ISLAM IN INDONESIA PRIOR TO THE ADVANCE OF THE REFORM MOVEMENT
A. General Consideration
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CbapterOne
ISLAM IN INDONESIA PRIOR TO THE ADVANCE
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the greater part ofJav~wbere the Hindu-Buddhist tradition was very intluentiaL Tbere, Islam was forced to adapt itself to centuries-old traditions, and in the process was to lose mucb of its doctrinal rigidity.3 Under sucb circumstances it is not surprising to rmd tbat ManY who claimed to be Muslims were for the most part ooly nominally so, and that they retained at/at or popular customs to a large degree.
Indeed, according to C.C. Berg, Java has never been wbolebeartedly converted to Islam, although it bas been Islamized for a considerably long tïme. Therefore, it is even meaningless to look for People who sincerely converted to Islam. In keeping with its pattern of culture, Berg argues, Java has absorbed elements of Islam in the course of centuries, in the same way as it absorbed elements of Hindu-Buddhism before, and some elements of EuroPean civilization later.4 From a more general persPective, although almost every Javanese individual claimed to be a Muslim, many of them did not strictly foUow the principal tenets of Islam, or the so-called rukun Islam. For instance, it was very common that despite their confession of faith, they did not perform the five daily prayers, did not attend the weekly Friday service, did not observe the strong Muslim taboo against eating pork and drinking wine, nor did ManY bave the desire to perform a pilgrimage to Mecca.S The pattern of life described above in general terms was an attribute of the abangan group, wbo beld to a syncretistic Islam mixed with Hinduism,
1966),PartOne,esp. pp. 7-36; Anothony Reid, SoutheastAsiain lheAgeofCommerce 1450-1680(New Haven and London: Yale UniversityPress. 1993),2 vols.
3Harry1.Benda.The CTescentandlMRaisingSIIII:IndoMSÜUllsltun UlUler the Japanese Occllpation 1942-1945(TheHague: W. van Hoeve, (958), p. 12.
.. C.C. Berg,"1'beIslamisation of Java."p.137.
• 5Koentajaraningrat.JavanueCIII"'Te(Singapore: Oxford UnivenityPress.1985>, p. 317.
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Buddhism, and indigenous animistic belief. Peacock bas more c1early described this pattern as foUows:
Abangan Muslims may bave taken the oath, but they fulfill none of the other five pillars. They do not practice the live prayers, do not fast during Ramadan, eal pork (with apparent enjoyment), pay no tax, and bave no desire to make pilgrimage to Mecca. What is worse, from the standpoint of the devout, they dilute the pillars so as to render them tlaccid and weak. Abangan mystics bave broached the idea that one can do the five prayers simply by thjnkingabout doing them, and that an acceptable way of making the ~ilgrimage is merely to take a vacation trip to any place that offers peace of heart.
It is by no means that Javanese Muslims were less concemed with religion. Koen- tjaraningrat explains that, in fact, the Javanese generaUy spent much lime in religious activities. They ftrmly believed in Gad, in MulJammad's prophecy, and in the existence of paradise and hello They aIso considered the Qur'in as their sacred book, and al least once in their life each of them pronounced the Muslim formula of confession or sllabMlab.7 ln spite of upbolding sucb beliefs, the Javanese Muslims did not refrain from advocating many religious concepts alien to other Muslims from outside their cultural domain. They believed in supematural beings, perfonned many religious ceremonies not
6James L. Peacock.Indonesia: An Anthropological Perspective (pacifie Palisadcs. Califomia: Goodyear.
1973. p. 27. Sec aIso note 46.
