Ati Nurbaiti, Kuala Lumpur – Equality is necessary and possible in Muslim families, and not just so-called modern women demand such equality, women said Saturday at an international gat

Indonesia – Jaipong artists slammed president of the Islamic-based Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) Tifatul Sembiring for his statement, which they said discredited the traditional West J

Peter Gelling, Solo – At a small, back-street bookstore here, the young employees, wearing matching green skullcaps and sporting wispy chin beards, stock books with titles like "Waiting

Abdul Khalik, Jakarta – The controversial pornography law has been blasted for targeting cultural heritage, after West Java Governor Ahmad Heryawan used it as a legal basis to forbid Ja

Jakarta – A senior cleric has called on Muslims to boycott a new film about Islam's treatment of women, saying it "slanders" the religion.

Muninggar Sri Saraswati – Traditional West Javanese jaipongan and bajidoran dancers may be some of the first artists to feel the effects of the stricter antipornography law pushed throu

Indonesia is planning a crackdown on illegal polygamous marriages and will ask all Muslim couples to undergo pre-wedding marriage courses, an official says.

Jakarta – Indonesian Islamic hard-liners have called for a ban on international organizations the Rotary Club and the Lions Club, saying they are part of a Zionist conspiracy, reports s

Jakarta – Indonesian police were holding the head of a Muslim cult on a preliminary charge of blasphemy after allegations that the group held rituals involving sex orgies and adultery,

Irawaty Wardany, Jakarta – Most managers of mosques in Jakarta embrace a moderate brand of Islam and support the unitary state of Indonesia, a survey released Thursday reveals.

Erwida Maulia, Surabaya – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono launched two education programs and announced he would dramatically increase spending on Islamic boarding schools during a v

Abdul Khalik, Jakarta – Indonesian Muslims will ignore the recent edict by the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI), the country's highest Islamic authority, to ban vote abstention, as people

Febriamy Hutapea – The Indonesian Council of Ulema, or MUI, went too far when it banned Muslims from abstaining from voting, House of Representatives Speaker Agung Laksono said on Tuesd

Jakarta – A Christian political leader has criticised a religious edict or fatwa issued by Indonesia's top Islamic body stating that only a Muslim could become president of the country.

Jakarta – Indonesia's largest Muslim organisation has attacked a move by the country's highest Islamic authority to impose bans on smoking, practising yoga and voting abstention.

Nurfika Osman & Sally Piri – Following a busy weekend of deciding whether smoking, yoga, not voting and other issues were right or wrong for the country's Muslims, the Indonesian Co

Jakarta – Chief of National Intelligence Agency (BIN) Syamsir Siregar said Sunday that Muslim scholars, Islamic boarding schools and society at large needed to contribute towards nation

Jakarta – Muslims in Indonesia have been banned from doing yoga if they engage in Hindu religious rituals during the exercise, the chairman of the country's top Islamic body said Sunday

Olivia Rondonuwu, Padang Panjang – Indonesia's top Islamic body debated on Sunday whether to apply a blanket ban on smoking for Muslims or place a more limited restriction on tobacco us

Camelia Pasandaran – The United Development Party, or PPP, is pushing for the formation of a coalition of Islamic parties in order to shift the balance of political power in the country

Jakarta – Controversial issues ranging from yoga to abstaining from voting will head the agenda when 700 ulema from throughout the country meet in the West Sumatra town of Padang Panjan

Anthony Deutsch, Jakarta – Indonesia Islamic hard-liners enraged by Israel's assault on the Gaza Strip marched to the synagogue's gates chanting, "Go to hell Israel!"

Adianto P.

Ali Kotarumalos, Jakarta – Ten suspected Islamic militants went on trial Tuesday in an Indonesian court for allegedly killing a Christian schoolteacher and plotting to bomb a cafe.

