can access the relationships through which ritual knowledge becomes meaningful. This focused ethnography examines how Kubu Babussalam organizes access to learning. Six field visits between February and July 2026 combined observation, documentation, and interviews with ten purposively selected participants, including four young people with contrasting involvement. Triangulation of sources and methods, reflexive documentation, and examination of divergent evidence supported iterative coding, cross-participant comparison, and theoretical interpretation. A Community of Practice informed the analysis of participation and access, while Freirean dialogical education highlighted opportunities for questioning and interpretation. Knowledge circulated among customary and religious leaders, elders, and families, yet the four youth cases encountered different combinations of invitations, responsibilities, and explanations. Limited involvement could coexist with willingness to learn. The study develops distributed intergenerational learning as a case-specific analytical construct connecting the distribution of pedagogical functions with learners’ access to them. Experiential-imitative and dialogical-intentional transmission describe complementary analytical mechanisms, with evidence for the latter comprising both explanatory encounters and participants’ requests for further dialogue. Domestic conversation and digital documentation appeared as supporting pathways. The findings suggest that sustaining this Islamic tradition involves making its religious and cultural meanings accessible alongside maintaining its performance.

The Epistemological Foundations of Nahdlatul Ulama: Religious Authority, Scholarly Tradition, and Muslim Unity

2026-10-09T08:23:31+07:00

Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), the largest Islamic organization in Indonesia, plays a significant role in establishing and preserving Sunni religious authority through the framework of Ahl al-Sunnah wa al-Jamā‘ah, which integrates the Qur’an, the Sunnah, ijmā‘, and the scholarly tradition of Muslim jurists and theologians. This study analyzes Ahl al-Sunnah wa al-Jamā‘ah's epistemological framework in Nahdlatul Ulama as the foundation for constructing religious authority, transmitting Islamic knowledge, and preserving Muslim unity. Employing a qualitative approach based on library research, the study finds that NU’s religious framework is founded upon several fundamental principles: (1) adherence to the collective path of the believers (al-jamā‘ah), namely following a religious methodology grounded in the consensus of the mainstream Muslim scholarly tradition while maintaining a balance between scriptural texts, reason, and social realities; (2) the preservation of communal cohesion (ijtimā‘) through a strong commitment to Muslim unity and a highly cautious approach to takfīr (excommunication) of fellow Muslims; (3) adherence to the teachings of the Prophet, the Companions, the Tābiʿīn, and subsequent generations of scholars, recognizing their epistemic role in transmitting the Qur’an, hadith, tafsīr, and fiqh through an unbroken chain of scholarly transmission (sanad); and (4) the understanding of jihād as an ethical and methodological instrument for safeguarding the integrity of faith, promoting the public good (maṣlaḥah), and preserving Muslim unity, rather than as a justification for terrorism or indiscriminate violence.