BECOMING A WARIA SHALIHAH: ASPIRATIONS OF ISLAMIC RELIGIOSITY AT PESANTREN AL-FATAH, YOGYAKARTA

Authors

  • Alfajar Nugraha Islamic University of Indonesia, Yogyakarta
  • Ahmad Fauzi State Islamic College (STAIN) Teungku Dirundeng, Meulaboh, Aceh
  • Lidya Kandowangko The University of Queensland, Australia
  • Almunauwar Bin Rusli State Islamic Institute (IAIN) of Manado, North Sulawesi

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.31969/alq.v31i1.1620

Keywords:

Human Rights, Islamic Religiosity, Pesantren Al-Fatah, Waria, Yogyakarta

Abstract

The movement to become a waria shalihah has gained significant momentum at Pesantren (Islamic Boarding School) Al-Fatah Yogyakarta. However, this rise in religious piety among waria has faced resistance from segments of the local Muslim community that hold anti-LGBTQ sentiments. In the Indonesian context, waria is a locally specific term combining wanita (woman) and pria (man) and refers to individuals assigned male at birth who embody a feminine gender identity. This study, based on a qualitative ethnographic approach and the sociology of knowledge framework, identified two key findings. First, the Islamic religiosity aspirations of the waria congregants at Pesantren Al-Fatah are expressed through contextual interpretations of Qur’anic verses such as Surah An-Nisa:124, Al-Hujurat:13, and An-Nur:31. These interpretations affirm their waria identity and serve as a response to ideological attacks from the Islamic Jihad Front (FJI), which draws on verses such as An-Nisa:1, Al-A’raf:81, and Ash-Shu’ara:173–174 to challenge their religious legitimacy. The FJI’s actions are motivated by a desire to prevent the waria in Yogyakarta from achieving socio-political influence similar to transgender communities in Taiwan or Thailand. Second, the waria’s pursuit of Islamic piety has led to new devotional practices, including performing umrah. For instance, YS aspires to become a Nyai, a respected religious woman within the waria Islamic tradition who can guide future generations of students at Pesantren Al-Fatah. These findings suggest that a fiqh waria (waria Islamic jurisprudence) approach could inform inclusive and contextualized Islamic education in contemporary Indonesia. The waria congregants at Pesantren Al-Fatah affirms that being a waria shalilah is both a human right and aligned with Islamic principles. Pesantren Al-Fatah Yogyakarta has become a symbol of the deconstruction, rationalization, and contextualization of waria civic and political futures in contemporary Indonesia.

Author Biography

Ahmad Fauzi, State Islamic College (STAIN) Teungku Dirundeng, Meulaboh, Aceh

Dosen Program Studi Pendidikan Guru Madrasah Ibtidaiyah
Jurusan Tarbiyah dan Keguruan, STAIN Tengku Dirundeng Meulaboh, Aceh

 

References

Adler-Nissen, Rebecca, and Kristoffer Kropp. 2015. “A Sociology of Knowledge Approach to European Integration: Four Analytical Principles.” Journal of European Integration 37(2):155–73. doi: 10.1080/07036337.2014.990133.

Alipour, M. 2017. “Essentialism and Islamic Theology of Homosexuality: A Critical Reflection on an Essentialist Epistemology toward Same-Sex Desires and Acts in Islam.” Journal of Homosexuality 64(14):1930–42. doi: 10.1080/00918369.2017.1289001.

Arnez, Monika, and Melani Budianta, eds. 2024. Gender, Islam and Sexuality in Contemporary Indonesia. Singapore: Springer Nature Singapore.

Blackwood, Evelyn. 2007. “Regulation of Sexuality in Indonesian Discourse: Normative Gender, Criminal Law and Shifting Strategies of Control.” Culture, Health & Sexuality 9(3):293–307. doi: 10.1080/13691050601120589.

Boellstorff, Tom. 2004. “Playing Back the Nation: Waria, Indonesian Transvestites.” Cultural Anthropology 19(2):159–95. doi: 10.1525/can.2004.19.2.159.

