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The emerging pressure group: Women ulema
Diligent lobbying of the women ulema and their persuasive arguments have earned them frequent audiences with decisionmakers, energizing Indonesia’s civil society movement with their mastery of Islam in the face of authorities and loud conservative voices.
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Calling on unity: Badriyah Fayumi (left), leader of the Mahasina Islamic boarding school (Pesantren) in Bekasi, West Java, Hindun Annisah (center) of Pesantren Hasyim Asy’ari in Jepara, Central Java and Yulianti Muthmainnah (right) of Aisyiyah, the women’s wing of Indonesia’s second-largest Muslim organization Muhammadiyah read out a joint statement after a meeting of Indonesian women ulema at Istiqlal Grand Mosque in Central Jakarta on March 1. (JP/Dhoni Setiawan)
T
he protection of women against the dangers of pregnancy by rape is mandatory, including by completion or termination of pregnancy based on medical and/or psychiatric emergencies. Protecting women against forced marriages is mandatory. Circumcision of females without medical purposes is haram.
These are parts of the five “religious deliberations” or nonbinding fatwa issued at the end of the Second Indonesian Women’s Ulema Congress (KUPI) in Jepara, Central Java on Nov. 26. Other fatwa concerned violence stemming from extremism and the environment.
What? Did the women ulema just endorse safe abortion in whatever stage of pregnancy? Yes, but only for those considered the most vulnerable: women impregnated by their rapists. They argued, “Cases of violence against women, including rape, cause women to be marginalized through pregnancy, stigma and discrimination.”
The other fatwa states the “alienation of women” leading to violence in the name of religion is haram, thus the KUPI recommended the strengthening of women as peacebuilders as religious extremism has increased violence against women in the name of religion.
The fatwa on the environment says “neglect of environmental degradation due to waste pollution” is haram for “direct perpetrators” or “executors”.
The congress results reflect the stronger determination of the women’s ulema in shaping public policy. Success following the fatwa from the first congress in 2017 has deepened their confidence in the KUPI movement. The fatwa stating that preventing child marriage is mandatory helped win the legal fight in 2018 to increase the female legal marrying age from 16 to 19, the same for males.
The other 2017 fatwa stating that all forms of sexual violence are haram also strengthened demands to pass the new law on sexual violence despite earlier resistance from conservative quarters.
