Islam and Local Tradition: A Comparative Perspective of Java and Sulawesi (original) (raw)
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Muslim diversity: Islam and local tradition in Java and Sulawesi, Indonesia
Based on some historical and anthropological accounts, this article examines a dynamic interplay between Islam and local tradition in Indonesia with special reference to Java and Sulawesi. It explains how local Muslims differed in their interpretation and application of Islam. It looks at processes of religious change as a world religion interacts with local forces. The "localization" of Islam was a constant feature in the expansion of Islam beyond the Arab homeland, including Southeast Asia. Based on the framework of 'practical Islam', rather than 'normative Islam', and on the framework of both accommodation and conflict between shari'ah and adat as a whole system, rather than as separate entities, it provides a greater variety of Islamic beliefs and experiences. Comparatively, Javanese people have been more diverse than Sulawesi people in terms of religious spectrum; Muslims in Java have incorporated animism, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Islam into their culture system. Stories about the nine saints show how early Islamic preachers sought to accommodate Islam with local traditions. In Sulawesi, Dato ri Bandang and the other teachers, representing the elite aristocracy who attempted to Islamize the kingdoms and the people alike and Syeikh Yusuf, representing a strict kind of Islam, show diversity but tends to suggest a less diverse picture, when compared to Java. Despite internal diversity in Java as well as in Sulawesi, Java has remained more open and tolerant with cultural diversity, whereas Sulawesi has increasingly become more legalistic.
Muslims believe that their religion is universal, suitable to all places and time. Consequently, in practice, Islam can be adapted to various situations and conditions. Therefore, the diversity in Islam is inevitable. Diversity is especially related to aspects of interpretation and religious branches, not things that are principle. This article is about the relationship between Islam and local culture. As recognized by many experts, Islam in Indonesia was spread by peaceful means. Local elements were used in the process of Islamization. As a result, Islam could be accepted by most of society of Indonesia. Islam expressed here shows a distinctive face. Islam can live hand in hand with local culture, especially the culture that is not incompatible with Islam.
2016
In contrast to countries in Southeast Asia such as Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei Darussalam, and even Thailand, Islam in Indonesia has special characteristics. If these countries have a homogeneous tendency, on the other hand Indonesia is very heterogeneous. The strong hegemony of the authority of the religious life, tend to become a reason for the emergence of a monolithic color in religious life. Otherwise, in Indonesia, the strong pull of the relationship between Islam and the country it self, led to religious practice that necessitates the diversity, the denial of the diversity. The following article examines the religious diversity which apparent since Indonesia emerged as a country. Keywords: dynamics, Islam, Indonesia
Rethinking Javanese Islam. Towards new descriptions of Javanese traditions
2015
The study of non-Western cultures often relies on the knowledge of those cultures’ religions. This certainly applies to Javanese Studies, where “Javanese Islam” is one of its constitutive concepts. However, this notion is plagued by theoretical problems, suggesting it misrepresents the Javanese religious condition. Through a conceptual genealogy this research traces the origin of “Javanese Islam”. Its conceptualisation is shown to be part of a Western project of making sense of Javanese culture. However, the origin of the twin-concepts “Javanese Islam” and “Javanism” does not lie in the West’s ambitions for colonial dominance. Rather, they are pieces of Christian theology. The West’s preoccupation with religion compelled it to recognise certain Javanese traditions as elements of religion. It thus came to see ngelmu as the core beliefs and slametan as the central ritual of a Javanese religion. This representation however is not supported by empirical evidence or theoretical proof. If...
Pharos Journal of Theology
This research explains the Islamic revelation in the context of the synergy between fiqh and tradition. Using qualitative methods, this research concludes that: first, the pribumization of Islam is the result of the thought of K.H. Abdurrahman Wahid (Gus Dur) by seeking harmonization between fiqh and tradition. Gus Dur referred to the compromising process of Islamization by the Walisongo in spreading Islam in Nusantara as a very effective instrument or medium in the spreading of Islam. Secondly, in the Islamic Pribumization discourse, Gus Dur used the fiqh methodology of al-'ādah muhakkamah and al-'tsābit bi al-'urf ka al-tsābit bi al-nash, which were seen as capable of paying attention to the needs present in the local culture. For example, the greeting assalamu’alaikum is interpreted in the good morning greeting only in the relationship of mu’amalah, not up to the level of worship, in the custom of marriage by carrying out the conditions of harmony, but still given spa...
2021
Islam and indigenous tradition in Indonesia have long established interconnected relations in both social and ritual practices. This study elaborates on the Islamic construction of the indigenous Bugis-Makassar tradition. The "Haji Bawakaraeng" is one the familiar practice and is believed to exist in the South Sulawesi region. Term Haji Bawakaraeng is a religious practice contained with local Muslim beliefs carried out on Mount Bawakaraeng. This research uses a descriptive qualitative approach with data collection done through observation, interviews, and documentation studies. This study finds that the Bugis-Makassar habit of carrying out a series of rituals on the summit of Mount Bawakaraeng is an old belief facing the process of negotiation and adaptation to the teachings of Islam. The presence of the term Hajj as an Islamic construction and Bawakaraeng as a local cultural construction is the result of the construction of Islam on the local beliefs of the Buginese-Makassarnese. In addition, this study also illustrates the dynamics of the inclusion of Islam in South Sulawesi as a variative and authentic inclusion. Finally, this study explains the diversity of the Bugis-Makassar people which tends to change from indigenous traditions to religious practices due to the ongoing construction of Islam. This paper recommends the need for further studies on the issue of religious and cultural relations at the micro level to see the dynamics of changing socio-religious practices in the community.
2018
This paper suggests an ethnographic account of the different Islamic practices among Muslims in Bima, Sumbawa island. This paper calls for the need to understand that Islam in Indonesia is diverse. Anthropological works on Javanese Islam have shaped the national and international understandings of Islam in Indonesia [1][2][3]. Assessments of political, organizational forms and institutional elites have also focused on the Javanese centre of the nation-state. The account of Islamic picture outside Java Island is, however, understudied. This paper argues that Islamic practices vary significantly across Indonesia Islam, not only within Java itself, but outside Java. Cultural diversity and ecological adaptation have made Islam in Indonesia is complex. Through a 12-mont-fieldwork in Bima (2011-2012), I found that although Islam becomes the unifying factor, varied expressions of Islamic practices among Muslims reflect different cultural legacies and socio-political contexts. Although diff...
A History of Islam in the Malay-Indonesian World: between Acculturation and Rigor
This paper/chapter is an introduction to the edited volume, edited by Petrů, Tomáš: Graffiti, Converts and Vigilantes: Islam outside the Mainstream in Maritime Southeast Asia , published by Caesarpress, Vienna in 2015. It is basically a historical overview of the Islamization process of the Malay-Indonesia world, specifically focusing on the interaction of Islam with the previous cultural and religious tradition, looking at the oscillation between rigor and acculturation.