Chalida Ekvitthayavechnukul. 2025. “Thai LGBTQ+ Couples Register Marriages as Law Gives Them Equal Status.” The Journal, January 22.

Choe, Jaeyeon. 2024. “Religious Tourism.” Tourism Geographies 1–10. doi: 10.1080/14616688.2024.2423168.

Davies, Sharyn Graham. 2019. “Islam, Sexuality, and Gender Identity.” in Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Politics. Oxford University Press.

Dede Leni Mardianti. 2024. Transgender Isa Zega Dilaporkan Atas Dugaan Penistaan Agama. Jakarta.

Deden Gunawan. 2021. Ustaz Arif Nuh Safri Membela Hak Kaum Waria Beribadah. Jakarta.

Ewing, Michael. 2020. “The Use of the Term LGBT in Indonesia and Its Real-World Consequences.” Melbourne Asia Review 2. doi: 10.37839/MAR2652-550X2.11.

Fadhlina, Amirah. 2024. “Waria , Worship, and Welfare: Exploring Trans Women’s Conditions of Precarity Amidst COVID-19 in Yogyakarta, Indonesia.” TRaNS: Trans -Regional and -National Studies of Southeast Asia 12(1):78–94. doi: 10.1017/trn.2024.1.

Fuad, Sahlul. 2022. “Commodification of Religious Rituals : A Portrait of The Meaning of Hajj and Umrah in Indonesia.” Mimbar Agama Budaya 38(2):165–78. doi: 10.15408/mimbar.v38i2.25165.

Gigi Aditi Saraswati. 2022. “Apalah Arti Nama Dan KTP? Catatan Pertemuanku Dengan 4 Transpuan Di Yogyakarta.” Project Multatuli. Retrieved February 8, 2025 (https://projectmultatuli.org/apalah-arti-nama-dan-ktp-catatan-pertemuanku-dengan-4-transpuan-di-yogyakarta/).

Isbah, M. Falikul. 2020. “Pesantren in the Changing Indonesian Context: History and Current Developments.” QIJIS (Qudus International Journal of Islamic Studies) 8(1):65. doi: 10.21043/qijis.v8i1.5629.

Kelly, Leanne M., Anthony Ware, Ahmad Ibrahim Badry, Greg Barton, and Vicki-Ann Ware. 2024. “There Are No Gays in the Village: Youth Perspectives of LGBTQIA+ People in Java, Indonesia.” Journal of Youth Studies 1–17. doi: 10.1080/13676261.2024.2426470.

Kholid, Anwar. 2024a. “Criminalisation and Care: Indonesian Muslim Mass Organisations’ Perspectives on LGBT People.” Pp. 45–64 in.

Kholid, Anwar. 2024b. “Criminalisation and Care: Indonesian Muslim Mass Organisations’ Perspectives on LGBT

People.” Pp. 45–64 in Gender, Islam and Sexuality in Contemporary Indonesia, edited by Monika Arnez · Melani Budianta. Springer.

Kugle, Scott Siraj al-Haqq. 2016. “Strange Bedfellows: Qurʾan Interpretation Regarding Same-Sex Female Intercourse.” Theology & Sexuality 22(1–2):9–24. doi: 10.1080/13558358.2017.1296685.

Maghvira, Genta, Lisa Mardiana, and Syukri Syukri. 2020. “Debate on the Plan of Making ‘Fiqh Waria’: Framing Analysis in Online Media.” Jurnal The Messenger 12(1):52. doi: 10.26623/themessenger.v12i1.1310.

Mary Douglas. 2020. The Body. edited by M. Fraser and M. Greco. Routledge.

Masthuriyah Sa’dan. 2017. “ Waria Dan Kebebasan Belajar Agama.” Jurnal Perempuan.

Nurohman, Dede. 2022. “Selling Religious Rituals in Indonesia: Commodification of Umrah Pilgrimage by Travel Agents.” Journal of Indonesian Islam 16(2):399. doi: 10.15642/JIIS.2022.16.2.399-425.

