<![CDATA[This paper aims to analyse the contrast in social recognition and economic status between huffāẓ (individuals who have memorized the Qur’an) in two distinct geographical contexts: the Muslim community in England and the community in Tulungagung, East Java, Indonesia. The study critically examines generalizations made by Bill Gent, who portrays huffāẓ as revered “Hidden Olympians” with high social standing. The research employs a qualitative ethnographic approach, drawing on in-depth interviews and participant observation in Tulungagung. The analysis compares the lived experiences, challenges, and aspirations of Indonesian huffāẓ with Gent’s descriptions of their English counterparts. The findings reveal that although hifz is highly respected within Indonesian Muslim society, the status of hafiz does not consistently translate into social capital or economic mobility. Many huffāẓ in Tulungagung experience economic precarity, limited institutional support, and a gap between symbolic religious recognition and their everyday social and economic realities. The study further demonstrates that the religious prestige attached to Qur’anic memorization is context-dependent and does not necessarily produce equivalent forms of social or economic capital.Theoretically, this study contributes to the sociology of religion by challenging the assumption that religious achievement automatically generates social capital and upward social mobility. It proposes a more contextual understanding of religious capital, in which the social value and convertibility of religious credentials depend on the institutional, cultural, and economic structures within which religious actors are situated. By bringing the Tulungagung case into dialogue with Gent’s account of huffāẓ in England, the study extends the discussion of Qur’anic memorization from religious distinction to the processes through which religious capital is recognized, converted, or constrained in different social contexts. Contribution: the study contributes to a more nuanced theorization of the relationship between religious capital, social recognition, and socioeconomic position among huffāẓ.]]>
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