Zakat, one of Islam's Five Pillars, is the practice of giving a fixed proportion of one's financial assets to those in need, thereby purifying both one's soul and one's remaining wealth. In Indonesia, since the coming of Islam, zakat has been a means of worship, and its collection has been voluntary and decentralized.

Arskal Salim's study argues that in the post-New Order regime (1966-1998) zakat practice changed structurally and institutionally through the enactment of a law on zakat management, followed by the establishment of a national zakat agency. A cultural shift is now in...

Challenging the Secular State examines Muslim efforts to incorporate shari'a (religious law) into modern Indonesia's legal system from the time of independence in 1945 to the present. The author argues that attempts to formally implement shari'a in Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim state, have always been marked by tensions between the political aspirations of proponents and opponents of shari'a and by resistance from the national government. As a result, although pro-shari'a movements have made significant progress in recent years, shari'a remains tightly confined within...