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Vol. 32 No. 1 (2026): Jurnal Al Qalam

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Nov 12, 2025
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Jun 18, 2026

Copyright (c) 2026 Mubarak Taswin, Awal Muqsith, Andi Aderus, Muhammad Zakir Husein

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THE SPATIAL POLITICS OF MOSQUES: CONTESTED AUTHORITY AND PSYCHOLOGICAL SPLIT IN MAKASSAR’S POST-ISLAMIST URBAN SOCIETY

Spatial Manifestations and Psychological Split Among Muslims in the Post-Islamist Era
https://doi.org/10.31969/alq.v32i1.1811
Awal Muqsith
Universitas Islam Negeri Alauddin Makassar, Indonesia
Mubarak Taswin
Universitas Islam Negeri Alauddin Makassar, Indonesia
Andi Aderus
Universitas Islam Negeri Alauddin Makassar, Indonesia
Muhammad Zakir Husein
Sultan Sharif Ali Islamic University , Brunei Darussalam

Corresponding Author(s) : Awal Muqsith

awal.muqsith@uin-alauddin.ac.id

Al-Qalam, Vol. 32 No. 1 (2026): Jurnal Al Qalam

Abstract

This study investigates the paradoxical duality of urban mosques in Makassar, Indonesia, which
simultaneously serve as centers of spiritual vitality and arenas of spatial and ideological contestation.
We argue that this duality constitutes a spatial symptom of the collective psychological split among
Muslim societies in the post-Islamist era. By applying Asef Bayat's analytical category of postIslamism—in


which political Islam's energy shifts toward socio-cultural piety rather than state
control—this study integrates it with Henri Lefebvre's theory of the production of space. The research
employs a quantitative descriptive approach with qualitative-theoretical interpretation, utilizing
survey data from 307 respondents across 13 sub-districts. The findings reveal a fundamental tension:
while mosques demonstrate high congregational satisfaction, good management, and successful
adaptation to urban needs, they also exhibit a possessive logic of space. This logic manifests through
dense mosque proliferation, soundscape contestation, significant resistance to religious plurality,
and persistent ideological contestation within mosque pulpits. These findings challenge the simplistic
interpretation of mosque abundance as mere collective piety, revealing instead a tension between
psychological fragmentation and collective struggles for spatial domination, both of which
undermine principles of inclusive citizenship

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