Divine Bureaucracy and Disenchantment of Social Life

Maznah Mohamad is an Associate Professor with joint-affiliation at the Department of Malay Studies and the Department of Southeast Asian Studies, National University of Singapore. She joined NUS in 2006. Prior to this she was an Associate Professor of Development Studies at Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang. She teaches courses on Gender in Malay Societies, Religion and Politics in Southeast Asia and Malaysian politics. Her areas of research include the Muslim family, Islamic law and bureaucracy and Malaysian electoral politics. Her books include Feminism and the Women’s Movement in Malaysia (2006),  Melayu: The Politics, Poetics and Paradoxes of Malayness (co-edited, 2011), and Family Ambiguity and Domestic Violence in Asia (co-edited, 2013). Her recent publications include articles on matrilineal land rights and Islam in JMBRAS (2016), Malay-Islamic colonial law in Kajian Malaysia (2016), Islamic finance and business in Pacific Affairs (2015) and the monetisation of Malaysian politics in Journal of Contemporary Asia (2019).

“Maznah Mohamad’s The Divine Bureaucracy is a riveting read, delving into issues that many a Malaysian Muslim would hesitate to comment on publicly. ... the merits of Maznah’s well-grounded assertion ... as far as Malaysia is concerned.” (Ahmad Fauzi Abdul Hamid, SOJOURN - Journal of Social Issues in Southeast Asia, Vol. 38 (3), November, 2023)

• 1. Bureaucratisation and Disenchantment.- 2. Origins of the Divine Bureaucracy.- 3. Features of the Divine Bureaucracy.- 4. Standardising Faith.- 5. Ring-Fencing Constituents.- 6. Perfecting Family.- 7.Purifying Money.- 8. The Power of Disenchantment.