Urgensi Etnografi Islam Dalam Studi Keislaman Kontemporer

Abstract

This study focuses on Islamic research methodology, specifically the position and relevance of Islamic ethnography as an independent methodological discipline. It aims to examine the urgency of Islamic ethnography by investigating three issues: its definition and distinctiveness compared to general ethnography; its historical and methodological position within Islamic studies; and its relevance and contribution to contemporary Islamic studies in Indonesia. A library research method is employed, using thematic content analysis on twelve nationally indexed journal articles (SINTA and Garuda, 2022–2025). The findings demonstrate that Islamic ethnography is a methodological discipline with distinctive characteristics requiring sensitivity to Islamic values, ethics, and epistemology not merely the technical application of ethnographic methods to Islamic subjects. Its urgency rests on three pillars: the ability to access lived religion beyond textual reach; a comparative capacity surpassing surveys, case studies, and historical research; and empirically proven transformative findings about Indonesian Muslim communities. It is concluded that mastery of Islamic ethnography is a methodological imperative for researchers seeking authentic, contextual, and relevant Islamic knowledge.