1The SbdMld isthe Islamic profession offait~dcclared I l least onceduriDSonc's life, particullrly whca a ncw convert initial1yembraccsIslam. The fonnulasays.."1 witncss that thacisDOGod but All_
and 1 witncss that Mubammad is the messenlcr of Allah." Thiscoafessioa of faitbisthe rock bottom of Is1am, for myone who holds it is a Muslim by definition. For thc dcvout MusIims, bOwevCf, tbis prooouacemeat is repeatcd time ad ... cspecially wbca thcypcrformthcir dai1ypraycrs, siDce the sIIdMlIIIJ becomcs a part of their praycrs. For thosc who arc Muslims by birth, cspcçially for male MusIims,the pronoance-mentiscxplicitly made at the time a boyiscimDDcizcd,usuaIlyatthe aaeof tca or earlier. Thilisbecause eircumdsionismemt as thecetCIüOilYof reception iBtols1am, andis widcly rqudcdas ID importlDt part of the Muslim idcDtity. For the SlIdMidsec, D. Gimaret, "Sbahïdab"iD nt: EDcyclopedi.oflsJ6DI.,2-cdition, voL 9, p. 201; CliffordGeertz, TbeRt:/igiOlJofJava, p. 122. For cin:umcisiOD, sec A.J. WCIlSiDck."Khitïn"in
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EDcyc/opt:di.of1s/6IIl, 2- cditiOD, voL S, pp.2O-22.Sec &Iso, T. O. Beidclman, "Circumcision" iD T1Je EDcyc/opt:di.ofRdigiOll, voL 3, pp.Sll-SI4. AD iDtcrestiDl discussion of cin:umdsionÏIl the carlyIsIamic tndïtiOD ispmvidcd byAbdulkadcr Tayob, Is/.m: A SlJort IDtrotiUCtiOD(Oxford: ODcworld, 1999), cspcçillly pp. 45-49. For cin:umcisioa in the
Javancse cen:moDial system. sec KoeDtjarmiDpat, Jav6llae CuJtIR, pp. 3S,.361; James L. PCKOCk.
Mus/im Puri/ms: ReformistPsyc/IologyiD SoutlJe&stAli. Is/atl (Bcrkeley: University of California Press,1978), pp. 62-65.
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prescribed by the "official" religious doctrines of Islant. and were more inclined to mystical Hindu-Buddhist beliefs. It is due to such atypeof Islam that this new faith could bave spread throughout Java virtually without opposition from the elile. It is higbly probable tbat they supported the spread of Islam notwitbstanding the fact that they did Dot refrain from their old beliefs. For the Javanese, adopting severa! beliefs at thesame lime was Dot uncommon. They had been able to embrace various Hindu and Buddhist cuIts apparendy without a sense of conflict. Therefore it is not surprising to find in the fourteenth century sorne members of the Javanese elite wbo claimed to bave blended their Islamic belief with that of Hinduism and Buddhismalthe same lime. It was widely believed that adopting severa! beliefs, as was claimed,migbtbave belped them gain more sources of supematural energy,8 wbich was recognized as a proper attitude among the Javanese.
Geenz, as quoted by Koentjaraningrat, also suggests that the inclination toward mystical Hindu-Buddhist belief has developed into a peculiar variant of Islam called Agami Jawi, the Religion of Java.9This development, asGeenz further argues, was due
• M.C. Ricklefs, "Six Centuries of Islamization of Java," p.l04.Thisidea seemstabe in line with the one upheld by Zoetmulder inbis The C"ltllral Background of Indonesitln PoUlies (Columbia.. South Carolina:
TheInstitute of International Studies.the University of South Carolina. 1967). Intbisreprd, Zoetmulder states: ··Java and Iavanese underwent a tremendous impact of foreign ideas. of culture. of religious concepts, ete., but tbey were not swept away by them. They moulded them in their own way. They made fromtheforeign cultural infusions sometbïngtbatwas not there before, but still had its very own Javanese character... [In this case] stress must lie on Javanism and theœ arc very imponant elements in it that remained essentia1lythesame." Secibid.• p. 16.
9 Anextensive examination onthispeculiar variant ofAgamiJawibasbeen madeby Koentjaraningrat in bisJavanese C",ltllre, pp. 316-44S. FoUowinl Clifford Geertz, Koentjaraningrat first ofailemphasizcs the distinction betweeoAgami JawiandAgami Isltun Santri which n:prcsent the two major manifestations of Javanese Islam. While Agami Jawi demonstraleS Man extensive complex of mysticaUy incüned Hindu- Buddbistic beliefsandconceplS, syncretically intcgraled inan Islamic frameof referenœ," AgamiIslam StmtrirepresenlS the other sicle. The latter, acœrdiog 10Koentjaraningrat. althougb DOt torally hefrom animistic and Hindu-Buddhistic clements,"is much closer10the formai dopna learninp of Islam." (pp.
