In the post-9/11 world, scholars and policy makers alike have grappled with the interplay between religion and politics. Islam has garnered a disproportionate amount of attention relative to other world religions. It has been turned upside down in search of insights into its potential as a source of radicalism and terror or, conversely, to be an agent of civil society development and a source of civic activism. In Indonesia, quite apart from the global post-9/11 dynamic, Islam was and is a vital element of politics. Indeed, it is often said that you cannot understand Indonesian politics without understanding Islam in Indonesia.

In recent years, the heightening of global tensions related to the ‘war on terror’ and the perceived antagonism between the ‘West’ and the ‘Muslim world’ have frequently brought Indonesia into the limelight as an example of a nation where democracy and Islam successfully cohabitate — indeed, where one cannot be separated from the other. Crucial to the uniqueness of Islam in Indonesia are the roles of the two largest mass-based Muslim organizations in the world — Nahdlatul Ulama or NU (literally, ‘Revival of the Muslim Scholars’) and Muhammadiyah. These massive socio-religious organizations, which together represent over 75 million Indonesians, comprise vast interconnected networks of women, students, labourers, teachers, Islamic boarding schools (pesantren), hospitals, schools, universities, legal aid agencies and many more affiliated units, reaching down to the village level across the country. They both represent a remarkable channel for constructive civic engagement. But Islam in Indonesia is very complex, and the historical rifts between NU and Muhammadiyah are indicative of the highly politicized nature of both organizations.

In an effort to shed light on the tangled web of Islamic politics, and to explore the example that Indonesia provides of a strong and thriving Islamic civil society, I take up in this book the case of NU. As this volume will show, NU is far from a monolithic organization. The contestation within NU on issues of identity, politics and religion affords the observer of Indonesian politics and Islam valuable insights into important developments within Islamic thought in the late New Order and early reform (reformasi) periods.