Jakarta. Hindu-majority Denpasar has been named one of Indonesias “most Islamic cities,” along with Yogyakarta and Bandung, in an Islamic City Index survey released by the Maarif Institute on Tuesday (17/05).
None of the Indonesian cities who implement sharia law made it to the surveys top ten.
Fajar Riza Ul Haq, Maarif Institutes executive director, said Yogyakarta, Bandung and Denpasar all scored 80.64 out of a possible 100 points and topped the rank among 29 cities included in the survey.
Yogyakarta and Bandung are both Muslim-majority areas while Bali, the province where Denpasar is located, is a Hindu-majority area with a less than 15% Muslim population.
The survey showed there was no correlation between the size of a citys Muslim population and its adherence to Islamic values, so it should come as no surprise that Hindu-majority Denpasar can top the list, Fajar said.
Fajar said the Islamic city concept that the survey researched refers to a broad set of perspectives on city development which takes into account three main indicators: safety, prosperity and happiness—three important values mentioned in the Koran.
Banda Aceh, a city that has implemented Islamic sharia law since 2001, was in 19th place, while Tasikmalaya—whose administration issued a regional regulation on “Muslim conducts” in 2009—was in 18th.
“Implementing the sharia law doesn’t necessarily make a city more Islamic than others,” said Ahmad Imam Mujadid Rais, research director of the Maarif Institute.
The Islamic City survey was conducted from Jan. 8 to March 31 and was inspired by a similar survey called the Shariah Index Project which was released by the Cordoba Initiative, a multinational project to improve relations between Muslim countries and the West.
Indonesia, which has the world’s largest Muslim population, ranked 140th in a list of 170 countries in the Cordoba Initiative’s survey of most Islamic countries in the world, released in 2015.
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