Ms Okta Nurul Hidayati

Okta Nurul Hidayati is a graduate student at the Center for Religious and Cross-cultural Studies (CRCS) of Gadjah Mada University, Indonesia. She holds a Bachelors degree in Islamic Education from the Surakarta State Islamic Institute. She has researched the piety movement in Surakarta and is also interested in gender issues, children’s literature, pop-culture, and education. She is now working on a thesis on the women's piety movement and charity activities in Indonesia, while working with researchers at the CRCS’s Data Center.

Building Piety Through Charity Activities: The Emergence of the Women's Piety Movement in Indonesia

The piety movement in Surakarta has been dominated by men as the main actors holding religious authority. Some of them are salafist-wahabist groups with a vision to expand Islamism through vigilante activities. At the same time, a new piety movement initiated by women has emerged through majelis taklim. They aim to acquire religious knowledge and improve the welfare of the people through religious gatherings and charity activities. This paper presents qualitative research based on the ethnography of three majelis taklim, Al Husna, Humaira and the Da'wah Squad, focusing on their founders. It investigates the responses of women in majelis taklim to religious authoritiy previously dominated by male actors. I argue that women in majelis taklim can create opportunities for limiting Islamism by transforming movements from vigilantism to welfare activism. This paper contributes to knowing agency formation in the discussion of women's piety movement.