Thoughts and practices among rural Muslims in Biliran Province by Enrique Picardal Jr

Thoughts and practices among rural Muslims in Biliran Province

Biliran Province State University ENRIQUE B. PICARDAL JR ekyjr26@gmail.com 09093658023

Thoughts and practices among rural Muslims in Biliran Province

Abstract: One of the aspects of religion acquired generalized attention in recent years is the growth of fundamentalism that occurred in various religions and in nations of the world, like my country the Philippines , there are many kinds of fundamentalist and non-fundamentalist who take different

perspectives of ideology like the Filipino Muslims in Mindanao,

confusion and no peace have been done because misunderstood and they did not agree with their purpose for self-government and have their Muslims autonomy that the government has two long-term, resurgent, resurgence and no stopping death, among other Muslim and Christian groups, like the maute in Month of May 13, 2017, this group is attacking Marawi City is one the example of another Muslim group fundamentalist who wants to lead Mindanao, but the government never allowed this group to move their bad Ideology spread out in the Country, the conflict of Mindanao is also the reason for some Muslims to migrate to rural areas or to other places in the Philippines, one of the places where Muslims move in and live in the Naval Province of Biliran. These Muslims they are Maranaw from Lanao and Agusan Del Norte, they travel by sea until they reach in Naval Biliran to escape the war in their place, according to them, they chose to come to Naval Biliran because their relative living here and have a business in the Market of Naval Town.

Thoughts and practices among rural Muslims in Biliran Province

On the other hand, if my study about the fundamentality Victims and acts among rural Muslim migration in Naval Biliran is concerned, the result of my study shows that most of the respondents their rating of four important issues that covered is got a very high score of very good for the Christian State vs. The Islamic State 77% (p=31) it followed by The right of Muslim Women are also Very good 70% (p=34) followed The by Implementation of Islamic law and democracy 45.55% (p=20) very good. while the having Simple Interpretation of Qur'an very good of 18.18% (p= 8) Good for the right of Muslim women got 18.185% (p=8) Good for the Christian state vs. the Islamic state 34% (p=11) next is Good of the Implementation of Islamic law and democracy 20.40%(p=9) and follower of the Simple interpretation of Qur'an, Good 11.30% (p=5) and the Fair for 11.37% the right of Muslim Women, and 20% (p=9) and Fair other scale of 18.8% (p=8) for the Christian State vs. The Islamic State and followed by 25.0% (p=11) of the Simple interpretation of Qur'an which is Fair, and the next level is Poor have the score of 14% (p=6) in The Christian State vs. Islamic State. And next to that is 9.1% (p=4) followed by the Simple interpretation of Qur'an 18.18% (p=8) and some of the respondents are made to choose 7%(p=3) with the Christian state vs. the Islamic state and followed by 6.81% (p=3) and next is 25.0% (p=11) of Simple interpretation of Qur'an, and the next scale was the score of no comments of the two respondents, which is 6.81% (p=3) the Christian state vs. Islamic state and the last on the list is 2.27%(p=1) the simple interpretation of Qur'an. All the data needed to complete the study obtained during the interview of the selected respondents who are participated and spend their time in order to complete the requested data. Keywords: Islamic fundamentalism, Non- fundamentalist the right of Muslim women, implementation of Islamic laws, Democracy, Islamic state, Christian State, Simple Interpretation of Qurâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;an

Thoughts and practices among rural Muslims in Biliran Province

CHAPTER 1:

Introduction

The world in which we live can be discussed as a rubrics cube, the corner is full and represents every part of our society. Some of these may have been misinterpreted as our history began to speak of our religion and self-esteem as we see and experience today in the world of reproach, judgments, and wars in many aspects, every color of the block we show unity we must be well suited to the very good beginning of its time. In that way, the creation of peace and harmonious living can change the world's result of peace. The journey ever finds out who will win and who first come until after this time. A history of religious origin and is listed among the most influence is the religion of Islam. Its research inner agenda deals with the understanding of Islamic fundamentalist talk about various issues that will support religions, and the holy book of Muslims called Quo'ran, in this way of studying it can contribute to other religions that interact with our fellow brothers and sisters Muslim people.

A Christian Filipino attaches to Islam as the main issue of the implementation of the law of Islam and democracy, their opposition to the enforcement of Islamic law democracy and polygamy very striking because Islam is understood to be equivalent of these two issues in the Philippines, and recently joined with terrorism across the country, it seems that all Muslims treat as a common eye group in the Philippines, but there are differences between ethnic groups in the terms of the Islamic thought schools they represent? How can they understand and translate Islam? The Answer to those may lead us to begin to understand the ideals of Islam in the Philippines, to avoid being separated from the struggle of Muslim Filipinos or mosques.

Thoughts and practices among rural Muslims in Biliran Province

Background and the gap of knowledge

To know the stand of every Muslims in four different issues regarding and concerning our society, interviews were conducted in Brgy. Calumpang, and Sitio. Lumboy, The Muslims generally described as non-terroristic and non-violent by non-Islamic tribes around the Muslim area, respondents affirmed and clarified that their culture is not terroristic and not violent but need to be respected instead. The history of Muslims or the Muslims world reveals how religion has become an ideological ideology for self-determination against colonial injustice. If Filipinos speak the story of opposition, rule, and oppression, and the revolt of liberty, they say they are one of the continuing struggles and struggle against two colonial rulers and the colonies of many Christians. In their eyes, they have always been free and self-governing. The difference between Moro's and Filipinos have shown not only the Moro's restless and relentless resistance but has also signified that they did not participate in building the Filipino nation. Like in the recent days, The Maute Group attack in marawi on May 13, 2017 is one of the newest but most feared terror groups in the southern Philippines; it became better known in November last year when members raided But the town in Lanao del Sur and raised an IS-similar flag in the town hall and also attack Marawi City. MG engaged government soldiers, and since then the administration has not taken the group lightly. Based in Central Mindanao, MG, locally known as the Islamic State in Lanao (ISIL), was founded by brothers Omar and Abdullah Maute and originally had an estimated 100 members. Intelligence reports indicate that they have joined forces with other terror groups operating in the southern Philippines. American Social and Cultural History As a consequence, they have found it even more difficult than members of other ethnoreligious groups in the country to see themselves as part of this imagined community (See Anderson, 2003 orig., 1983 for an elaboration of the concept of imagined communities, as one of my topic to present in our subject American Social and Cultural

Thoughts and practices among rural Muslims in Biliran Province

History talking about Nationalism). It is unfortunate, according to Filipino sociologist Randolph David, that Filipino leaders took for granted the membership within the Filipino nation of the sovereign Muslim sultanates of Sulu and Maguindanao, trusting that the force of a common racial origin would be sufficient to establish a national bond. It is even sadder that Filipinos who took over from the colonizers continued to practice "the rituals of the power of the colonial masters," treating Muslims differently, aggravating social inequality and alienating them further from the Philippine government. David noted that every post-war administration has launched its own wars of pacification in Mindanao, just as the Americans did. This situation has pushed Moros or Filipino Muslims to identify themselves as the victims of an unjust and unfair Philippine government. As a consequence, greater self-determination or freedom from the Philippine government has become a pivotal issue in their struggle. In light of a changing socio-political environment aggravated by September 11, 2001 and the resulting War on Terrorism that Muslims all over the world decry because it virtually says Islam with terrorism, there is a need to find out whether the fundamentalist perspective of some leaders of Muslim movements like the MILF, MNLF, and Abu Sayyaf is shared by other Muslims. It is also important to know how Filipino Muslims in the Philippines view the issue of establishing an Islamic state, as well as elements of Islamic law, democracy, and other related issues, in response to the stimulus of the global environment and social and political actions of a predominantly Christian government in the Philippines. After all, there is no single person or institution in Islam has had the authority or the right to decide the one true interpretation of the Holy Qur'an and Hadith as the source of Islamic teaching since the death of the Prophet Mohammad (d. 632 A.D). This situation is quite similar to what post-structuralists call "the death of the author." Islam is one religion but its interpretations are as varied as its adherents or those who read its texts. Such condition has produced different strains of Islam such as moderate Islam, revivalist Islam, fundamentalist Islam, etc. As for any other sociological phenomena, one would see that

Thoughts and practices among rural Muslims in Biliran Province

the perspectives of Muslims regarding Islam in general and Islamic fundamentalism in particular, would vary with the geographic and socio-economic realities they are facing. The economic problems in Mindanao have pushed Moros to migrate to Naval Province of Biliran and other parts of the Visayas Region for a "better life". From a â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;sociological viewpoint, the move away from the Muslim heartland in Mindanao is expected to result in

The change of behavior among the rural migrants. Contact with strangers is seen as a potential source of cultural shock, as strange environments disturb homogeneous ideals. The migrants learned not only to tolerate the attitude and customs of other people but also to accept insecurity and instability as a normal state of the world. These characteristics could potentially work together to increase the incidence of what Wirth (1938) called "the pathological condition" including personal disorganization, mental breakdown, suicide, delinquency, crime, corruption, and disorder. The same contact could also eventually result in secularization or liberalization, as contact with people from different religious persuasion demands greater religious tolerance. Another factor that could mediate the way Muslim Filipinos in Biliran Province would think and act vis-Ă -vis Islam is the loosening of kinship ties. Communal solidarity is replaced by a more rational type of solidarity, the kind that Durkheim (1893/1964) called "organic solidarity." The close-knit community in rural surroundings is changed in a rural setting, tending to individualize experiences. It is important to note, however, that these processes, which in theory could result in a state of anomie as institutions in places of origin tend to diminish in influence and new ruralized institutions are adopted, may be counteracted by processes that enhance primordial identities.

