727 George Quinn, The drum in the mosque © 2021 Faculty of Humanities, Universitas Indonesia Wacana Vol. 22 No. 3 (2021): 727-743 George Quinn is an honorary professor in the College of Asia and the Pacifc at the Australian National University. Between 2002 and retirement in 2008 he was Head of the ANU’s Southeast Asia Centre where he taught Indonesian and Javanese. His main publications are The novel in Javanese; Aspects of its social and literary character (Leiden, KITLV Press, 1992), The learner’s dictionary of today’s Indonesian (St Leonards, NSW: Allen and Unwin, 2001), The Indonesian way (in collaboration with Ulrich Kozok, 2012), and Bandit Saints of Java; How Java’s eccentric saints are challenging fundamentalist Islam in modern Indonesia (Leicestershire: Monsoon Books, 2019). For a selection of his shorter studies go to: https://anu-au.academia.edu/GeorgeQuinn. George Quinn may be contacted at: George.Quinn@anu.edu.au. George Quinn | DOI: 10.17510/wacana.v22i3.1079. The drum in the mosque A modern short story by Djajus Pete George Quinn AbstrAct The short story “Bedhug” (The drum in the mosque) by Djajus Pete (born 1948) was frst published in the Javanese-language magazine Panjebar Semangat in 1997. It describes what happens in a small village when well-intentioned local people unsuccessfully attempt to replace an old mosque drum with a bigger, more resonant one. In many Muslim communities, the call to prayer is made by beating a drum in the mosque’s vestibule. The story gives a glimpse of how Islam is changing, and not changing, in Java. It is critical of village institutions and functionaries, but also humorous and deeply affectionate. Keywords Islam; Indonesia; Java; Javanese; short story; mosque; call to prayer; religion; village society. IntroductIon The short story “Bedhug” 1 (The drum in the mosque) by Djajus Pete (pronounced /jye.yoos.pay.tay/) frst appeared in the Javanese-language weekly magazine Panjebar Semangat in the issue dated 10 May 1997 (Illustration 1). It was later reprinted in Kreteg emas jurang Gupit (A bridge of gold over Gupit ravine), an anthology of Djajus’ short stories published in 2001. In 2002 the anthology won the Rancage Award for fction in Javanese. The Rancage Award is Indonesia’s premier annual prize for new writing in regional languages. On 24 March 1 The spelling of Javanese words in this article will follow conventions for modern Javanese in contemporary publications.