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I was very pleased with the work. I found the application of Weber's theory of authority to be well suited to the question of inherited leadership in a pesantren. Those of us few who study pesantren are well aware that many pesantren face difficulties after the death of the founder. This work both documents and explains approaches taken at Pondok al-Munawwir in Krapyak, Yogyakarta. I have visited this pesantren multiple times since 1995, most recently in 2008, and I found the account of the transition in the leadership to be engaging and informative. This work is ethnographically sound as well as rich in detail. I found the explanation of the concept of barakah, mujizat, and karamah, and their relationship to Weber's use of "charisma" to be an useful and original contribution. - Prof. Ronald A. Lukens-Bull
About the author
Achmad Zainal Arifin is a lecturer at Sociology Department, Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, Islamic State University of Sunan Kalijaga Yogyakarta, Indonesia. His research interests include Indonesian Islam, Islamic Education, interfaith dialogue, and sociology of religion.
