Negotiating Istiṭāʿah: From Interpretations of QS. Āli ʿImrān 3:97 to Narratives of “Local Ḥajj” in Indonesia

Robby Habiba Abror, - and Mahatva Yoga Adi Pradana, - and M. Mujibuddin SM, - and Ahmad Dzaki Azkiya, - (2026) Negotiating Istiṭāʿah: From Interpretations of QS. Āli ʿImrān 3:97 to Narratives of “Local Ḥajj” in Indonesia. Jurnal Studi Ilmu-Ilmu al-Qur’an dan Hadis, 27 (2). pp. 678-703. ISSN ISSN: 1411-6855 (p); 2548-4737 (e)

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Abstract

This article examines how the Qur’anic condition of istiṭāʿah (capability) in QS. Āli ʿImrān 3:97 is negotiated in Indonesian practices described as “local ḥajj.” Combining comparative analysis of Qur’anic and exegetical sources with ethnographic material from Mount Lawu and Pamijahan, the study shows that participants do not present these practices as fulfilling or replacing the canonical obligation of ḥajj in Mecca. Rather, they frame them as aspirational and symbolic forms of pilgrimage under conditions of limited access. Classical exegesis demonstrates that istiṭāʿah has been articulated through material, physical, security, and spiritual registers, while field narratives draw on intention, ease, and moral aspiration to interpret local ritual practice. Using Talal Asad’s notion of Islam as a discursive tradition alongside scholarship on lived Islam, the article reads local ḥajj as a site where textual norms, local authority, and embodied practice are negotiated. It contributes to pilgrimage studies and the study of global Islam by showing how Indonesian Muslims localize ritual aspiration without claiming juridical equivalence with the canonical ḥajj.

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