Shari'a and Social Engineering: The Implementation of Islamic Law in Contemporary Aceh, Indonesia

This book seeks to open new lines of discussion about how Islamic law is viewed as a potential tool for programs of social transformation in contemporary Muslim society. It does this through a critical examination of the workings of the state shari'a system as it was designed and implemented at the turn of the twenty-first century in Aceh, Indonesia. While the empirical details of these discussions are unique, this particular case presents a remarkable site for investigating the broader issue of the impact of instrumentalist, future-oriented visions of Islamic law on modern Muslim calls for the state implementation of Islamic law. In post-tsunami/post-conflict Aceh, the idea of shari'a as an exercise in social engineering was amplified through resonance with an increasingly pervasive rhetoric of 'total reconstruction'. Based upon extensive fieldwork as well as critical readings of a wide range of archival materials, official documents, and local publications this work focuses on the institutions and actors involved with this contemporary project for the state implementation of Islamic law. The individual chapters are structured to deal with the major components of this system to critically examine how these institutions have taken shape and how they work. It also shows how the overall system was informed not only by aspects of late twentieth-century da'wa discourses of Islamic reform, but also modern trends in sociological jurisprudence and the impact of global models of disaster relief, reconstruction, and development. All of these streams of influence have contributed significantly to shaping the ways in which the architects and agents of the state shari'a system have attempted to use Islamic legislation and legal institutions as tools to steer society in particular desired directions.

About the Author :
R. Michael Feener, Research Leader of the Religion and Globalization Cluster, Asia Research Institute, and Associate Professor, Department of History, National University of Singapore R. Michael Feener is Research Leader of the Religion and Globalization Research Cluster at the Asia Research Institute and Associate Professor of History at the National University of Singapore. He has also taught at Reed College, and the University of California, Riverside. He has been a visiting professor/ research fellow at Kyoto University, Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, the University of Copenhagen, The Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art, and the International Institute for Asian Studies. His books include Muslim Legal Thought in Modern Indonesia, From the Ground Up: Perspectives on Post-Tsunami and Post-Conflict Aceh (with Patrick Daly & Anthony Reid), Mapping the Acehnese Past (with Patrick Daly & Anthony Reid), Islamic Connections: Muslim Societies of South and Southeast Asia (with Terenjit Sevea), Islamic Law in Contemporary Indonesia: Ideas and Institutions (with Mark Cammack), and Islam in World Cultures: Comparative Perspectives.

Review :
"Shari'a and Social Engineering is a major accomplishment. Michael Feener has succeeded to combine an authoritative intellectual history with an unrivaled expertise and fascinating insight into the contemporary state Shari'a legal system in Aceh. There is no doubt that this book will become a standard reference in the study of Islamic law, the relevance of which reaches far beyond the study of Aceh or Indonesia alone." - David Kloos, KITLV/Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies, Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde