Islamic bureaucracies in Indonesia and Turkey: the challenge of comparison

Responding to the evolving capacities of Islamic bureaucracies as historical sites for the management and enabling of Islam, this contribution offers a comparative analysis of the religious affairs departments of two of the world’s largest Muslim-majority nations: Turkey and Indonesia. It addresses a core methodological question: should Islamic bureaucracies be comparatively analysed as formal state structures drawn from a universal toolkit of governance (e.g. ministries, directorates)? Rather than adopting this lens, the contribution advocates an approach that foregrounds their assemblage-like qualities, offering a more nuanced conceptual framework for understanding these bodies as contingent formations shaped by specific political, social and religious histories. To this end, we examine diachronically the political contexts in which functions and budgetary resources have been allocated to Turkey’s Presidency of Religious Affairs and Indonesia’s Ministry of Religious Affairs, and assess their broader religious and social effects.