Julian Millie

Hearing Allah's Call changes the way we think about Islamic communication. In the city of Bandung in Indonesia, sermons are not reserved for mosques and sites for Friday prayers. Muslim speakers are in demand for all kinds of events, from rites of passage to motivational speeches for companies and other organizations. Julian Millie spent fourteen months sitting among listeners at such events, and he provides detailed contextual description of the everyday realities of Muslim listening as well as preaching. In describing the venues, the audience, and preachers—many of whom are women—he reveals tensions between entertainment and traditional expressions of faith and moral rectitude. The sermonizers use in-jokes, double entendres, and mimicry in their expositions, playing on their audiences' emotions, triggering reactions from critics who accuse them of neglecting listeners' intellects. Millie focused specifically on the listening routines that enliven everyday life for Muslims in all social spaces—imagine the hardworking preachers who make Sunday worship enjoyable for rural as well as urban Americans—and who captivate audiences with skills that attract criticism from more formal interpreters of Islam. The ethnography is rich and full of insightful observations and details. Hearing Allah's Call will appeal to students of the practice of anthropology as well as all those intrigued by contemporary Islam.

Hearing Allah's Call changes the way we think about Islamic communication. In the city of Bandung in Indonesia, sermons are not reserved for mosques and sites for Friday prayers. Muslim speakers are in demand for all kinds of events, from rites of passage to motivational speeches for companies and other organizations. Julian Millie spent fourteen months sitting among listeners at such events, and he provides detailed contextual description of the everyday realities of Muslim listening as well as preaching. In describing the venues, the audience, and preachers—many of whom are women—he reveals tensions between entertainment and traditional expressions of faith and moral rectitude. The sermonizers use in-jokes, double entendres, and mimicry in their expositions, playing on their audiences' emotions, triggering reactions from critics who accuse them of neglecting listeners' intellects. Millie focused specifically on the listening routines that enliven everyday life for Muslims in all social spaces—imagine the hardworking preachers who make Sunday worship enjoyable for rural as well as urban Americans—and who captivate audiences with skills that attract criticism from more formal interpreters of Islam. The ethnography is rich and full of insightful observations and details. Hearing Allah's Call will appeal to students of the practice of anthropology as well as all those intrigued by contemporary Islam.

It's amazing how 100 key words and phrases provide instant communication!Do you want to speak simple Indonesian but are too busy to study it? Are you visiting Indonesia for a short time and want an Indonesian phrase book to help you communicate? If so, this Indonesian phrasebook is for you—it's the easiest and quickest way to learn Indonesian. It's tiny 0.4 x 4.1 x 5.9 inches size makes it incredibly convenient to travel with but without losing the most essential content for communication. The idea of Instant Indonesian is simple—learn 100 words and phrases and say 1,000 things. The trick is knowing which 100 words to learn, but the authors Stuart Robson and Julian Millie have solved the problem, choosing only those words you'll hear again and again. Even with a vocabulary this small, you'll be surprised how quickly and fluently you too can communicate in the Indonesian language. Words are repeated in different combinations, building familiarity without effort. A brief guide to pronunciation allows the user to say the phrases correctly and an Indonesian dictionary allows for quick reference. Here's a sample of what you'll be able to do with this Indonesian phrasebook: Meet people. Go shopping. Ask directions. Ride the subway. Order food and drinks. And much more.

Sanctity is a concept recognized by Muslims throughout the Islamic world, and often motivates observances with highly localized characteristics. Julian Millie spent a year attending a supplication ritual in which Muslims of West Java directed their prayers to Allah through 'Abd al-Qadir al-Jaelani (d. 1166). This man, whose tomb even today is a popular pilgrimage site in Baghdad, is widely considered the most powerful intercessor of all the saints of Islam.The supplication takes the form of reading or singing the narrative proofs of 'Abd al-Qadir's saintliness in a ritual context. The ritual has deep roots in the Sundanese culture of West Java. The book captures the variety of understandings that participants bring to the ritual when it is held in various contexts, including Java's largest Sufi order, religious schools and private homes.This first, book-length study of intercession through ritual reading in Indonesia will be of interest to scholars of Indonesian religions, Sufism and the anthropology of Islam. It expands our knowledge of Sufism and sanctity, and seriously considers the liturgical forms of village Islam, paying special attention to the use of Arabic supplications in localized ritual practice.