Paper short abstract:

This paper addresses two issues: first, the observation that Indonesian Sufism promotes an ethic of hospitality towards non-Muslims; second, the need for anthropology to find better ways of engaging with religious otherness.

Paper long abstract:

This paper addresses two main issues. First, based on current research on "new Muslim spiritualities in Indonesia", the author attempts to answer the question of whether, unlike their shariah- and reform-oriented co-religionists, Indonesian Sufis are more open to, and tolerant of, non-Muslim belief and practice. Does Sufism promote an ethic of hospitality in contemporary, urban Indonesia and if so why? Second, is the argument made by Joel Robbins, Tanya Luhrman and others that anthropology needs to find a better way of engaging with religious otherness. What might it mean to take the religious claims of ones interlocutors seriously?

It is argued that in fact these are not unrelated questions since both involve investigating the connection between ethics and religious (or what I'd rather call spiritual) practice. This connection is explored using Henri Corbin's concept of 'mundis imaginalis'. It is argued that it is precisely those practices that encourage or facilitate the imagination of worlds that differ radically (ontologically?) from our own that are most likely to promote moral conduct within and between communities.