Thoughts and practices among rural Muslims in Biliran Province

CHAPTER 2:

OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY

This study seeks to understand Islamic fundamentalism in its human and social context and to examine the impact of modernization and rural life (social context) on the fundamentalist way and practice among rural Muslims in Naval Province Biliran by abstracting possible observations from the views of selected Respondents. In particular, this study wants to explore and describe the forms of Islamic fundamentalism of selected key informants in the Naval Biliran area and the factors that have shaped them in the context of the historical and social evolution of the Muslim community of Naval Biliran. This research also wants to explore the effects of the different factors, including ruralization, that shape the forms of Islamic fundamentalism and the way the fundamentalists live and construct their worldview ideologically. Explore further their views on the formation of an Islamic state, secularization, the implementation of Islamic law, democracy, and the position of women, among others.

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

This study seeks to focus on Islamic literature in the Philippines, as opposed to a windows display to studies covered by Naval Biliran to summons where Muslim migrants from the southern Philippines are living in a new home. This study thus might not only enrich the sociology of religion in the country but also our initial understanding of rural-based Filipino Muslims, whose population is increasing significantly. More specifically, it will help us explore the modernizing effect of Naval Province Biliran, if any, on the lifestyles, aspirations, and thoughts of selected Filipino migrant Muslims in the Biliran Province,

Thoughts and practices among rural Muslims in Biliran Province

Leyte. Such an exploration would lay the groundwork for a systematic study of a more representative of rural-based Filipino Muslims in the future. Exploring the plight and worldview of Muslim rurality, as gleaned from the experiences of the key informants, could also help enhance the capability of the government and Filipino Christians and those of other faiths to deal with the Muslim minorities in Biliran Province and in the larger Mindanao context in the spirit of greater pluralism. After all, pluralism is the aim of diversified societies in a rapidly globalizing world. Since the problems of Moros are essentially political, economic and social, trying to impose military solutions is doomed to fail. No army, according to Randy David, can end this problem unless it is prepared to commit genocide. A sociological study, therefore, is a prerequisite to solving the Moro problems in Biliran Island particularly and in the country as a whole. This study also aims to find out whether the claim that there is no homogeneous ideology among Islamic adherents is valid. Same as any other religion, Islam, as practiced and professed, is an interpreted faith. Similar to all other interpretations are mediated by the socio-cultural context of the individuals who interpret it. Appreciation of the fact that there is no single Islam, hopefully, will foster multiple interpretations of Islam and bridge cultures to make for a pluralist and more tolerant society.

SCOPE AND LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

This study is qualitative and descriptive in nature. It aims to describe how the Moro Respondents, with varying degrees of non-fundamentalist and fundamentalist Islamic views, as rural migrants constituting an ethnic minority in Naval Province Biliran, adapt and respond to the new social environment where they live. This study attempts to describe the impact of the modernizing process and complex rural life on their religiosity (beliefs and practices vis-Ă -vis Islamic fundamentalism) and aspirations. As such it hopes,

Thoughts and practices among rural Muslims in Biliran Province

as previously noted, to lay the groundwork for a more defined and representative study of Islamic fundamentalism in the Naval Province Biliran area or Conducted in the Naval Biliran area among a purposively selected Respondents living in the barangays surrounding the Mosque at Barangay Calumpang, Naval Biliran Islamic Center, Sitio Lumboy Brgy, Calumpang, and Sitio Laka, Naval Province Biliran, the study focuses on the everyday life of selected Muslims in a small geographic space, In addition, for fundamentalists that span both religious and political views, the contradictions between such views and between beliefs and practice do not make it easy to arrive at meaningful conclusions about them. The problem of attributing the observed beliefs and the perceived changes in religiosity to factors found in the rural environment is also worth noting. The study relies heavily on the reconstructions of the respondents of their biographies and the changes in their views from the better point of the present. Thus, the observed effects of adapting to life in Brgy, Calumpang, and Sitio Lumboy, Naval Province Biliran, on the respondents' religious beliefs and practices as well as views on political and social issues may not correspond neatly to actual changes in these practices and views. At best the study's findings regarding Islamic religiosity and fundamentalism among selected Muslims in Brgy, Calumpang, and Sitio Lumboy, Naval Province Biliran, and the possible effects of the environment on their manifestations explore and presents initial thoughts regarding possible sociological relationships that need further validation by future researchers. Following the references cited in the literature review below, the characteristics of fundamentalism that were explored in this study are not be reduced to the violent dimension of Islamic fundamentalist religiosity which generally prevails in the mind of the Christian Filipino public.

Thoughts and practices among rural Muslims in Biliran Province

The study focuses on the views of Muslim respondents on four issues: 1) The right of Muslim women 2) The implementation of Islamic law; and Democracy 3) The Christian state vs. Islamic state; 4) A simple interpretation of the Qur'an, Focusing on these issues, I would rather precisely construct preliminary segments of the worldview of selected Filipino Muslims in the Brgy, Calumpang, and Sitio Lumboy, Naval Biliran area and determine the level of influence of fundamentalist thought on them. Focusing on these issues, I would rather precisely construct preliminary segments of the worldview of selected Filipino Muslims in the Brgy, Calumpang, and Sitio Lumboy, Naval Biliran area and determine the level of influence of fundamentalist thought on them.

2.1 The Rights of Muslim Women

At the early of Philippine History, women are only allowed to stay at home practicing household chores for them to become a better wife to their husband when they reach the stage of having a Family. They are allowed to study in school, even working, mingling with the other people, etc. That is how Filipino women lived during the 1800s. All are created equal no matter who you are, where you came from, what your religion is, your tradition, culture, belief, and gender for we are all having the same rights and freedom since from the very beginning. And that is what happens at this present day. Everyone is counted and no one has lifted behind which largely differs from the past. Our country, Philippines consists of millions of people living in different ways and that includes RELIGION. There was a much-respected religion nowadays that conquers our country. Yes! We are all a believer of God but we believe in different ways since we have a different

Thoughts and practices among rural Muslims in Biliran Province

religion and of a different interpretation. The question is, does everybody receive the same treatment though they differ from religion especially in terms of right? This question has been answered by most of the Islam people, the Muslims, especially Muslim women. In forty-four correspondents (all are Muslims), more than half of them are very satisfied with the treatment of the other people towards them. They stated they were treated great and most of the people around are kind.

2.2 The Christian State vs. the Islamic State

Christian receives total respect for themselves and even from non-Christians as well, including Muslims. But some wonder how Christians behave towards the Islamic tribes. Similarities and differences between these two major religions are very evident and some of them must be corrected. Christianity teaches love for humanity as the central theme of such religion. According to the result of the research study, the same teachings are applied to Islam. As both religions are considered as majors, all Muslim and Christians were showered with positive traits and admirable characteristics even though these religions differ on whom they believe. While Christians believe in God, Muslims patronizes Allah. Despite this, Muslims respected their own because it has been stated in their holy book, the “Qur'an” Moreover, talking about the Christian State vs. the Islamic State in our society, half of the Muslim respondents believed that the Philippine government treats Christian people and Islamic tribe fairly in terms of policy and regulations. The rights of the Muslims and the implementation of Islamic law has generalized this idea. However, few have recognized that the religion, power, and equality are not so neatly divided and these aspects of the said issue appeared throughout the interviews. Mostly among Muslims respondents affirmed that the ‘equality’ that our government emphasized is not effective as they believe that the Philippine government did nothing to each and influence the Christians about the nature of their religion and culture. The idea is that their ways of living is an extremist culture and embrace democracy, not radical and violent.

Thoughts and practices among rural Muslims in Biliran Province

2.3 Implementation of Islamic Law Democracy

Living in a democratic country, Philippines, one must know and feel the essence of freedom, democracy, and liberty. With different beliefs considering the different ancestor that includes tribes, may have been one of the contemporary isolation and discrimination between men and women. But still, freedom is with us not to mention the rules and regulations one must obey. Pointing out the fact that we live in a place full of differencedifferent kinds of people, beliefs, customs, traditions, government as well might consider the right of everyone by implementing rules and regulations that suit for the whole nation. We know that the Philippines is surrounded by different believers and through that, one must respect the other. Considering that most of our political leaders are Christian, do everyone feels or know that this is not a conflict in our Christian world? Do they commit the liberty they need? Do they have the freedom of doing everything? During the interview, the majority of them said that the form of government the Philippines has doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t affect their individual lives. They still have the will of doing what is supposed to be done, that includes the things that they intended to do. Aside from the democracy of the country, we are living; some of the Muslims still don't accommodate or even understand the Christians way of governing society. The truth is, they left discriminated from Christian that they never were seen and that sound big deal on their part. Some still consider and believe that Muslims are only for Mindanao, thus, of all the time they were with Christians, they felt dumped and isolated in the area they think they own. In summing everything up, respect covers the whole nation. How? Simply because Christian gives the proper way of treating the rest to its best. For the Muslims part, they intend and will always keep good communication between and among men. For as long as we are not hurting the other, everything is in its proper way around.

