Idris Ahmad: Not Your Ordinary Religious Affairs Minister
Mohd Faizal Musa
The appointment of PAS ideologue Idris Ahmad as Malaysia’s new religious affairs minister provides the Islamist party significant latitude to advance its ideological agenda.

Mohd Faizal Musa
The appointment of PAS ideologue Idris Ahmad as Malaysia’s new religious affairs minister provides the Islamist party significant latitude to advance its ideological agenda.
Wahyudi Akmaliah|Ahmad Najib Burhani
Covid-19 has forced various Muslim groups to adopt digital platforms in their religious activities. Controversy, however, abounds regarding the online version of the Friday Prayer. In Islamic law, this ritual is wajib (mandatory) for male Muslims.
Quinton Temby
A social media analysis of Indonesian salafi-jihadi and opposition Islamist chat groups indicates early but significant signs of crosspollination between both communities. As continuing government crackdowns drive both the violent jihadi and Islamist opposition groups into the virtual underground, there is a risk that the resultant crosspollination of both groups could push non-violent opposition activists into violent extremism.
A'an Suryana|Nur Syafiqah Mohd Taufek
Facing a sentence that will see him behind bars till 2025, radical cleric Habib Rizieq Shihab will face problems bouncing back from the political wilderness. His enforced absence from the political scene will be a boon to secular and nationalist presidential candidates.
Max Lane
Indonesia’s latest Covid-19 surge has piled pressure on the Widodo government, which is under pressure to reconsider some form of lockdown to rein in the spread of the coronavirus.
Syafiq Hasyim
The run-up to hajj 2021 saw the opponents of the Jokowi government opportunistically exploiting the issue to undermine the government. This reflects poorly on the quality of political debate in Indonesia today.
Syafiq Hasyim
The banning of FPI (Front Pembela Islam) in December 2020 may have reduced the incidence of vigilante actions in Indonesia. But this belies the fact that mainstream Muslim organisations have increasingly stepped in to uphold more conservative Islamic strictures, albeit through less confrontational ways.
Norshahril Saat|Nur Syafiqah Mohd Taufek
The growing popularity of media savvy celebrity preachers – not all of whom are theologically well-trained – could erode the quality of Islamic discourse in the longer term.
Sharifah Afra Alatas
As Malaysia battles a new wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, Muslim leaders and preachers have been instrumental in fighting vaccine hesitancy among their followers.
Syafiq Hasyim
In 2020, Eid-al-Fitri was a national superspreader event. This year the government and Muslim organisations were better prepared.