Dr Syafiq Hasyim

Dr Syafiq Hasyim is currently Visiting Fellow at the Indonesia Studies Programme, ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute. He is also a lecturer and director of Library and Culture at the Indonesian International Islamic University (UIII), a newly established international graduate university in Indonesia and adjunct lecturer at the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, UIN Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta. From 2018-2019, he was Visiting Fellow at the Indonesian Programmes of RSIS, NTU, Singapore. He obtained his Dr. Phil from Freie University, Germany, in 2014 and MA Leiden University, the Netherlands in 2002. He has published books, journal articles and commentaries, visual commentaries through TV and You Tube Channel.

Halal and Covid-19 Vaccination in Indonesia

This paper examines the issues surrounding halal, vaccines and Covid-19 and the responses of state, ulama and society in Indonesia on these issues. It discusses the increasing popularity of halal and its adoption into legal and public sphere of Indonesia. This paper traces the general trajectory of the various discourses among ulama and Muslim groups on halalness and haramness of using vaccine in the context of Indonesia.. Particular attention will be given to the role of MUI (Majelis Ulama Indonesia, Council of Indonesian Ulama) and its discursive opponents in insisting on the application of halal certification for Covid-19 vaccines. Nahdlatul Ulama, for example, states that insisting on the status of halal of such vaccine in an emergency is not relevant because all things in emergency (darura) are permitted. This paper also looks at the connection between the acceptance of the government of Indonesia of the demand of MUI for halal certification of Covid-19 vaccines and the phenomenon of increasing shariatisation in Indonesia during Jokowi’s era. Non-theological discourse on halal and the Covid-19 vaccine are also discussed here. Finally, the paper concludes that the issues of halal and Covid-19 vaccine are dynamic and no single point of view fully illustrates complexity of these issues.