UNIFORMITY AND DIVERSITY AMONG MUSLIMS IN SINGAPORE

Abstract

This thesis comprises five chapters, a Prologue and an Epilogue. The prologue introduces the research problem and my field method. The whole argument of the thesis is summarised in the Epilogue. I look, not at Islam as theologically defined, but at the processes by which Islam is socially constructed. This involves looking at both the elite constructions as well as everyday-life constructions of Islam. In Chapter 2, I argue that there is a diversity of constructions of Islam in Singapore. This diversity emerges from individual Muslims' different orientations to authority. In Chapter 3 I argue that in everyday life, attention to diversity is often subsidiary. However, certain aspects of Islam can be called up for attention. The question of what is called up and what remains taken for granted involves the politics of defining orthodoxy. This involves attempts by various groups to dominate religious discourse. In Chapter 4, I focus on the contexts and processes of competing would-be orthodoxies. I argue that, although the traditional ulama are still dominant in numbers, new 'symbols of legitimation' have emerged, following the rise of Islamic reformism as propagated by educated Muslims. The ulama have constantly to legitimise their claims by using these symbols in their discourse: a process of 'inner conversion' takes place, in which many of the old meanings are retained, now calqued onto new symbols. In this discourse, mutual accusations of ajaran sesat 'misguided religion' are used in competing for dominance. In Chapter 5, I discuss how ulama and their patrons, in the contest for authority, try to create symbiotic alliances with other ulama and patrons, as well as with the masses. But Muslims do not simply accept 'ready-made' Islam from the elite groups: there is constant selection, construction and negotiation with various elite groups. At times, the elites may even have to give in to the masses. I conclude that, by looking simultaneously at both uniformity and diversity, it is possible to propose answers to a host of questions that have not even been adequately addressed in most works on the sociology of Islam.