2.4 Interpretation of Qur'an

Thoughts and practices among rural Muslims in Biliran Province

Qur’an serves as the holy book of Islamic religion, Muslims believed that Qur'an consists of the word of God to the prophet Muhammad over a twenty-two year period. He received the first revelation in the year 610CE while engaging in a contemplative in the Cave of Hira, located at the mountain of light (Jabal al-nur), which is the outskirts of Mecca. The Qur'an is distinct from hadith, which are the sayings of Muhammad. It is agreed Muhammad clearly distinguish between this own utterance and God’s words the Qur’an Muslim and most western scholar of Islam believed that the Arabic Qur’an that exists today contains substantially the same Arabic transmitted by Muhammad. This often surprises the scholar of the Bible, Judaism, and Christianity who in many cases assume that Qur’an has substantially involved over time. In other words while scholars of the Bible in the West, is largely succeeded in conceiving the community of the scholar that the Bible we have today was not very the same "WORD OF GOD" that was reviled through the prophets and which was spoken by Jesus, scholars of Islam have generally not come to similar conclusion about the Qur'an. the text was written without a diacritical point which distinguishes letters from the other but early in the history of the writing of Qur’an, diacritical points were added. The upshot of this is the vast majority of the Muslims rest assured that they are reading the exact words of revelation received by Muhammad (even though the manner of writings those words indeed change over time.)Since Muslims believed that the words themselves are those revealed by God, the act of reciting or reading the Qur’an is believed to be a means of receiving blessing called “Baraka” from God. Hence it is not uncommon to Muslims will learn to read Arabic and the Qur’an cannot read the Arabic letters of Qur’an believed that they never the less benefit from hearing the evocative quality and blessedness of the original Arabic. This is not saying that the text of Qur’an written just as it was written during the time of Muhammad. On the contrary, it was a historical fact, accepted by Muslims and non-Muslims alike. That the writing of the text of Qur’an has substantially involved. One such major evolutionary difference is that originally the text was written without a diacritical point which distinguishes letters from the other but early in the history of the writing of Qur’an, diacritical points were added. The upshot of this is the vast majority of the Muslims rest assured that they are reading

Thoughts and practices among rural Muslims in Biliran Province

the exact words of revelation received by Muhammad (even though the manner of writings those words indeed change over time.) Since Muslims believed that the words themselves are those revealed by God, the act of reciting or reading the Qur’an is believed to be a means of receiving blessing called “Baraka” from God. Hence it is not uncommon to Muslims will learn to read Arabic and the Qur’an cannot read the Arabic letters of Qur’an believed that they never the less benefit from hearing the evocative quality and blessedness of the original Arabic. Summary of the Interview Result Total of 44 respondents Table 1: During the Interview I-RMW

II-CS vs. IS

III- IILD

IV-Io-Qur’an

B. Good

C. Fair

D. Poor

E. Very

A. Very

TOTAL

Good

Poor Undecided TOTAL

109

Percentage

III

TOTAL

Very good

70%

77%

45.55%

18.18

211

Good

18.185

34%

20.46%

11.30%

Fair

11.375

20%

18.8%

25.0%

Poor

14%

9.1%

18.18%

Very Poor

6.81%

25.0%

No Answer

6.81%

2.27%

TOTAL

425

Thoughts and practices among rural Muslims in Biliran Province

Table 1: shows that most of the respondents are feeling very good for the Christian State vs. The Islamic State catch to 77% (p=31) it followed by The right of Muslim Women are also Very good with 70% (p=34) followed The by Implementation of Islamic law and democracy in 45.55% (p=20) very good. while the having Simple Interpretation of Qur'an very good of 18.18% (p= 8) Good for the right of Muslim women got 18.185% (p=8) Good for the Christian state vs. the Islamic state 34% (p=11) next is Good of the Implementation of Islamic law and democracy 20.40%(p=9) and follower of the Simple interpretation of Qur'an, Good 11.30% (p=5) and the Fair for 11.37% the right of Muslim Women, and 20% (p=9) and Fair other scale of 18.8% (p=8) for the Christian State vs. The Islamic State and followed by 25.0% (p=11) of the Simple interpretation of Qur'an which is Fair, and the next level is Poor have the score of 14% (p=6) in The Christian State vs. Islamic State. And next to that is 9.1% (p=4) followed by the Simple interpretation of Qur'an 18.18% (p=8) and some of the respondents are made to choose 7%(p=3) with the Christian state vs. the Islamic state and followed by 6.81% (p=3) and next is 25.0% (p=11) of Simple interpretation of Qur'an, and the next scale was the score of no comments of the two respondents, which is 6.81% (p=3) the Christian state vs. Islamic state and the last on the list is 2.27%(p=1) the simple interpretation of Qur'an. All the data needed to complete the study obtained during the interview of the selected respondents who are participated and spend their time in order to complete the requested data.

Thoughts and practices among rural Muslims in Biliran Province

Chapter 3

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

The researcher obtained data from the theory found in the Sociology of religion to determine the data to be gathered and analyzed to understand. This section brought the book of Fundamentalism, the surrounding and to be religious.

Islamic Fundamentalism Historical and Doctrinal Survey

Fundamentalism formally in the late 19th century and in the early 20th century by conservative Christian John Nelson Darby, Dwight Moody, B.B Warfield, Billy Sunday, and others who are concerned about the moral the principles adopted by modernism are beliefs that people (rather than God) make, develop, and shape their surroundings through the aid of scientific knowledge, technology, and practical experiments. On the other hands, additionally to fighting the influence of modernism, the church is struggling with the Germanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s greater opposition movement, seeking to deny the absence of scripture.

One of the most controversial religious terms is fundamentalism. Within Christianity, Judaism, Islam, and other faiths, the term is used to refer to the most conservative wing of religion. Author Karen Armstrong (2000:12) in The Battle for God defines fundamentalism as embattled forms of spirituality, which have emerged as a response to a perceived crisis, namely the fear that modernity will erode or even eradicate their faith and morality. Bruce Lawrence in Defenders of God: The Fundamentalist Revolt against

Thoughts and practices among rural Muslims in Biliran Province

the Modern Age (1989) views fundamentalism as the affirmation of religious authority as holistic and absolute, admitting neither criticism nor reduction; it is expressed through the collective demand that specific creedal and ethical principles derived from Scripture be publicly recognized and legally enforced. Jeffrey K. Hadden and Anson Shupe (1989: 109-122), offered the following definition of fundamentalism: it is a proclamation of reclaimed authority over a sacred tradition, which is to be instated as an antidote for a society that has strayed from its cultural moorings. They note that fundamentalists refuse the split between the sacred and the secular that characterizes modernist thinking. It also involves a plan to bring religion back to center stage in public policy decisions. For Hadden and Shupe (1989:72) fundamentalism is an attempt to draw upon a religious tradition to cope with and reshape an already changing world. They both argue that around the world there is a "common process of secularizing social change." This process contains "the very seeds of a reaction that bring religion back into the heart of concerns about the public policy. The secular ...is also the cause of secularization. From the definitions above, fundamentalism is seen as a radical reaction to the new social world (modernity) to the purity and originality of religious fundamentals and morality of a certain religion or faith. Modernity is viewed as a corrosive force making religious traditions less and less significant in individual and social affairs. The fundamentalists are anti-modern insofar as they are opposed to the perceived evils of modernity and their negative impact. To consider them anti-modern, however, is problematic due to the ways in which even self-styled fundamentalists are implicated in the culture of modernity. American fundamentalists, for example, come from a tradition of religious pluralism and the separation of church and state; the differentiating rationality of modern times is by no means alien to them. The attempt within different religions to go back to fundamentals and resist or turn back liberal or secular tendencies in theology, culture, and society, regardless of historical religion-cultural origin was inspired either by a religious vision or sacred text.

Thoughts and practices among rural Muslims in Biliran Province

It is ironic that the globalization of modernity, with its power to change the world through technological developments and widespread communication in cyberspace, is associated with the rise of fundamentalist visions and texts. This phenomenon rejects the assumption of secularist thinkers that religion is a primitive superstition that will be outgrown by civilized, rational man. Some secularist thinkers (Marx, Freud, and Nietzsche) confidently predicted its imminent demise. At best they said religion is a marginal and private activity, which could no longer influence world events. The world now realizes, however, that this is a false prophecy. It is true that modernity could undermine the essence of religiosity and to some extent strengthen its separation from social affairs. But modernity could have also created the fundamentalist attitude that reacts to modernity itself. The contradictory outcomes of modernity-the separation of the sacred from the secular on the one hand and their fusion in fundamentalism, on the other hand, makes for the dialectics of social change, which hopefully will result in the better social order. Originating historically within the Christian tradition, the term fundamentalism in Islam has been criticized and its use is regarded as misleading. John L Esposito (1996:43) of Georgetown University pointed out that the term fundamentalism is laden with Christian presuppositions and western stereotypes, and it implies a monolithic threat. More useful according to Esposito are the terms Islamic revivalism, Islamic activism, and political Islam, which are less value-laden and have roots within a tradition of political reform and social activism. Garaudy (1991:1) might sharpen the suggestion of Esposito by saying that the term 'fundamentalism" is not merely limited to religion, but is also related to politics, society, and culture. For him, fundamentalism is the worldview erected on the basis of conviction (belief) whether it is religious, political or cultural, practiced and indoctrinated by the founder of that belief (1991:1). Akbar S. Ahmed further criticizes the appropriateness of using and applying the term fundamentalism to Islam. The term fundamentalism has its origin in The Fundamentals: A Testimony to the Truth, a series of pamphlets published between 1910 and 1915 that served as a point of reference for groups of conservative American Protestants early in the twentieth century (Lecher, 1998:197, Rakhmat, 1998:260, An-Na'im: Encarta Reference Library, 2003). By

