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          Mepsi (abbreviated from   Erlangga did more or less the same.    religious authority, which were initially             that started in the early period of the 20    reformism has contributed to the rise of
          Madjlis Ekonomi PSII/the   Mostly known as a publisher of school   held by ulamas and their kitab kuning               century. 97                            new forms of Islamic religious thinking
          Economic Assembly of     text books since 2002, it established a   as their primary sources of knowledge,              This development can be understood     based on printed media. Especially for
          the PSII) was a magazine   new publishing division for Islamic books.   started to become more varied because          from the fact that the printed media   urban people, oral traditions as the basic
          published by Partai      Up to 2003, it has released no less than   of the rise of printed media: Journals,                                                   means of the transmission of traditional
          Sarekat Islam Indonesia.  17 titles of books on Islamic subjects   newspapers, magazines, and books. The               provides the Muslim community with     Islamic knowledge is of no importance
                                                                                                                                 easy access to Islamic teachings. The
          Source: National Library   either about Islamic ways of thinking   use of printed media also contributed               Muslim community begins to learn about   and its presence is threatened by the
          of Indonesia.            or easy-going stories. Up to 2002 its   to changes in the Islamic public sphere,              Islam without having to go to or stay in   products of printing machines intended to
                                   publication Kisah Hikmah had been       where the ulamas no longer were the                   pesantrens that used to be considered   be read. Books, magazines, newspapers,
                                   reprinted five times. 93                only people capable of speaking about                 as the most authoritative centers of   and pamphlets contribute to produce
                                                                           Islam. The role of the ulamas as the                                                         religious meaning as all of them cause
                                   Bumi Aksara was established in 1990     sole creators of contemporary Islam                   Islamic teachings. They can now easily   significant alterations in the formation
                                   and it initially focused on publishing   is slowly diminishing, and therefore                 find sources of Islamic knowledge in any   of religious authority in Indonesian
                                   general books on various themes         a fragmentation of religious authority                bookstore, library, and many other places   Muslim society. Here, Islamic reformism
                                   such as the economy, law, social        among the Muslim community has                        that never used to have any relations with   contributes to the construction of the
                                   issues, electronics, automotive issues,   began. This situation justifies the opinion         Islamic studies.                       fundament upon which religious plurality
                                   education, and other themes. However,   that the rise of public spaces is an                  Islam is now conveyed in a more        can be build, a basis where new voices
                                   in 2000 it created a new specialized    inherent part of modernity. 96                        natural way using daily language. The   of Islam can come to the surface.
                                                                                                                                                                                                      99
                                   publishing division, i.e. Amzah publisher                                                     classical Islamic texts are no longer   Therefore, the publication of Islamic
                                   that specifically publishes books on    Therefore, the increase in numbers                    consecrated because of the availability   books has laid the foundation for the rise
                                   Islamic themes. Up to 2006, Amzah has   of publications on Islamic reformism                  of modern printed media. This process   of “civil pluralism”  and —presumably—
                                                                                                                                                                                        100
                                   published 79 titles of Islamic books. 94  creates the opportunity for the Muslims             is accelerated by the arrival of translated   for the dissemination of “civilized society”
                                                                           with different ideas and orientations to
                                   Although general publishers published   enter the debates about how Indonesian                editions of various classical texts of   in Indonesia.
                                   many Islamic books, seen from the       Islam is to be defined. The Muslim                    Islam the knowledge of which used to
                                   marketing side they still lost against   community has begun to participate                   be restricted as they only used to be
                                   Islamic publishers who sometimes came   in issues of Islam and the formation                  circulated among religious elites. Thus,
                                   up with best-selling works. 95          of Islamic opinions and they variously                reading hadiths and the practices of
                                                                           interpret Islam along the lines of groups             Islamic rituals is no longer only found
                                   Concluding Remarks                                                                            in pesantrens and only to be known
                                                                           with different educational backgrounds
                                   We may conclude that the publication    and ideologies. All polemics,                         by being present before ulamas, but
                                   of Islamic books is a novel trend in the   debates, discussions, and opposition               also in modern schools and in ordinary
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                                   transmission of Islamic knowledge.      are principally manifestations and                    households.
                                   The sources of Islamic knowledge and    continuations of Islamic developments                 Through this development, Islamic



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