No mushrik may pass this exam. These words, uttered by someone 10 years ago, have stayed with Renadi, now 35. A ‘mushrik’ is an idolater or a polytheist, someone who does not belief in monotheism.

It was Renaldi’s lecturer at the Hamzan Wadi Teacher Training and Education Institution in Selong, East Lombok, who said these hurtful words. Renaldi at the time was writing a thesis on the Taeq Lauq Taeq Daye, a customary ritual performed by t