Thoughts and practices among rural Muslims in Biliran Province

and large, this was a response to the loss of religious influence and emerged in the context of the traditional revivalism experienced in America during the early twentieth century. This loss of influence, coupled with the liberalizing trends of German biblical criticism and the encroachment of Darwinist theories about the origin of the universe prompted a response by the conservative churchmen. At the time, the authenticity of the Bible, the origin of the universe, the birth of Jesus Christ, the crucifixion as the way of salvation and the second coming of the Christ was reinterpreted by liberal theologians in a new way to accommodate new scientific and technological discoveries. In 1920, a journalist and Baptist layman, Curtis Lee Laws, appropriated the term fundamentalist as a designation for those who were ready to do battle royal for fundamentals (www.religiousmovement.lib.virginia.edu/nmrs/fund.html) as we know it, in its original application, it means someone who believes in the fundamentals of religion, which is the Bible and the scriptures. In that sense, every Muslim is a fundamentalist believing in the Qur'an and the prophet. However the manner that it is used in the media to mean a fanatic or extremist, it does not illuminate either Muslim thought or Muslim society. In the Christian context, it is a useful concept. In the Muslim context, it simply confuses because by definition every Muslim believes in the fundamentals of Islam. But even Muslims differ in their ideas about how, and to what extent, to apply Islamic ideas to the modern world (Living Islam: 18-19). The positive view of fundamentalism as a term used even within the Islamic tradition is expressed by Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na'im (2003). The origin of the term according to Na'im should not preclude its application to movements in the Islamic, Jewish, Hindu or another religious tradition if they share the same salient features and important traits. The defining characteristic of American Protestant fundamentalist movement for the author was firm, principled, and militant opposition to the inroads that modernism, liberalism, and higher Biblical criticism were making into the Protestant churches, and the supposedly Bible-based culture of the United State at large. In light of the objections and considering the need to sharpen the meaning of fundamentalism as applied to Islam, observers use the term rigorism or in French integers to describe fundamentalism phenomenon. Referring originally to Catholic traditionalist group, Integrity aims to integrate all aspects of life into religion and vice versa (Nasr, 1987:304;

Thoughts and practices among rural Muslims in Biliran Province

Watt, 1988:2; Gellner 1992: 2). Fundamentalism as interim would then refer to reintegrating a social order under the canopy of one all-encompassing sacred tradition. Salvatore called those who looked at Islam as a religion and a state, the equivalent of French interests, the solutionistâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s conflations. For this group, Islam is the solution (Islam how al-Hall) for individual and social order (1998:84). The underlying idea for Islam as for any given faith is to be upheld firmly in its full and literal form or free of compromise, reinterpretation or diminution (Gellner 1992:2). Adding legitimacy to the use of the term fundamentalism in Islam, Lawrence Davidson argued that there are two reasons for using it in analyzing Muslim movements: (1) the expression Islamic fundamentalism has come into wide usage in the West as well as in the Muslim world, where it is rendered in Arabic as al-Jahiliyyah al-Islamiyyah. Here the word ushuli can be translated as fundamentalist. In fact, it is so generally accepted that it is now the main descriptive expression recognized by all interested parties to describe the Islamic revivalist movements. (2) The term â&#x20AC;&#x153;fundamentalism" is sufficiently accurate to describe Muslims who see themselves as adhering to the ultimate fundamentals or foundations of their religion, and also to a literalist interpretation of the Muslim holy book, the Qur'an (Davidson, 1989: 16-17). Following the arguments for the use of 'fundamentalism' to refer to Islamic revivalism, My study applies the term 'fundamentalist' to Filipino Muslims who struggle for the unity of the church and the public sphere including the state in the ideology of the independent Islamic state and society for Muslim Mindanao.

Scholarly Analysis

Other scholars, especially those who sympathize with the present-day act protested the label of the fundamentalist ideology-thinking of Muslims like John Esposito, America's foremost apologist for Islam-driven movements, made this argument against using fundamentalism in an Islamic context: For many liberal or mainline Christians,

Thoughts and practices among rural Muslims in Biliran Province

"fundamentalist" is pejorative or derogatory, being applied rather indiscriminately to all those who advocate a literalist biblical position and thus are regarded as static, retrogressive, and extremist. As a result, fundamentalism often has been regarded popularly as referring to those who are literalists and wish to return to and replicate the past. In fact, few individuals or organizations in the Middle East fit such a stereotype. Indeed, many fundamentalist leaders have had the best education, enjoy responsible positions in society, and are adept at harnessing the latest technology to propagate their views and create viable modern institutions such as schools, hospitals, and social service agencies. Esposito added that fundamentalism "is often equated with political activism, extremism, fanaticism, terrorism, and anti-Americanism," a prejudgment by the label. Unlike Lewis, who was prepared to make a concession to widespread usage (it "must be accepted"), Esposito balked: "I prefer to speak of Islamic revivalism and Islamic activism rather than of Islamic fundamentalism." Edward Said, the defender of Palestine and critic of Western representations of Islam, also weighed in. He did not so much object to the term (if it were properly defined) as to the way it had come to be employed against Islam: Instead of scholarship, we often find only journalists making extravagant statements, which are instantly picked up and further dramatized by the media. Looming over their work is the slippery concept, to which they constantly allude, of "fundamentalism," a word that has come to be associated almost automatically with Islam, although it has a flourishing, usually elided relationship with Christianity, Judaism, and Hinduism. The deliberately created associations between Islam and fundamentalism ensure that the average reader comes to see Islam and fundamentalism as essentially the same thing. Fundamentalism represents modernity's giving rise to a deepening of religious faith. As modernity eroded the influence of the sacred, Lawrence argues that the Defenders of God actively called for a return to fundamentals. Jeff Hayness (1999) also asserts that religious fundamentalists, feeling that their way of life is under threat in the modern world, aims to reform society in accordance with religious tenets, to change laws, morality, social norms and sometimes the political configurations of their country. From another angle, Risebrodt (1993) noted that the increasing inability of traditional cultural milieus to

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reproduce themselves under modern (concretely: urban) conditions are the source for the birth of fundamentalism, a kind that he conceptualizes as a radical traditionalist movement. Risebrodt considers fundamentalism as the failure of traditionalists to adapt to modernizing projects. One can conclude from the literature that fundamentalism emerged as a cultural and sociological reaction or an antithesis to social change from pre-modern--with traditionalist characteristics--to a modern era. When modernity erodes the traditional values, which are the characteristics of a pre-modern era, and traditionalists are unable to reproduce themselves under the modern era, "fundamentalism" is viewed as a viable and possibly the only alternative to choose. Other observers saw fundamentalism as one of the symptoms of or religiopolitical expressions in a postmodern era (Ahmed: 1992; Ahmed & Donnan 1994). In 1988, Richard Falk (1988:379) observed that "ours is a period of unexpected, varied, and multiple resurgences of the religion of political force." He asserts that politicized religion (fundamentalism) is a form of post-modern protest against the mechanization, atomization, and alienation of the modern world. Religion, he argued, provides the materials with which to move beyond purely instrumental rationality and address core issues of the current human situation (Falk 1988: p.382). Tracing the rise of Islam revivalism and fundamentalism to modernity or post-modernity, the view of Islamic fundamentalism as a form of religiopolitical expression in the postmodern era can be seen as a historical and a sociological. In fact, the Wahabiyyah movement led by Muhammad ibn Abdul Wahhab (1703-92) in the Arabian peninsula, which is so often been seen as a prototype of Islamic fundamentalism, arose before the European penetration into that area. Moreover the purification of Islamic practices at that time. The movement was thus born not as a reaction to Western penetration, much less to modernization projects. It existed long before the modern and post-modern states or at least in the early stages of modernity. To relate the birth of Islamic fundamentalism merely to Western influence is, therefore, a simplification of the complex religious-social realities of Islam. In fact, the ideological awareness of postmodernism as a rejection of modernism is found among only a few Muslims. The sociological situation of most contemporary Muslims worldwide,

Thoughts and practices among rural Muslims in Biliran Province

unlike their Western counterparts, puts them in "pre-modern" or "modern periods rather than in a postmodern phase. Only Muslim intellectuals would comprehend the failure of modernity's projects and the return to religious fundamentalism as part of a postmodern outlook. And even if they do, the rejection of al-Maududi (1903-1979) or other Islamic fundamentalist movement and the modernization of Islam is only beginning, making a "postmodern" interpretation of fundamentalism an epistemological question rather than corresponding to a postmodernism stage of civilization. Fundamentalism in Islam is more appropriately seen as an extreme form of Islamic revivalism or Islamic awakening, If the orientation of Islamic revival takes a form of religious intensification inwardly (inward oriented) at the individual level, the intensification in fundamentalism is aimed outwardly as well (outward oriented). Islamic revivalism or inward-intensification has involved the increased of individual attachment to Islam while fundamentalism entails high commitment not only to transform individual lives but also communal and social life. Hence Islamic fundamentalism is often esoteric, emphasizing more on lawfulness or unlawfulness based on the Islamic law (halal-haram complex).

