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          Oemar Said               An inventory done by the Ministry       124,  Penerbit Serambi 148,  penerbit                 Islamic book publishers have apparently   Mizam was presumed to be a Shi’i        An article on
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          Tjokroaminoto            of Religious Affairs in 2003 of 29      Maghfirah Pustaka around 92,  Penerbit                adopted a clear outline of Islamic socio-  publishing house because of its        Tjokroaminoto in Tjaja
          substituted H.           Indonesian publishers that produce      LkiS along with its affiliated branch,                intellectual thought which they had    publication of Dialog Sunnah-Syiah         Hindia. This article states
          Samanhoedias the         books on Islam found that up to 2003    Pustaka Pesantren around 316,  and                    turned into the ideological basis for their   and other works by Shi’i thinkers like   that Tjokroaminoto
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          chairman of the SI.      there were around 4.687 titles of Islamic   Pustaka Al-Kautsar more than 500                  activities and the guide in selecting the   Ali Shariati and Murtadha Muthahari.    was a warrior who had
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          Source: National Library   books. Besides, still according to the   at the end of 2007,  Azam publisher                books they wanted to publish. Here, we   However, Mizan occupied only a small     fought for Indonesian
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          of Indonesia.            data from the Ministry of Religious     around 79 titles at the end of 2006,                  will be specifically concerned with three   space and it was surrounded by an     Independence.
                                   Affairs, from the ca. 110 Islamic       Remaja Rosdakarya around 137 books                    Islamic publishers for they represent   Indonesian climate that generally ignored   Source: National Library
                                   publishers who joined the 2003 Islamic   at the end of 2005,  and these are just              —though not totally—Indonesian         Shi’a. In fact, most books published by    of Indonesia
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                                   Book Fair in Senayan, ca. 3.041 titles   some examples and do not include the                 Muslims’ sociological reality. They are   Mizan were books that belong to the
                                   of books comprising various fields      total numbers of all the publishers that              Mizan, which represents moderate       Sunni branch of Islam and in the early
                                   of Islamic studies were published in    produce Islamic books be they IKAPI                   Muslims, Gema Insani Press (GIP)       years of its establishment it published
                                   Indonesia. So, from both studies it has   members or not.                                     which represents scripturalist and     books written by various popular al-
                                   become clear that up to 2003, 7.728 titles                                                    fundamentalist Muslims, and LkiS       Ikhwanul Muslimin figures, one of which
                                   of Islamic books on various subjects    Islamic Book Publishers: Some                         (Lembaga Kajian Islam dan Sosial) that   is Surat-Menyurat Maryam Jamilah-
                                   entered the Indonesian book market. 57  Socio-Intellectual Profiles                           represents the Islamic left tendency and   Maududi. 70
                                                                                                                                 which is critical to both doctrines and the
                                   IKAPI, which attempts to determine      From what we have seen above we can                   social institutions they represent.    Mizan targets university students as
                                   the range of books on Islam published   underline that recently Islamic books                                                        its readership although most of them
                                   in Indonesia, assures us that the book   have become an important category                    In the early 1980s, Indonesian society   have become the enemies of the new
                                   publishing industry in Indonesia produces   within the Indonesian publishing world;           was stunned by the founding of the     ways of Islamic thinking about which
                                   at least 10.000 book titles annually, and   publishing books on Islamic themes                Islamic publisher, Mizan and its two   Mizan also publishes books including
                                   from that number 3.000 titles deal with   has become an industry with serious                 best-sellers Dialog Sunnah-Syiah by    the works written by Nurcholish Madjid.
                                   Islamic themes.  This means that up to   repercussions on the characteristics of              A. Syafaruddin al-Musawi and Surat  68  The majority of the readers of Mizan
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                                   2008, at least 20.000 to 22.000 titles of   Indonesian Islam. It is very important            Menyurat Maryam Jamilah-Maududi.       publications, according to Watson,
                                   books on Islam were published, a fact   to elucidate the profiles of Islamic                  From the outset, Mizan, which was      belong to the older generations and
                                   that should be considered.              book publishers and their roles in the                founded in 1983, stood for something   are members of a group of people that
                                                                           development of Islamic book publishing.               innovative. In fact, Mizan was established   supported the Islamic cultural movement
                                   This estimate may be correct when                                                             to publish luxurious modern books
                                   we have a look at the data on the       In addition to looking for profit, the                and important works on contemporary    in the 1970s.
                                   publication of books on Islam from the   publishers contributed invaluably to                 Islamic thought written by young and   Mizan’s most important effect in the
                                   766 IKAPI members.  Up to mid-2008,     efforts in the promotion of the use of print          international Muslim thinkers in order   earlier stages of its development was
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                                   Gema Insani Press published ca. 1000    culture.                                              to offer a balance in the ideas on Islam   to publish the work of young Muslim
                                   titles of Islamic books,  Darul Haq ca.   Its lso very important to note that                 (mizan literally means ‘balancing scales’).  intellectual thinkers from middle class
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