World religion and local tradition – Zoltán Szombathy's lecture

Zoltán Szombathy: World religion and local tradition: Islamic syncretism in an Indonesian Muslim community

An interesting duality can be observed in scientific research related to Islamic religion: written heritage has mostly been studied by traditional orientalists, while research in the daily religious practice of local communities is the field of primarily anthropologists and ethnographers. Based on the example of two small Muslim ethnic groups, Saluan and Banggai, living on the east coast of the Isle of Celebes and on the surrounding islands, the lecture will present how the impact of Islam transformed local animist religious traditions. The lecture is based partly on the speaker’s own anthropological field work, and partly on the analysis of medieval Arabic religious law texts. Thereby, the lecturer also highlights the major role that medieval written Muslim tradition can play in shaping the culture of a local community.