In this regard, the

classification of Azra is useful. He distinguishes two types of Islamic fundamentalism: premodern (fundamentalism) and contemporary fundamentalism (neo-fundamentalism). Pre-modern fundamentalism is caused by the condition and situation of the Muslim community itself. Therefore, it is more genuine and inward-oriented. On the other hand, contemporary fundamentalism emerges as a reaction against the penetration of Muslim life by western systems, social values, culture, politics, and economics either as a direct consequence of Western colonialism or through the integration of Western aspects into the thinking of Muslim intellectuals who are modernist, secularist, and western oriented. Such intellectuals constitute Western extensions for Islamic fundamentalists (Azra, 1996: p.111). The Iran Revolution is a clear example of the contemporary fundamentalist movement's protest against Western modernity, which Reza Pahlevi imposed repressively. Ayatollah Khomeini, on the other hand, is a perfect personification of the success of deconstruction of Western political order and also--in Khatib's termdecentering of modernism of western politics and thought for flatting away toward the untaught system of thought (Khatibi 1985:9-19).

Thoughts and practices among rural Muslims in Biliran Province

The question of faith in the contemporary scene was presented by Ernest Gellner in terms of three basic contesting views in his Postmodernism, Reason, and Religion (1992). These views represent the fundamental and irreducible positions required to map our condition today. They are, according to Gellner, somewhat like the children's game of scissors, paper, and rock: a pair of scissors cut paper, the paper wraps the rock, and the rock blunts the scissors. There is no stable dominance of one over the other but only inherent instability. The three contesting views are (Gellner, 1992:2): Religious fundamentalism, which beliefs in a unique truth and which believes itself to be in possession of it. Relativism exemplified for instance by the recent fashion of 'postmodernism'. It believes in a variety of formulations, which disregards the idea of a unique truth but tries to treat each particular vision as if it were nonetheless true. Enlightenment rationalism, or rationalist fundamentalism which retains the faith in the uniqueness of truth, but does not believe we ever possess it definitely, and which uses, as the foundation for practical conduct and inquiry, not any substantive conviction, but only loyalty to certain procedural rules. When modernity penetrates religion, Gellner sees secularization and the erosion of community life as factors that undermine it. Secularization according to Luckman (1967) emerges from the growing irrelevance of traditional religious forms in contemporary society. Relying on the logic of science and reason, modernization will consequently marginalize religion; the separation between church and the state or secularization becomes unavoidable as a necessary move towards the modern era. Gellner wrote: It (i.e. a theory of secularization) runs as follows: in the scientific-industrial society, religious faith, and observance decline. One can give intellectualist reasons for this: the doctrines of religion are in conflict with those of science, which in turn are endowed with enormous prestige, and which constitute the basis of modern technology, and thereby also of the modern economy. Therefore, religious faith declines. Its prestige goes down as the prestige of its rival rises (p.4). Fundamentalism emerges at this point as a form of protest against the secularizing wave. It is expressed in the effort to fuse once again the affairs of church and state. Moreover, Gellner notes alternatively that modernity has demolished

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the "celebration of community", forming an atomized world of modern mass society. Under such a situation there is a little community to celebrate other than possibly the national state and that state has found its own new ritual and set of values in nationalism. The erosion of community life, Gellner notes is reflected in the loss of faith and the diminished appeal of ritual (p.4-5). The purpose of fundamentalists is to bring back community life united by the same faith, as a deconstruction of the modern individualistic life in an atomized world. At the end of the Middle Ages, the Old World According to Gellner contained four major civilizations. Of these, three are now (i.e. Christian, Sinic and Indian world) in one measure or another, secularized (p.6). But in the Islamic world, the situation is altogether different. Gellner was puzzled by the uniqueness of Islam by asking why one particular religion should be so markedly secularization-resistant. He answered his question by mentioning the two styles of Islam-High Islam and Low or Folk Islam. Gellner found that within the Islamic world, the low culture was contaminated by high culture through the spread of literacy. This contamination he sees as one of the prime causes of the strength of fundamentalism in the modern world of Islam. high Islam is carried by urban scholars, recruited largely from the trading bourgeoisie, and reflects the natural tastes and values of urban middle classes. Those values include order, ruleobservance, sobriety, and learning. They contain an aversion to hysteria and emotional excess and to the excessive use of the audio-visual aids of religion. High Islam stresses the severely monotheistic and monocratic nature of Islam, it is mindful of the prohibition of claims to mediation between God and man, and it is generally oriented towards Puritanism and scripturalism. Low Islam is different. In encouraging literacy, it uses writing for magical purposes, rather than as a tool of scholarship. It stresses magic more than learning, ecstasy more than rule-observance. The friction between the two styles of Islam would lead to the emergence of the fundamentalist spirit in their religiosity. High Islam would launch a kind of internal purification movement, and attempt to re-impose itself on the whole society. Interesting to observe is that in the long term they were never successful so that the resulting pattern was one that might be called an eternal or cyclical reformation as noted by Ibn Khaldun and David Hume. When the reformer (of Islam) prevails and had re-establishes a purified order, things slowly return to normal. The spirit

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Gellner notes is willing but the social flesh is weak (p.13). Literate, rule-abiding scripturalist puritanism is practicable for urban scholars, but not so for the mass, or for the rural tribesmen. They may according to him embrace it during the ardent period of revival and the struggle for its enforcement, but they will forget it when they return to the home life of camp and village. For reasons well explored by Durkheim's sociology (1915), they need a form of religion on the ground which provides society with its temporal and spatial markers, which indicates the boundaries of sub-groups and seasonal activities, and which provides the rituals and the masters of ceremonies for festivals. Some changes still occurred in the Islamic world but they were not as dramatic as in the Christian world. This might have caused the restless resistance of Muslim communities towards secularization. The continued friction between high Islam and low Islam and between modernist-reformist and traditionalist within the former as noted by Engels did not result in much change but merely a repetition of what Ibn Khaldun has predicted. Arguing, however, like Khaldun that "change" in the Islamic world has resulted in mere cyclical repetition is disregarding Islamic historical reality. Although Islamic history could be summarized as continual friction between reformist and fundamentalist groups, we will see how modern values and changes happened as a result of these frictions. The characteristics that differentiate Islamic revivalism, Islamic reformism and Islamic radicalism mapped by Choueiri (1997: 181) in Table 1 below will sharpen those evolutionary and gradual changes. The rise of Islamic fundamentalism in Islam is indeed a very big reaction against the Islamic liberals thought. Fazlur Rahman (1979) in Islam: Challenges and Opportunities describe the reaction of Islamic fundamentalists to Islamic liberalists/modernists. What Rahman called the revivalist movement began with premodern revivalist movements particularly the dahabiya movement. Along with the Wahabi movement, other movements emerged in North Africa, the Saniyah movement, the Fulaniah movement in West Africa, and other movements in India. All these movements constituted the pre-modern revivalists in Islam. In Indonesia, the pre-modern Islamic revivalist would include the Padri movement in Minangkabau, in the early nineteenth century. Pre-modern Islamic revivalist movements were actually not reactions to Islamic

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liberal thought since there was no liberal movement at that time. The ideas and differences among Islamic movements and its characteristics in Islam based on the frame thought of Rahman as drawn by Awad Bahnson (1993; 106-07) are enumerated in Table2.

Pre-Modern Islamic Revivalism (Fundamentalism)

Deep concern for social and moral issues in Islamic society Call to return to the Qur'an and tradition of the prophet Intellectual exercise to renew the laws Anti-religious practices of the masses The renewal of Islamic teachings if needed.

Classic Islamic Modernism

Establishing social and moral aspects of the society, promoting education Western ideas considered as a standard of modernity and development and a new meaning of Qur'an and Hadiths are considered necessary Social reforms through education, women participation, and political reform through constitutional and representative government Combining Islamic tradition with Western institutions such as democracy, sciences, and university doing freedom movement, anti-colonialism, and imperialism.

Neo-Revivalist

Well organized socio-political movement continuing classic Islamic modernism and operating modern Islamic education such as modern.

Thoughts and practices among rural Muslims in Biliran Province

School and university Islam is considered as a total system of life individually or collectively (societal level) Searching and forming non-Western self-identity through the economic, social and political system. (The issue of Islamization strengthening the spirit of anti- Western colonialism and imperialism.

Neo-Modernist

The style and methodology of their thought are more westernized Ijtihad is applied in many variations systematically and comprehensively, The separation between religion and politics, Religious tolerance individually The increasing of socio-religious responsibility, Below is an elaboration of the features of fundamentalism by some experts (Nader Saiedi 1984: 182-92; Marty 1992: 3-13; Azam 1998: 262-3; Salvatore 1998): First: Repressive interpretation on behalf of God. The traditionalist/ fundamentalist position is that knowledge is given either by revelation or reason, and that opinion is not knowledge. Knowledge means the correct representation of the world, free of error and without distortion of perspective, intentionally, or physical frailty. The Islamic faith is not a matter of opinion for a true believer. There can be no opinion regarding the theoretical absolute or the revealed truth, though differences may be unavoidable in practice. But even this contrast between theory and practice is to be distinguished from the liberal justification of the diversity of opinion. Liberalists treat religion as an opinion and therefore tolerate diversity in precisely those realms that traditional belief insists upon without any ambivalence. Second: Unification of religion and the state. Fundamentalists insist on building an ideal state (religious state) and destroying the secular state. Its slogan is captured in the 3Ds formula: Islam = din (religion) + Dunya (world) + dawla (state) (Julkipli, 1998; Salvatore, 1998; Mousolli, 1998). Here Islam is considered â&#x20AC;&#x153;a complete way of life," thus encompassing the sociopolitical, economic, and religious aspects of human life.

