Islamic Law and Society in Indonesia

No corporation is enthusiastic about paying tax, yet Islamic banks in Indonesia voluntarily pay corporate zakat. Why? The book analyzes corporate zakat norms and practices in Indonesia by investigating how Muslim jurists have interpreted sharīʿa of zakat and how these have been imposed through the legislative and regulatory framework. It also presents original case studies based on sociolegal field research on the reception of the new obligations in the Islamic banks that choose to pay – and choose not to pay – what is effectively a new tax.

The book argues that the dynamics of sharīʿa interpretation, imposition, and compliance in Indonesia are too complex to be defined using the binaries of the religious versus the secular, public versus private, or tradition versus modernity. The corporate zakat context has revitalized the existing governance strategy in Islamic legal tradition and created a shared Islamic law vision between Islam and the state. Consequently, this fusion generates a mixed legal and religious consciousness toward corporate zakat.

Addressing broader discussions on Islamic law and modernity, the book will be of interest to academics working on Asian and Comparative Law, sociolegal studies, anthropology of Indonesia, business studies of the Islamic world, Islamic/sharīʿa economics, Islamic law and politics, Islamic legal studies, Muslim society and Islam in Southeast Asia.