317-318). Based on Ibis distinctio~ Koentjaraningrat discusses further the belief systems held by boIh AgamiJawiandtheAgamiIslamSanlri.His elaborale examination of theAgamiJawibelief systemcoven
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to the fact that sincealleast the second balf of the sixteenth century IslaminJava was cut off from the centers of ortbodoxy in Mecca and Cairo, and thus '~egetated another meandering tropical growtb on an already.overcrowded religious landscape."IO When Pajang-a Muslim oriented principality of central Java and an beic of Demak-was defeated by the newly emerging kingdom of Mataram in southem interior of Java, it had bad too little time to establish itself as a defender of Islam.II Therefore, the people did not bave enough time to learn theic Dew faith iDteDsively, Dor was Islam able to have a great impact in sbaping Javanese civilization and tradition. However, because Muslim power
a number of concepts. such as belief in God. in Muhammad·s prophecy. and in sainlS; the concept of creation. cosmogony and cosmology, of eschatology. ele. In addition, there isalsoa detailed discussion of theAgami Jawiceremonial system. Ali of these present a comprehensive illuslnlion ofr.hcsyncretic Islam Pl'Kticed by the Javanese. For another interesling discussion on Javanese ceremonial system dealing with the rites de passage, see Marbangun Hardjowirogo. At/Qt Istiadal Jawa Set/Q,; Seseorang Masih t/Qlam KandlUlgan hingga Sesudah la TIlIda Lagi (Bandung: Patma, 1980). Although the Javanese riles de passage as discussed in this work involve many elements of superstitions <Bugon tuhon, taJcIulyul), and many peoplebeganto undennine them. many others still believe inandprxtice them.
10Clifford Geenz.The Religion ofJava.p. 115; Koentjaraningnu.Javanese Culture.319. However. Koen·
tjaraningrat disagrees with Geenz's description of Javanese Islam.He says that itismisleading taassume that Islam meandered seemingly unconttolled. Unfonunately. Koentjaraningrat does not elaborate his argument clearly enough in rejecting Geenz'sidea.exceptthat heemphasizcsthatdurinlthesixlCenth and early seventeenth centuries Islam remained an alien religion in the Javanese interior. Koentjaraningrat's argument against Geenz'sidea. besides being found in the above·mentioned work. isa1sodiscussed in his article. "Javanese Terms for GodandSupematural BeiDpandtheIdeaofPowcr." inAhmadIbrahimetal.
(cds.).Readings on Islamin Southeast Asia.pp.286-287.
IlFor further discussion on the carly Islamic states in Java.secTbeodore G. Th. Pgeaud and HJ. de Graaf.
Islamic States in Java 1500-1700 (The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1976). The most prominent ru1er of Dernaltwas Sultan Tranggana. who reigned c. 1504-1546.Hisfeign covered a period of imponant changes in the archipelago. It was during bis feigD that the last Shivaitic·Buddhist kingdom of Majapahit was defearcd. in 1527. [Both Pigeaud and deGraafconsiderthefall of Majapabit in 1478-as presented inthe Javanese ttaditions-as unreliable). 8y the fall of Majapahit. Tnngpna was accepled as a Muslim soven:ign over Java and the surroundingarea5. succ:eedingthe Majapahit kin,. He and theother Muslim rulers ofDemak were pattons of the growing community of religious men and pious traders centering around the masque. Tranggana died in 1546. in bis military expedition ta the far.cff cast Java. He wu succeeded by SunanPrawata.who wasmurderedin 1549 by Arya Penangsang of Jipang.l'be latter. who bad aspiredlaheking.wasaIsomurderedinrevenge by a relalive ofPrawata.JakaTmgkir.Jaka Tingkir.
heing a ruler ofthePajang principality. then ascended ta the thronc and becametheprincipalheir of Sultan Trangana. As a sultan he assumed the Dameof Adi Wijaya. His long reign in the second baIfof the sixteenth century was imponant for the shifting ofthe royal authority !rom the coasuù provinces10 the inlerior of the country. Pajang wuaIsothefirstcenter of Islamic cultural Ktivity intheinterior. and was responsible forinttoduciDgtheJavanese literablreandartspreviously c:ultivalcd inthecoastal repons.