Thoughts and practices among rural Muslims in Biliran Province

Fundamentalists have always idealized Muhammad and early Islam as a standard of development in Islam. William Montgomery Watt (1988) warns of the danger of this idealization, namely that the community becomes so obsessed with recreating something in the past that it fails to see and deal with the real challenges and problems of the present. Third: The spread of evil symbols associated with modernity and the West. Forth: Literalism-scriptural. They also reject historical and rational interpretations of the divine text. Fifth: Obsession with super-structural issues. Fundamentalists see alcoholism, adultery, homosexuality, freedom of speech, minority religious group, and so on, as the problems of society. They reject sociological categories such as class, class interests, and social organization. Its main concern is the development of symbolic Islamic culture completely and strictly regardless of class, ethnic and historical differences in society. Sixth: Pan-Islamism. Its obsession is to create a pan-Islamic state as an extension of the concept of the ummah (community of believers) which is defined ideologically. Nonbelievers such as Christians in Pakistan or Baha'i followers in Iran will be the secondclass citizens in such a state. Seventh: Patriarchy. Fundamentalists are usually concerned with the use of the strict veil (hijab) to signify the role and position of women in Islamic society. It is interesting to quote in Saiedi's study that the problem of Muslim countries with modernity (Western civilization) is not based primarily on political culture as Huntington asserts but is linked to the way it treats a woman and their freedoms. Eighth: No East no West. This slogan, actually quoted from the verse of the Holy Qur'an (chapter 24 verse 35), is given the political and ideological interpretation. Favoring neither communist (East) nor capitalist (West), Islamic fundamentalism seeks to liberate Muslims from dominant ideologies and admonishes them to stand independently of prevailing ideologies in terms of politics, economics, social, and cultural development. Ninth: Authoritarian in fundamentalist discourse. Fundamentalists emphasize normative and doctrinal discourse more than descriptive or factual discourse. For them, every issue has a clear and typical answer. Any alternative answer is an illusion and must be rejected. They also believe in objective and absolute values. Extending this belief to everyday life, there is an interpretation of and an absolute solution to every problem, which is derived from authority rather than individual rationality or reasoning. The character is the more

Thoughts and practices among rural Muslims in Biliran Province

than the important claims of the spreading assumptions and Muslim fundamentalist traditions even among the Naval Biliran Muslims, a trouble Muslim influence on the rural secular way of life over it. The modern approach to society in Naval Biliran society might mean to show the following, greater individual and rationality, the extent of secular laws and regulations and pluralism. It is, therefore, a good social laboratory to observe how an initial group of Moro migrant Muslims from southern provinces with their spirit of Islam, the notion of the Islamic state, separation from the government, and different sociocultural background accept, react, or adapt to the different socio-political and cultural environment. As mentioned previously, this study draws from the literature the issues to focus on in exploring the fundamentalism of selected Muslims: the Islamic state, democracy and the implementation of Syariah/Islamic law, literal interpretation of the Qur'an and Hadiths, the position of women in society, and jihad. After all, Naim (2003) concluded that Islamic fundamentalism everywhere is an expression of the right of Muslim people to political, religious, and/or cultural self- determination. Accordingly, Islamic fundamentalism claims to represent the free choice of Muslim communities whether in terms of demands for the strict application of Syariah (Islamic law) as a comprehensive way of life by the state (when Muslims are the majority) or through voluntary compliance in social relations and personal lifestyle (when Muslims are the minority) (CDROOM Encarta, Reference Library 2003).

Province Phenomenon

The migration of Muslim Filipinos from the agrarian setting of Mindanao to the rural environment of a Province is hypothesized to affect their worldview in ways that could either erode or strengthen their religiosity, and if they possess radical Islamic views, their fundamentalism. Presumably, life in rural areas could radically change the Filipino Muslim's traditional patterns of social life and the nature of the Moro community. For this reason, the following literature is relevant to the study.

Thoughts and practices among rural Muslims in Biliran Province

Classical sociologist Ferdinand Toennies contrasted two types of social organization-one typical for rural areas, the other characteristic of urban areas (1963; orig.1887). Gemeinschaft (a German word meaning roughly 'community") is a type of social organization characterized by strong social solidarity based on tradition and predominantly personal relationships. In Toennies view, rural peoples were strongly bound to one another by ties of kinship, neighborhood, and friendship. Gemeinschaft then describes any social setting in which people form what is, more or less, a single primary group. In contrast, Gesellschaft (means "association') is a type of social organization characterized by weak social solidarity resulting from cultural pluralism and predominantly impersonal social relationships. Here people rarely act with the well-being of everyone in mind. Instead, they are motivated largely by self-interest. City dwellers have a little common identity and few collective goals. Like a vast secondary group, they tend to see others as a means of achieving their own individual goals.

In recent years, sociologists have given much attention to the innumerable implications of the Internet to society. From its initial use by a relatively small, computer-literate population of users, the Internet grew rapidly beginning in the 1990s (Abbate 1999; Castells 2001). It is now used for social interaction, business, and commerce (legitimate and illegitimate), education, research, news, propaganda, entertainment, and more. There is widespread agreement among sociologists and others that the Internet and other communication technologies are vastly changing society. There is, however, less agreement about whether those changes are positive, negative or a combination of both (DiMaggio et al. 2001, 308). Sociologists have now expanded their interests to include the myriad online social activities and behaviors to which these technologies have given rise. The following chapters give attention to these areas. In a classic essay published in 1903, he noted that city dwellers are continually bombarded by a tremendous amount of "nervous stimulation" (Hatt & Reiss, 1951: 563-74). Noise, traffic, crowds, the rapid pace of life, and dozens of other stimuli overload the urban resident. Simmel argued that an urbanite could be overwhelmed by the situation in the city. Consequently, city people typically develop what Simmel called "a blasĂŠ attitude". By this he meant being selective

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about their responses, tuning out much of what goes on around them and focusing their attention only on what they deem important.

Both Toennies and Simmel showed how urban life replaced social solidarity, rural commonality and the sense of belonging to a shared group with that of urban individuality. Even though solidarity is rebuilt in urban areas, it usually takes the form, according to the theorists, of an organic type of solidarity one based on the interdependence of people who engage in specialized activities-- and not mechanical solidarity based on the perception that people are alike. This shift for Emile Durkheim is the result of the increasing division of labor. Under a regime of organic solidarity, urbanites tend to be individualists, with greater freedom but also increasingly in danger of being isolated and alone. Many secular and religious rural activities are devoted to alleviating this sense of loneliness. Churches and religious organizations are often valued as community centers where people can become acquainted. Yet the primary purpose of a rural spirituality and the work of the church in rural areas cannot be to give back to men what urban life takes away from them. For the replacement of what is lost is not sufficient to consecrate what they have. The real task of spirituality and religion for Follet is to consecrate and to exalt the values of city life. Spirituality and religion must find some way of giving the ultimate meaning to city life by transforming its activities so that they can be dedicated to the greater glory of God (p. 342).

The Fate of Religiosity

Rural life cannot be separated from the modern process. Modernization has always brought social and cultural changes including changes in the religiosity of people. This section briefly summarizes the relevant literature. Harvey Cox (1966) pointed out that the age of the secular modern province is an age of "no religion at all". It no longer looks to religious rules and rituals for its morality or its

Thoughts and practices among rural Muslims in Biliran Province

meanings (p. 3). For some, religion provides a hobby, for others a mark of national or ethnic identification, for still others an esthetic delight. For fewer and fewer does it provide an inclusive and commanding system of personal and cosmic values and explanations? Peter Berger (1977) noted four general features that indicate the modernization of society: The decline of small traditional communities, the expansion of personal choice, increasing diversity in patterns of belief, future orientation and growing awareness of time. Berger suggests that a characteristic of modernity is "the progressive weakening, if not destruction, of the concrete and relatively cohesive communities in which human beings have found solidarity and meaning throughout most of history" (p.72). As the power of tradition declines, people in modern societies come to view their lives as a series of options or personal choices, which Peter Berger describes as the process of individualization. In Bergerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s view, this recognition of alternatives is based on a crucial willingness to embrace change. In modern societies, he claims, people readily imagine that "things could be other than what they have been" (p.77). This also happened to religion and belief. If in rural society, religious belief and other elements of tradition tend to enforce conformity at the expense of diversity and change, so in modern society, modernity promotes a more rational, scientific worldview, so that cultural norms and values become more variable. Here Berger (1979) explains three options for religious thought in the pluralistic situation; the deductive, deductive, and inductive options. The deductive option is to reassert the authority of a religious tradition in the face of modern secularity. The deductive option has the cognitive advantage of once more providing religious reflection with objective criteria of validity. The major disadvantage is the difficulty of sustaining the subjective plausibility of such a procedure in the modern situation (p.62). Religious fundamentalism often arises from this kind of thought. The reductive option is to reinterpret the tradition in terms of modern secularity, which in turn is taken to be a compelling necessity of participating in modern consciousness. It is according to Berger an exchange of authorities: the authority of modern thought or consciousness is substituted for the authority of the tradition, the Deus exit of old replaced by Homo modern Dixit. In other words, modern consciousness and its alleged categories

