Although they had in common, the growing attachment of Muslims to Islam, Islamic resurgences that occurred throughout the Muslim world from the 1970s, were historically and behaviorally diverse and complex phenomena (Dessouki 1982:6). In each Muslim country -even within each Muslim country- there were always different causes, different historical backgrounds and different cultural settings. In the Middle East, for example, Islamic resurgence often occurred through radical political activism, whereas in Malaysia and Indonesia it is manifested respectively through Malay ethnicity (Muzaffar 1985: 14–6) and through the Islamic cultural movement.

From a sociological point of view, it is difficult to pin-point one absolute cause of a social phenomenon. It comprises various factors which directly or indirectly affect one another. A social movement, for example, is an accumulation of various factors, including the emergence of radical ideological powers, class consciousness, group and race identity, nationality and the emergence of important (charismatic) figures, who are able to mobilise power. These factors are not sufficient for the emergence of a social movement, without a conducive social millieu and an apt social issue or event that triggers the movement. These may include leadership disintegration, social chaos, economic problems, national instability, and foreign influence and intervention (Perry and Perry 1988;280–2, cf. Tolkhah 1994:9).

Similarly, there is no single factor which caused the emergence of Islamic resurgence movement among young people in Bandung. To understand this phenomenon at least four important aspects should be considered: socio-historical backgrounds, radical ideology, foreign influence and individual personalities. In examining these I restrict myself to the history of student movements from the early period of the New Order, ie late 1965, to late 1979. This history is important because Islamic youth movements emerged, when the student movements seemed to be dead.

Secondly I analyse how the founders and their followers perceived the history of Islam in Indonesia, and how they viewed social and political situations at the time they initiated the movement. The study of perceptions of the past, as Gungwu puts it, “is an attempt to understand the contemporary values of some periods of the past … [which] constitutes a valuable background for explaining what is happening today” (1979:6). It is important to understand these historical perceptions since they can be adjusted along with radical changes of the world around, and can deliberately be used ‘for social and political purposes’ (1979:2). Islam was understood by the founders and the followers of the movements as an alternative ideology and civilisation which completely contradicts other world ideologies such as socialism and capitalism. Such a view is very different from previous Islamic movements such Muhammadiyah, PERSIS (Persatuan Islam, The Unity of Islam) and NU (Nahdlatul Ulama, The Rise of Islamic Scholars) that put much more emphasis on ritual, social and political aspects.

My third interest is to examine to what extent international Islamic movements and foreign influences played a role in the emergence and development of Islamic youth resurgence movements in Indonesia.

Lastly the individual background of the founders is significant in understanding the movement. I will observe the background of only one of the founders, including his familial and educational background, and his relation to the emergence of the movement.