Panca Nugraha, Mataram – The government will stop donating rice to hundreds of followers of an Islamic sect taking refuge in shelters in West Nusa Tenggara for the past three years, an

Sleman – The demarcation between political parties labeled as Islamic and non-Islamic parties is becoming increasingly vague.

Yuli Tri Suwarni, Bandung – Around 100 people from the Islamic Reform Movement sealed off a house Friday afternoon alleged to be the center of a sect preaching alternative Islamic teach

Jakarta – Dozens of interfaith leaders and politicians visited the United Nations office in Jakarta on Wednesday to pressure it to put an end to the Israeli strikes against Gaza.

Yuli Tri Suwarni and Slamet Susanto, Bandung, Yogyakarta – Religious organizations grouped under the Inter-Religious Forum have called for Indonesians to stop viewing the Israeli-Palest

Jakarta – More than 4,000 Indonesians have offered to support Hamas and fight against Israel, a radical Islamist group has told Adnkronos International (AKI).

Desy Nurhayati, Jakarta – Indonesia has suffered major setbacks in upholding religious freedom and tolerance, enshrined in the Constitution, as evident in a series of attacks on plurali

Desy Nurhayati, Jakarta – Thousands of Muslim women from the hardline Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia (HTI) organization staged a rally Sunday calling for the country to enforce sharia law and

Jakarta – The government has asked Muslim clerics to avoid actively participating in politics, as it will keep them from serving their followers and will threaten social unity.

Jakarta – The Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), a major Islamic party, is not interested in joining an alliance of Islamic parties, a party executive, Mahfudz Siddiq, said in Banjarmasin,

Jakarta – Head of the Intelligence Agency Syamsir Siregar said Saturday the increasing number of religious scholars and leaders entering into politics has caused rift among and neglect

Yuli Tri Suwarni, Bandung – The Bandung District Court has convicted and sentenced 17 alleged members of the Islamic State of Indonesia (NII) to between two-and-a-half and three years i

Abdul Khalik, Jakarta – Some Islam-based parties are pushing for a political coalition to win next year's elections, but others are questioning the relevance of such a sectarian allianc

Adianto P.

M. Azis Tunny, Ambon – What started as a peaceful rally at the Central Maluku Education Agency in Masohi, Maluku, escalated into a major riot between two neighborhoods on Tuesday.

Abdul Khalik, Jakarta – With radicalism and conservatism appearing to take root across Indonesia without significant public opposition, scholars are questioning just how moderate the si

Jakarta – Indonesia's top Islamic body says it will consider banning Muslims from practicing yoga.

Arlina Arshad, Jakarta – Indonesian Muslim clerics who claim to be protecting vulnerable women by backing a new anti-pornography law have come out in defence of a fellow preacher who ha

Abdul Khalik, Jakarta – Most Islamic studies teachers in public and private schools in Java oppose pluralism, tending toward radicalism and conservatism, according to a survey released

Suherdjoko, Semarang – The marriage of an underage girl to a wealthy Muslim cleric in Bedono village, Semarang regency, Central Java, has sparked controversy in the community.

Jakarta – Islam Defenders Front leaders Rizieq Shihab and Munarman claimed innocence in the attack on religious-tolerance activists in June, and asked the Central Jakarta District Court

Abdul Khalik, Jakarta – Indonesians should base their lives on the values of pluralism and respect for differences which they have inherited from their founding fathers so as to allow p

Erwida Maulia, Jakarta – The Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) has called on Indonesian Muslims to alter their perception of mudik (journeying to one's hometown), citing the many people wh

Cirebon, West Java – His face blackened by smoke and dust, and sweat streaming into his eyes, Sugeng took a break by the roadside after clocking 100 kilometers, halfway to Jakarta from

Jakarta – The leader of radical Islamist group Jemaah Islamiyah was prohibited from visiting convicted Bali bombers at Batu prison, Nusakambangan island, Monday.

Erwida Maulia, Jakarta – Up to 427 people have died and 1,408 others have been injured in traffic accidents during this year's Idul Fitri exodus, the National Police reported.