Thoughts and practices among rural Muslims in Biliran Province

become the only criteria of validity for religious reflection. The major advantage of this option is that it reduces cognitive dissonance, or seems to do so. The major disadvantage is that the tradition, with all its religious contents, tends to disappear or dissolve in the process of secularizing translation. The inductive option is to turn to experience as the ground of all religious affirmation-one's experience, to whatever extent this is possible, and the experience embodied in a particular range of traditions. The advantage of this option is open-mindedness and the freshness that usually comes from a non-authoritarian approach to questions of truth. The disadvantage is that open-mindedness tends to be linked to open-mindedness, and this frustrates the deep religious hunger for certainty (p.125-156). The last characteristic of modernity according to Berger is that time has special significance to members of modern societies in two ways. First, modern societies are oriented more toward the future than the past, a contrast to the time orientation of fundamentalists which looks backward and tries to return to the "old world" as they dream of. Second, in modern societies, specific units of time are an important foundation of everyday life. The importance of time increases to the point where people now claim that "time is money." In sum, Peter Berger sees modernization as human emancipation from tightly knit social communities in which traditional religious beliefs provided each person with a strong sense of belonging but little individual freedom. In modern societies, people have far more autonomy with regard to beliefs and actions; on the other side of the coin, the social ties that bind each person to others are typically less personal and enduring. Using those theories and ideas are the lenses with which the socio-religious realities of the Muslim migrants in the Naval Biliran area. In more ways than one, the thesis is the product of the mutual dialogue between me on the one hand and the literature and respondents, on the other.

Thoughts and practices among rural Muslims in Biliran Province

Chapter 4

METHODOLOGY OF THE RESEARCH

Research Design

My Research is designed to probe the level of Islamic fundamentalism among Muslim Filipinos in the Province of Biliran. Enlightened by the literature on Islamic revivalism and rural life, the proposed study will be an exploration of the religious views of Muslims in the Brgy, Calumpang, Naval Biliran, area and the ways rural life has affected them. To portray the different social and cultural environments between the Moro rural setting and the Province of Biliran in the context of the history of Muslim struggles and state intervention in Mindanao. Due to economic difficulties and the need to seek a better life the Mindanaobased Muslims in the study migrated from the rural environment, bringing with them their social, cultural and political identities to the Brgy, Calumpang, and Naval Province Biliran area. In this area, they are not only influenced by the existence of mosques and Islamic communities but also by the secular rural life and its modernity projects. The combination of the Moro's tradition and religiosity with secular rural values is expected to result in the dynamics of the Moro's Islamic religiosity and their level of fundamentalism (the fusion of religion and politics/ the state), whether they tend to be more resistant (strong fundamentalist), moderate, or secularist.

Location of Study

The Muslim village in Brgy. Calumpang, Sitio Lumboy, and Sitio Laka, Naval Province Biliran, the ideal place for the research, In particular, the field research was confined to

Thoughts and practices among rural Muslims in Biliran Province

Barangay (Brgy. Calumpang, Naval Biliran) surrounding the Mosque because they reflect the strong influences of both the mosque and the community. Technically the Islamic Center in the Brgy. Calumpang, Naval. It is however adjacent geographically to the town of Naval Biliran because of many of the Muslims their business in Naval Market, spending long hours there and intermingling with customers. The intermingling of a vibrant market or secular life with an equally powerful religious life makes the Brgy, Calumpang, Naval situation a good field for research.

Sources of Data

Data gathering was done within a definite time after seeking authorization to undertake the study in Brgy. Calumpang, Naval, and obtained data from one source: Respondents who were involved in the study, direct observation, face to face interview and existing documents that were accessible to the researcher. The key informants included Muslim clerics, government employees (if any), factory workers, politicians (if any), professionals, traders and representatives of non-government organizations (NGOs).

Data Collection Techniques

As a qualitative and descriptive study, the thesis obtained a wide range of information qualitatively through in-depth interviews, direct observation, and secondary data collection. The different data collection techniques complemented each other. To summa the data sources and techniques.

Thoughts and practices among rural Muslims in Biliran Province

Research Instruments

Several instruments were prepared for this study. The face to face of Respondent interviews was guided by the questioners, with direct observation used. In the process of data collection, the researcher used a tape recorder with permission from the respondents. Face to face Interviews was conducted in Bisaya and English were later translated into English. It is also important to note that many of the key informants were conversant in the two languages.

One hundred respondents were interviewed for the study: Respondents living in Muslim communities within the area composed of one hundred sets of respondents. Several criteria were used to select the Respondents. First, they should have a broad knowledge of Filipino Muslims and their problems. Second, they should be actively immersed in the rural life of the community. Contextual information was also drawn from the neighboring Christians based on their position and knowledge of issues related to the Brgy, Calumpang, and Naval Biliran Muslims.

The Respondents of the Study Tajir Ampasu Hanna Mycah P. Lati Jasmin A. Sung Rasmia Kamal Mariam Macabago Mwalid Gomogao Abdul Salam G Moktar A.Mamao Nor-sida Ampaso Omair M. Agraham Crison Crasa Rapada Asliah Pandapatan Salima Gumugao Faida B. Mandar Aleah Abdulmalic Hanan Ampaso Jamilah M Manaluba Nor-aida tanda Reham Macalatas Haron A. Angani

Thoughts and practices among rural Muslims in Biliran Province

Jalal Gumagao Salima, Macatanan Rowena Garbo Hanna musah P. Latif Samad M. Palo Waab Mama-o Farista Banglar Macabago M. amin Jamal Guinal Asnairah B. Angani Abo illias Monaida Guinal Jalailah n, Ampaso Saira T. Ameril Farida Banglan Nurayma Dacawa Basmia S. Gumaga Subair Amiril Naima Mamao Napisa Mursali Elias Ali Abdol Rashied Saida M. Samer Habib E. Ali

Thesis Organization

This Study consists of five chapters. Chapter I: provides the introduction to the background of the study, the relevant literature that guided it and the thesis methodology. Chapter II: Objective of the Study, Significance of the Study, Scope, and limitation of the Study, The rights of Muslim women, The Christian Estate Vs. The Islamic state, Implementation of Islamic law and democracy, Interpretation of Qurâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;an, Summary of the interview result. Chapters III: Review of related literature, Islamic Fundamentalism, Historical and doctrinal survey, Scholarly Analysis, Pre-modern, Islamic Revivalism (Fundamentalism), Classic Islamic Modernism, Neo-revivalist, School and University, Neo-Modernist, Province Phenomena, the fate of Religiosity. Chapter IV: Methodology of the Research, Research design, Location of the Study, Source of Data, One hundred Respondents were Interview for the study, Data Collection, Research Instrument, Name of Respondents of the study, Thesis Organization.

Thoughts and practices among rural Muslims in Biliran Province

DI, SDS

Socio-religious activities History, formation, and activities of the Mosques, Islamic school, Muslim organizations, and OMA Leadership and solidarity and goals want to gain Social function, conflict engagement, forms of their struggles, participation in Philippine society at large

DI, DO, SDS

Business and daily activities Types of business and jobs Intensity and orientation of business and its solidarity ties Islamic morality in their business and works Influence of market and Manila business culture, or Philippine government Influence of the modernizing process and urban.

DO, DI

Islamic thoughts and discourses Characteristics and Changes of Islamic thoughts Influences of socio and cultural context in their thoughts Exploration of Islamic thoughts relating to the issues of the concept of ta Kimi yah (sovereignty), secular state Vs. The Islamic state, democracy and the issue of implementation of Syariah / Islamic law, literalist-scripturalist, woman position, pluralism, jihad, nationhood, nationalism and the concept of ummah, Philippine government, Islam kuffar/ Finality of Islam, Islam and economy, and the anti-Western/ issue of modern jahiliyyah.

Thoughts and practices among rural Muslims in Biliran Province

Perception and point of view of Moros' problem and agenda of struggle

(DI-In-Depth Interview; Secondary Data Collection)

Socio-religious activities History, formation, and activities of the Mosques, Islamic school, Muslim organizations, and OMA Leadership and solidarity and goals want to gain Social function, conflict to engagement, forms of their struggles, participation in Philippine society at large.

