Waria can(t) pray : contesting the religious freedom through the experience of transgender pesantren Al-Fatah, Yogyakarta

Abstract

In spite of the legal acceptance of religious freedom, the practical application of such right to everyone remains a great challenge, including that in Indonesia. Waria [transgender] muslims is one of the unfortunates who cannot practice their religious belief publicly. The prevailing institutional set up which upholds a normative framework which idealizes the heterosexual and cisgendered family as the order and moral foundation of ideal society. The institutionalization of which has been permeated into not only socio-political realm, but also religion. This has led to not only socio-political misrecognition towards waria's religious freedom but also religious condemnation over the existence of waria Muslim by the relatively religious society. This thesis uses a case study approach in order to find the possibility of self-realization of religious freedom conducted by queer muslims. The subject of which in this thesis is Pesantren waria Al-Fatah, the first Islamic school for waria in Indonesia. This thesis examines the experience of Pesantren Al-Fatah through the theoretical framework of Agamben and Butler's theory on heteronormativity and transgender politics in which the marginalization of waria can be politically contested through acts of gender embodiment. This thesis found that the discursive practices of Pesantren Al-Fatah resemble a gender embodiment through which the prevailing (gender) religious norms are embodied and then dismantled from its heteronormative logic. The result of which is the re-contextualization of Islamic discourse through which the existence of waria gender can be articulated under maqasid sharia' that prioritizes the spiritual needs of maslahah (purposes) such as life and spirituality rather than a fundamentalistic perspective of sharia' which exclude waria identity. This act allows the Pesantren to re-constitute their political realm through which religious legitimacy and social recognition can be achieved. Moreover, the research also found a fact that the social acknowledgment on Pesantren's achievements on religious piety and selfempowerment is the empirical requisite for social recognition. In conclusion, the experiences of Pesantren Al-Fatah shows another dimension of religious freedom which constitutes possibilities of realization that are beyond the authority of the state and law, as "freedom" is not given, but performed instead.