Jakarta – The political elite in this country should use the holy fasting month of Ramadan as a moment for introspection and evaluation, to ask whether their policies side with the ordi

Chrestella Tan – Jakarta's government will attempt to clear the streets in the evenings to provide a more peaceful environment during Ramadan prayers, a spokesman said.

Bengkulu – City employees who do not fast during Ramadan would be dismissed from their jobs, Bengkulu Mayor Ahmad Kanedi said on the first day of the holy month on Monday.

Nurfika Osman & Antara – Ramadan may have officially begun today, but some Muslim communities in the country started fasting over the weekend, highlighting the age-old debate betwee

Elisabeth Oktofani – A relatively quieter Ramadan may be in store this year after former Vice President Jusuf Kalla called on the Indonesian Council of Ulema to help control the volume

Less than two weeks before the fasting month of Ramadan begins, locals in Pamekasan district, East Java, are being encouraged to dress "properly" to respect the holy month, including wh

Jakarta – Prominent Muslim preacher Zainuddin Muhammad Zein (Zainuddin MZ) passed away on Tuesday morning at the Pertamina Hospital in South Jakarta. Zainuddin was 60 years of age.

Jakarta – The leading lights of Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) say that Indonesia's largest Muslim organization is fragmenting and sliding into irrelevance in the reform era.

Lauren Zumbach – Although young Indonesian Muslims are models of some traditional Islamic practices, they are less strict in their beliefs and observing religious rituals, according to

Jakarta – The rise of religion in the public space across the country should not be seen as a threat as long as the government manages to prevent friction, experts say.

Millions of Christians across the country marked Easter Sunday in peace, blending celebrations for the resurrection of Jesus with unique local traditions.

Nurfika Osman – The chairman of the Indonesian Council of Ulema (MUI) says he disagrees with an article published by a MUI leader that says Muslims should not salute the national flag a

Nurfika Osman – The country's highest authority on Islamic affairs, the Indonesian Council of Ulema, on Tuesday denied that one of its provincial branches had issued an edict banning wo

A provincial branch of the Indonesian Council of Ulema has issued a fatwa banning females from running for the positions of mayor.

Amir Tejo, Surabaya – Heads up – the morality police have their eye on you. Or at least they will if you happen to be in Surabaya's Bungkul Park.

Markus Junianto Sihaloho – Cabinet Secretary Dipo Alam's derogatory attacks on religious leaders and media outlets were aimed at diverting the public's attention from the nation's real

West Jakarta Mayor Burhanuddin has called for premarital sex between teenagers in big cities to be combated by building more mosques and educating youths on matters of religion and mora

Camelia Pasandaran & Bre Nanginna – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has called on the country's Muslims to forgo violence and emulate the wisdom and poise of Prophet Muhammad.

Nurfika Osman – Roses, chocolates and candlelight dinner may be OK after all.

The Indonesia Council of Ulema has made its annual – and regularly ignored – call for Muslims to avoid celebrating Saint Valentine's Day on Monday.

Rahmat, Makassar – A district chapter of the Indonesian Council of Ulema in South Sulawesi has issued an edict declaring a religious group a deviant Islamic sect, and called for a polic

Tifa Asrianti, Jakarta – Liberal and moderate Muslim scholars expressed concern that their voices were being drowned out as the public and mainstream media were more inclined to listen

Elisabeth Oktofani, Ulma Haryanto & Fitri R.

Olivia Rondonuwu, Jakarta – Opulent Christmas decorations at shopping malls in Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, could incite anger among non-Christians, the country's

Arlina Arshad, Indonesia – To most people, Ahmad Mustofa Bisri is an influential Muslim cleric and a respected figure from the country's biggest Islamic organization, the moderate Nahdl

Indonesia – An Indonesian court on Wednesday sentenced a United States retiree to five months in jail for blasphemy for pulling the plug on a mosque's loudspeaker during a prayer readin

Marcel Thee – Embedded within Indonesia's constitution are the following two lines: "all persons have the right to worship according to their own religion or belief" and "the nation is

Erwida Maulia, Jakarta – While students of Islamic universities in Indonesia are embracing liberalism, their counterparts in science schools feel apparently more appeal to fundamentalis

Jakarta – An Indonesian court sentenced a wealthy Muslim cleric to four years in prison on Wednesday for having sex with a 12-year-old girl he took as his unofficial wife.

Fitri R., Jakarta – Witnesses testifying in the blasphemy trial of an American national on Monday said he would never have insulted Islam, and that the case had been blown out of propor

Fitri, Central Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara – Two villagers on Monday told the Praya District Court in Central Lombok that American national Gregory Lloyd Luke, 64, deserved to remain beh

Jakarta – The Indonesia Ulema Council said on Wednesday that it opposed France's ban on full-face veils.

Jakarta – Two days after the Idul Fitri celebration traffic has started to gain steam, as many holiday travelers began leaving their hometowns on their way back to Jakarta and other maj

Jakarta – The Indonesian Islamic Propagation Institute (LDII) and the Indonesian Mosque Council (DMI) have called on Muslims in the country to launch a protest against an incident which

Niniek Karmini, Jakarta – Millions of Indonesians crammed into trains, ferries and in greater numbers than ever, motorcycles, as they poured out of major cities to return to their villa

Ismira Lutfia, Jakarta – Warnings to improve televisions stations' programing during the fasting month seem to have fallen on deaf ears as violence, obscenity and mysticism continue to

Jakarta – Religious Affairs Minister Suryadharma Ali said Monday that the Jamaah Ahmadiyah faith – who claim to be Muslim – had to be broken up, as followers violated regulations and we

Fitri, Mataram, West Nusa Tenggara – The ubiquitous prayers broadcast from mosques nationwide during Ramadan usually fade into the background for those not inclined to join in them.

Rendi A.

Yuli Tri Suwarni, Bandung – West Java is among the provinces that worries critics regarding several religiously related regulations – but concerns over the economy and diversity has led

Lisa Siregar – On a Sunday at about 10 p.m., a group of women wearing jilbabs are gathered in one corner of Istiqlal Mosque in Jakarta after tarawih, a series of nightly prayers during

Ridwan Max Sijabat – Indonesia seems far removed from Afghanistan, where the Taliban recently stoned to death a couple that had eloped after a long hiatus in applying the sharia punishm

Dessy Sagita & Anita Rachman, Jakarta – Nahdlatul Ulama, the country's biggest Islamic organization with as many as 30 million members, has drawn a mostly negative response from rel

Nivell Rayda, Jakarta – Indonesia's two main Muslim organizations decreed on Wednesday that corrupt officials were "infidels," or a person without faith.

Jakarta – Amid criticism of the city authorities' friendly gestures towards Muslim hard-line groups, Governor Fauzi Bowo guaranteed Thursday the freedom to worship in Jakarta as part of

Arghea Desafti Hapsari, Jakarta – The Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) defended a recently issued fatwa (edict) declaring two brands of meningitis vaccine halal, dismissing experts' claim

Tangguh, Lombok – For four years and five months, 33 Ahmadiyah families have been staying at the Transito shelter in Mataram, West Nusa Tenggara, after having been driven from their hom

Panca Nugraha, Mataram – Sixth grader Muhyidin Sayid Ahmad returned home from school wearing a sad face.

Purwakarta, West Java – Clerics of the Indonesian Ulema Forum staged a mass demonstration outside the local administration's office on Friday, demanding that they remove the district's

Norimitsu Onishi, Indonesia – As the nation with the world's largest number of Muslims, Indonesia every year sends the most pilgrims to Mecca by far.