Ghazwul fikri or Arabization? Indonesian Muslim responses to globalization

Abstract

In the 1990s, discussions in circles of committed Muslims in Indonesia were enriched with the concept of ghazwul fikri (al-ghazw al-fikri, invasion of ideas), which became a catch-all term to refer to various forms of Western cultural invasion: the impact of American movies, popular music, dance and dress styles on Indonesian popular culture, the emergence of middle-class lifestyles with ‘Westernized’ consumption preferences, and above all certain styles of religious thought and attitudes towards religion that the speakers disapproved of, notably secularism, liberalism and the idea of religious pluralism.