Islam Observed: Religious Development in Morocco and Indonesia

TLDR

Clifford Geertz outlines a comparative framework for studying Islam’s development in Indonesia and Morocco. The study aims to assess the significance of Islam’s divergent development in Indonesia and Morocco by presenting theoretical observations on religion’s social role. Geertz compares Indonesia and Morocco by conceptually outlining the problem, reviewing each country, tracing the evolution of their classical religious styles, and presenting theoretical observations on religion’s social role. Islam in Morocco manifests as activism, moralism, and intense individuality, whereas in Indonesia it emphasizes aestheticism, inwardness, and radical dissolution of personality. Author: Mr.

Abstract

four brief chapters, writes Clifford Geertz in his preface, I have attempted both to lay out a general framework for the comparative analysis of religion and to apply it to a study of the development of a supposedly single creed, Islam, in two quite contrasting civilizations, the Indonesian and the Moroccan. Mr. Geerts begins his argument by outlining the problem conceptually and providing an overview of the two countries. He then traces the evolution of their classical religious styles which, with disparate settings and unique histories, produced strikingly different spiritual climates. So in Morocco, the Islamic conception of life came to mean activism, moralism, and intense individuality, while in Indonesia the same concept emphasized aestheticism, inwardness, and the radical dissolution of personality. In order to assess the significance of these interesting developments, Mr. Geertz sets forth a series of theoretical observations concerning the social role of religion.