DI, DO, SDS (DI-In-Depth Interview; DO-Direct Observation; SDS-Secondary Data Collection)

DO, DI (DO-Direct Observation)

Islamic thoughts and discourses behavior and changes of Islamic thought Influence on the socio and Cultural context of their minds Exploration of Islamic thoughts related to the issues of the concept of Ta Kimi yah (sovereignty), secular state Vs. The Islamic state, democracy and the issue of implementation of Syariah / Islamic law, literalist-scripturalist,

Thoughts and practices among rural Muslims in Biliran Province

woman position, pluralism, jihad, Nationhood, nationalism and the concept of ummah, Philippine government, Islam kuffar/ Finality of Islam, Islam and economy, and the antiWestern/ issue of modern jahiliyyah. Perception and point of view of Moros' problem and agenda of struggle

Note: DO-Direct Observation; DI-In-Depth Interview; SDS-Secondary Data Collection

1. Moro nationalism (Moro nation) has become an inspiration, a word that names shared the birth of a people and vision for a new nation. It used to be the case that Muslim Filipinos felt offended by the use of the term Moro but it has been reinterpreted in a positive rather than a negative view. Salah Jubair explained, "Moro was a tag chosen for him by his enemy and not himself, and was the result of animosity, warfare, and resistance to foreign pressure. Filipino on the other hand, was initially the term applied for Spaniards born in the Philippines, and thus signified allegiance or subservience to Spain. Filipino was the child of colonialism; Moro was the offspring of anti-colonialism." See Jubair, A Nation Under Endless Tyranny, p.125. Moro identity had the following characteristics: it is anti-colonial and inspired by a tradition of resistance; it is anti-elite; it is distinctly Islamic, and it is rooted in a struggle for social justice. See Eric Gutierrez, The Re-Imagination of Bangsamoro in Rebels, Warlords, and Ulama, ed. Kristina Gaerlan and Mara Stankovitch (1999:312). The Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) is a political organization in the southern part of the Philippines, organized in the early 1970s by Nur Misuari with the intention of creating an independent "Moro Nation." This led to the Islamic insurgency in the Philippines. Seeking an end to the hostilities, the Philippine government decided to hold peace talks in 1976. Unfortunately, both sides were unable to settle on an agreement so hostilities continued for the next two decades. As the hostilities continued, the group began to suffer from internal factionalism. Disagreements between moderates and conservatives arose after the reluctance of the MNLF to hold a violent

Thoughts and practices among rural Muslims in Biliran Province

insurgency. The more conservative Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) was formed in 1981 when Salamat Hashem and his followers broke off from the MNLF. The basic difference between MNLF and MILF is that MNLF is more opened, nationalist-oriented while MILF is less opened, Islamist-oriented and still strongly believe in the struggle of an independent Bangsa Moro. For further study on these groups see Gowing (1979), Gutierrez (1999) and JubIn in recent years, sociologists have given much attention to the innumerable implications of the Internet to society. From its initial use by a relatively small, computer-literate population of users, the Internet grew rapidly beginning in the 1990s (Abbate 1999; Castells 2001). It is now used for social interaction, business, and commerce (legitimate and illegitimate), education, research, news, propaganda, entertainment, and more. There is widespread agreement among sociologists and others that the Internet and other communication technologies are vastly changing society. There is, however, less agreement about whether those changes are positive, negative, or a combination of both (DiMaggio et al. 2001, 308). Sociologists have now expanded their interests to include the myriad online social activities and behaviors to which these technologies have given rise. The following chapters give attention to these areas of Air (1997). Abu Sayyaf (meaning "sword bearer" in Arabic) was formed by Abu Bakar Jan JA Lani in 1990. He recruited two groups into Abu Sayyaf: dissidents from the MNLF and Filipinos who had fought with the Afghan mujaheddin rebels against the Soviet Union. Abu Sayyaf is a well-known bandit group who staged ambushes, bombings, kidnappings, and executions, mainly against Filipino Christians and foreigners on Basilan and the west coast of Mindanao. For a detailed account on Abu Sayyaf See Larry Niksch (2007), and Abuza, Zachary (2003). Further explanations of the causes of fundamentalist movements in Egypt are elaborated in the Review of Related Literature. See also Barry Rubin, Islamic Fundamentalism in Egyptian Politics (New York: St Martin's Press, 1990). These booklets were authored by leading evangelical churchmen and were circulated free of charge among clergymen and seminarians. See www.religiousmovements.lib.virginia.edu/nmrs/fund.html. Ibid. Other Arabic terms to name the Islamic fundamentalists are Islamiyyun (Islamists), Ashley Yun (authentic Muslims), Salafiyyun (traditionalists), and Mutasarrif (extremists).

Thoughts and practices among rural Muslims in Biliran Province

For a more detailed explanation by Gellner on relativism, see p.22-40, and for rationalist fundamentalism sees p. 80-96 See Ibn Khaldun, Muqaddima, trans. F. Rosenthal, London: Routledge & Keagan Paul, 1985; D. Hume, the Natural History of Christianity, in Hume on Religion, ed. R. Wollheim, and London: Collins1963

Chapter V Conclusion, Recommendation, Reference

Conclusion

Although Fundamentalism and Fundamentalist terms come in common discussion and are now widely applied, as many movements it is not necessary to forget that as many movements are different in their backgrounds, habits, and perspective. Fundamentalist Muslim movements are distinct from their Christian opposition to the beginning as an essentially defensive answer to European colonial rule. Early to the Islamic Fundamentalist reformers who want to prove the value of their religion by returning to their aspiration to describe in such a pure original form, their actions in just a few years have been attributed to the militant behavior of many religious Fundamentalist today. On the other hand, these movements to share Christian Fundamentalism in a cultural sense are of Fundamental importance to the traditional delusions as their subjects understand it, and are strictly obedient to the sacred text and moral codes built upon them. Although these and other common parts of the important sources of insight are Fundamentalist Muslim movement history and are indeed remarkable and best understood when looking at its own historical and cultural context. The first Phase of the Dissertation revealed the richness of perceptiveness about Muslim in the research Population. The large range and Diversity of Characteristics that people use to discussed Muslims and Islam in Brgy.

Thoughts and practices among rural Muslims in Biliran Province

Calumpang, Naval Biliran, and Sitio Lomboy Brgy, Calumpang, Naval Biliran Describe a very unfamiliar cultural domain with a rusty different ethnic context than in Southern Mindanao.

The data from the Analysis of the interview suggest Start difference in point of view between different Stakeholders in the local Muslims view themselves primarily in terms of their tribal/ethnic identity while Some non-Muslims view Muslims mainly through the lenses of sectarian orientation, religious, Extremist/moderation, and violence. The thematic analysis of the semi-structured interview provided extensive content about Muslims and Islam in the said locality. Religious, power, money, grievances, and violence are not to be neatly divided these elements appeared throughout the interviews is complicated relationships and ecology if you will. Muslim respondents affirm that they are not radical or extremist, that their religion is not violent or Terroristic and those separatist groups, although militant, are not extremist or criminal, terrorist acts are believed to be committed by the rogue, lawless elements, Muslims reject that there is an extremist culture And embrace democracy.

Recommendation

The Researcher would like to recommend and challenge those who want to have further study about Muslim in Naval Biliran Area to seek applicable ways on much better and effective approach in terms of Research study. The Researcher also recommends that you should provide cultural training or extension training programs to members of Muslim Tribes upon arrival, and it would be enormously helpful to conduct formal social network analysis of the families and tribal groups, you should do something to help the Muslim and encourage them to go to school especially children.

Thoughts and practices among rural Muslims in Biliran Province

This manuscript was a combination of secondary data needed to complete the Research Journal.

References/Cited:

1. Introduction to Sociology and Anthropology by Dr. Epitacio S. Palispis 2. for a detailed account on Abu Sayyaf, See Larry Niksch (2007), and Abuza, Zachary (2003). 3. Further explanations on the causes of fundamentalist movements in Egypt are elaborated in The Review of Related Literature. See also Barry Rubin, Islamic Fundamentalism in Egyptian Politics (New York: St Martin's Press, 1990). 4. These booklets were authored by leading evangelical churchmen and were circulated Free of charge among clergymen and seminarians. See www.religiousmovements.lib.virginia.edu/nmrs/fund.html. 5. Ibid. Other Arabic terms to name the Islamic fundamentalists are: Islamiyyun (Islamists), Ashley Yun (authentic Muslims), Salafiyyun (traditionalists), and Mutasarrif (extremists). 6. for a more detailed explanation by Gellner on relativism, see p.22-40, and for rationalist Fundamentalism sees p. 80-96 7. See Ibn Khaldun, Muqaddima, trans. F. Rosenthal, London: Routledge & Keagan Paul, 1985; D. Hume, the Natural History of Christianity, in Hume on Religion, ed. R. Wollheim, London: Collins 1963 8. Introduction to Sociology and Anthropology by Dr. Epitacio S. Palispis 9. http://cultureandyouth.org/islam/book-islam-religion-historycivilization 10. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quran 11. Martin E. Marty and R. Scott Appleby, "Introduction," in Marty and Appleby, eds., Fundamentalisms and the State (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1993), p. 3.

Thoughts and practices among rural Muslims in Biliran Province

12. Bruce B. Lawrence, "Muslim Fundamentalist Movements: Reflections Toward a New Approach," in Barbara Freyer Stowasser, ed., the Islamic Impulse (Washington: Center for Contemporary Arab Studies, 1987), pp. 15-36. 13. Gilles Kepel, Le prophéte et pharaoh: Les movements Islamists days l'Egypte Contemporaries (Paris: La Découverte, 1984). According to Rodinson, it was Kepel who popularized the term: "Recently I reproached Gilles Kepel, who had briefly been my student, for giving currency to the term 'Islamism' to designate present-day Muslim political intégrisme." Interview with Gérard D. Khoury (1996 or 1997), in Maxime Rodinson, Entre Islam et Occident (Paris: Les Belles Lettres, 1998), p. 249.14. Gilles Kepel, Muslim Extremism in Egypt: The Prophet and the Pharoah (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1985), p. 22, n. 1. "Islamicist" is the term most often used to describe Western

students

Islam

(on

the

model

the

physicist).

15. Henry Munson, Jr., Islam and Revolution in the Middle East (New Haven: Yale University

Press,

1988),

16. Graham E. Fuller, Islamic Fundamentalism in the Northern Tier Countries: An Integrative View (Santa Monica: RAND, 1991), p. 2. Nevertheless, he used fundamentalism in the title of this paper, suggesting that had he used Islamism, its meaning

would

not

yet

have

been

Thoughts and practices among rural Muslims in Biliran Province

widely

understood.