[ 247 ] AL ALBAB Volume 6 Number 2 December 2017 CONFLICTING RELIGIOUS IDENTITIES: BLASPHEMING ISLAM AND THE FUTURE OF DEMOCRACY IN INDONESIA Saipul Hamdi 1 Politektik Pertanian Negeri Samarinda Email: hamdiugm@gmail.com ABSTRACT Te paper explores the phenomena of conficting religious identities among Indo- nesian politicians in Jakarta’s regional election (pilkada) in 2017. Te 2017 most dramatized Jakarta regional election has been seen as a very important political phenomenon in recent time as it revealed the conficting social-political identity construction across religious and ethnic groups in the region. Tis work attempts to provide explanation from the perspective of religious studies on the roles of re- ligious identities in the political realm as well as religioous and political symbols as tools to achieve political supports. Te case of Ahok mentioning one of the Qur’anic verses of al-Maidah 51 in Kepulauan Seribu exposes the fundamental question of wheter it is apart of blaspheming Islam and insulting ulama. It also shows how the Islamist groups respond to it by using the case of the politiciz- ing al-Maidah 51 to reduce Ahok electability and disqualify him from political contestation by accusing him to blaspheme Islam. Te complexity of applying Quranic texts to the modern political platform brings this article to outline how Muslim scholars interpret al-Maidah 51 and how they situate the text into the context of modern politics in Indonesia as well as how it infuences the future of Indonesian democracy. Keywords: Religious identities, blasphemy, al-Maidah 51, Indonesia and democracy INTRODUCTION Religious identities play a pivotal role in the contemporary Indonesian politic landscape since the fall of the Suharto regime in 1998, which has been marked by reinforcement of Islamist political movement. For three decades afer taking over the country rule in the early 1970s, Suharto regime has 1 Te author would like to aknowledge the support by Politeknik Negeri Samarinda for this research-based article and expresses his deepest grattitute. It is also the intention of the author to credit the Annual International Conference on Islamic Studies (AICIS) 2017 orga- nized by the Ministry of Religious Afair of the Republic of Indonesia in which the author was invited to present the paper. It was held in Jakarta on 22-25 November 2017