ISLAMIC GEOPOLITICAL LITERACY: RECONSTRUCTING ISLAMIC STUDIES FOR INDONESIA'S ECONOMIC AND STRATEGIC RESILIENCE IN THE ERA OF GLOBAL GEOPOLITICAL UNCERTAINTY

Abstract

Global geopolitical uncertainty, marked by great-power rivalry, weaponized trade policy, and techno-strategic fragmentation, has exposed the structural vulnerability of Indonesia's economy and its strategic position within an increasingly multipolar international order. Existing scholarship has extensively examined the macroeconomic and financial dimensions of this uncertainty, yet comparatively little attention has been paid to the epistemological capacity of Islamic Studies to prepare Muslim societies, policymakers, and economic actors to read, interpret, and respond to geopolitical shifts. This article introduces and develops the concept of Islamic Geopolitical Literacy (IGL) as a reconstructive framework for Islamic Studies curricula, arguing that the discipline must move beyond normative jurisprudence and ritual pedagogy toward an integrative competency that couples Islamic economic ethics, geopolitical analysis, and strategic reasoning. Employing a qualitative, library-based research design supported by systematic thematic analysis of contemporary literature on Islamic economics, Islamic education, and geopolitical risk, this study maps the disjuncture between the current orientation of Islamic higher education and the strategic demands of a volatile global order. The findings indicate that Islamic financial resilience, waqf-based social finance, and halal industrial diplomacy already possess latent geopolitical value that remains institutionally underexploited due to curricular fragmentation. A reconstructive framework comprising four interlocking literacies, namely worldview, economic, geopolitical, and diplomatic literacy, is proposed as the architecture for reform. The article concludes with policy recommendations for Indonesian Islamic universities and pesantren toward realizing the Golden Indonesia 2045 resilience agenda.