Neither Sunni or Shi'i, but surely 'other': Indonesia's lovers of the ahl al-bayt"

CURA Colloquium, School of Theology Co-Sponsored This article uses the double lens of ritual and legal practices to investigate how Indonesia’s “lovers of the ahl al-bayt” (the immediate family of prophet Muhammad) are marginalized, or “othered”, by Twelver Shi’is and (Shafi’i) Sunnis. Sketches from Muharram rituals in Java and Sumatra are juxtaposed to the legal frames of (Islamic) fiqhand (secular) blasphemy as reflections of Indonesia’s historical realities and more recent politics (1960s-2010s) in an effort to better understand “sectarianism” and religious tensions in Indonesia. Email cura@bu.edu for the paper.