Platt, Maria, Sharyn Graham Davies, and Linda Rae Bennett. 2018. “Contestations of Gender, Sexuality and Morality in Contemporary Indonesia.” Asian Studies Review 42(1):1–15. doi: 10.1080/10357823.2017.1409698.

Ploder, Andrea, and Julian Hamann. 2021. “Practices of Ethnographic Research: Introduction to the Special Issue.” Journal of Contemporary Ethnography 50(1):3–10. doi: 10.1177/0891241620979100.

Radogna, Rosa Maria. 2022. “The Concept of Habitus in Migration Studies. A Systematic Literature Review.” Sociologie Romaneasca 20(1):108–25. doi: 10.33788//sr.20.1.5.

Raharjo Jati, Wasisto. 2022. “Polarization of Indonesian Society during 2014-2020: Causes and Its Impacts toward Democracy.” Jurnal Ilmu Sosial Dan Ilmu Politik 26(2):152. doi: 10.22146/jsp.66057.

Rodríguez, Diego García, and Ben Murtagh. 2022. “Situating Anti-LGBT Moral Panics in Indonesia.” Indonesia and the Malay World 50(146):1–9. doi: 10.1080/13639811.2022.2038871.

Safri, Arif Nuh. 2014. “Pesantren Waria Senin-Kamis Al-Fatah Yogyakarta: Sebuah Media Eksistensi Ekspresi Keberagamaan Waria.” ESENSIA: Jurnal Ilmu-Ilmu Ushuluddin 15(2):251–60. doi: 10.14421/esensia.v15i2.776.

Safruddin, Muhammad. 2023. “Membaca Hermeneutika Reformasi Edip Yuksel: Analisis Teori Dekonstruksi Jacques Derrida.” Journal of Qur’an and Hadith Studies 11(2):147–72. doi: 10.15408/quhas.v11i2.24921.

Salsabila, Astrid Syifa. 2024. “Examining Peacebuilding Strategies Amid Socio-Religious Conflicts: The Case of Pesantren Waria in Yogyakarta.” Jurnal Sosiologi Reflektif 18(2). doi: 10.14421/5s2qy843.

Syamsurijal, Sharyn Davies, Muhammad Irfan Syuhudi, Muhammad Nur Khoiron, Halimatusa’diah, Nensia, and Samsul Maarif. 2023. “Trans People Making the Hajj to Mecca.” Indonesia and the Malay World 51(151):348–63. doi: 10.1080/13639811.2023.2287861.

Thajib, Ferdiansyah. 2022. “Discordant Emotions.” Indonesia and the Malay World 50(146):10–32. doi: 10.1080/13639811.2022.2005312.

Tidey, Sylvia. 2019. “Requiem for a Waria.” Social Analysis 63(1):83–102. doi: 10.3167/sa.2019.630106.

Toomistu, Terje. 2022. “Thinking through the s(k)In.” Indonesia and the Malay World 50(146):73–95. doi: 10.1080/13639811.2022.2015187.

Vaid, Mobeen. 2017. “Can Islam Accommodate Homosexual Acts? Qur’anic Revisionism and the Case of Scott Kugle.” American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences 34(3):45–97. doi: 10.35632/ajiss.v34i3.352.

Wijaya, Aksin, and Shofiyullah Muzammil. 2021. “Maqāṣidi Tafsir: Uncovering and Presenting Maqāṣid Ilāhī-Qur’anī into Contemporary Context.” Al-Jami’ah: Journal of Islamic Studies 59(2):449–78. doi: 10.14421/ajis.2021.592.449-478.

Wijaya, Hendri Yulius. 2022. “Digital Homophobia.” Indonesia and the Malay World 50(146):52–72. doi: 10.1080/13639811.2022.2010357.

Wolter, Alegra, Benjamin Hegarty, Ika Susetyo, Lenny Sugiharto, Rully Mallay, Jaclyn Kaunang, and Aditya Wardhana.

“The Structural Violence of Cisgender Norms: A Participatory Qualitative Study of Access to Health and Social Welfare for Older Transgender Women in Indonesia.” International Journal of Transgender Health 1–16. doi: 10.1080/26895269.2024.2443749

Additional Files

Published

2025-06-16