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Jihadi Publishing in Indonesia
Publishing, both through conventional print-media and online, has become an
increasingly important part of jihadi activism in Indonesia. As was noted above,
between 1982 and 1986, several dozen key jihadi texts by seminal intellectuals
such as Hassan al-Banna, Maududi, Sayyid Qutb, and Ali Shariati were made
available to broad readerships in Indonesia in affordable translations appearing
in bookstores all across the country. In the decades since then, all major works of
jihadi thinkers such as Abdullah Azzam, Abdul Qadir bin Abdul Aziz, and Abu
Muhammad al-Maqdisi, have been translated and published in relatively large
print-runs. At the same time, tabloid publications popularising jihadi ideas,
analysis, myths, and conspiracy theories, such as Sabili magazine, have enjoyed
some of the highest circulations of any Indonesia print-media titles and have
done much to socialize and normalize jihadi thought.
Ironically, the arrest, prosecution, and incarceration of several hundred JI
activists over the past half-dozen years coincided with a boom in jihadi
publishing. It appears as if JI has, for the time being at least, reorientated itself
away from terrorist violence and towards dakwah and publishing. This was
documented in detail by the International Crisis Group Jakarta office team led by
Sidney Jones. A February 2008 report entitled Indonesia: Jemaah Islamiyah’s
Publishing Industry concludes that: 30
The publishing venture demonstrates JI’s resilience and the extent
to which radical ideology has developed roots in Indonesia. The
Indonesian government should monitor these enterprises more
closely, but they may be playing a useful role by channelling JI
energies into waging jihad through the printed page rather than
acts of violence.
Examining the titles printed permits tracking of a lively internal
debate within JI over the desirability of al-Qaeda tactics.… 31
In September 2006, MMI partnered with the Ahlus Suffah Foundation and the
An-Nabawy Islamic Study Center to publish Risalah Mujahidin (Stories of the
Mujahidin). The Arafah Group, one of the leading publishers directly linked with
30
International Crisis Group, “Indonesia: Jemaah Islamiyah’s Publishing Industry,” Asia Report
N°147, 28 February 2008. Most of the publishing activities briefly outlined here are examined in
depth in this ICG report.
31
Ibid., ‘Executive Summary’.
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