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bad dominated coastal areas of northem Java and the outer islands since a few decades eartier, Mataram had to pay lip service to IsI~ especially in order to maintain diplomatic relations. Subsequently, Islam was able to penetrate Javanese culture but only through the means of reducing its doctrinal rigidity and thus only paying Iip service to some of its foundational creeds and practices. Dy the defeat of Pajang, the spread of Islam in the southem interior of Java was temporarily postponed. This state of affairs provided a chance for the Javanese authorities to preserve the essential elements of traditional Hindu-Buddhist civilization.
Since then, Islam in Javabasbeen forced to adapt itself to concepts of Hinduism and Buddhism, wbich had been predominant in thearea. Zoetmulder, for instance, in bis study of Javanese pantheism and monism, reveals that even the pondok pesantrens wbicb sbould have served as the basis for ortbodoxy were beavily intluenced by anempts to preserve this Javanese culture, most noticeablyintheir Iiterature. These Iiterary products were the result of an extensive effort by their compilers to integrate Muslim doctrines, law and Iiterary tradition with Hindu-Buddhist theological concepts of creation, death and afterlife, and man' s relation to God.12 This is in line with Ricklefs' idea that Javanese Islam in the seventeenth century was aImost certainly mystical inits theological content, a natural consequence of the previous dominance of mystical religion inJava. Although Most Javanese al the lime were Islamized, il was only an idiosyncratic Islam wbich tlourished, with a beavy empbasis on metaphysical speculation of a kind not greatly differenl from that foundinthe pre-Islamic periods.13
12 For a comprehensive examinatioD of Iavanese panlheism and monism tbat intluencedIslam. sec PJ.
Zoetmulder, Pantheism and Monism in JavtlIIese Suillk Lùemtllre: Islamicturd Indûm MysticûIII in QII
IlIIlonaüm Setting,editedandttanslated fromtheDutehbyMoC. Ricklcfs (Leiden: KlTLVPress, 1995).
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Besides being cut off from its sources of orthodoxy resulting in a peculiar variant distinct from tbat found in the rest of the Muslim world, Javanese Islam did not experience any renewal movement. The inclination of Javanese Islam toward syocretism was natural, because there was no significant input from other Muslim countries wbich was authoritative enough ta exett a decisive influence on the Javanese mainland. The encroachment into the region of European traders, who al the lime dominated the inter- national trade previously beld by the Muslims, aIso intensified Javanese Muslim isolation from the rest of the Muslim world. AJthough many Javanese Muslims had undenaken the pilgrimage to Mecca before the eighteenth century, they did not bring home with them Many ideas for change in their religious life. According to Ricklefs, sucb pilgrims saw tbemselves as receivers of magical and supematural power acquired in the Holy Land which could be used advantageously in Indonesia. This is quite understandable since at thattime, the Arab land itself.-prior ta the emergence of Wabhibi movement-was not much interested in the source of Islamic ortbodoxy,14 but was interested as weil in religio-magical teachings and mystical power.
13M.C. Ricklefs. "Six Centuries of Islamization in Java." p. 110.
14Ibid.• p. 109. Hurgronje inbisIslamdiHindia Belandaalsodiscusses the development of Sufi orders in Medina of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Amongthe Sufi orders ftourishing al tbat lime was Sbattariyah whichbatmanyfollowers.someof whom were the Indonesian pilgrims from MalayandJava.
Shattariyah itself. according to Hurgronje. was Dol hercticaL BUl in ilS spreading progress in Java and Sumatta a nomber of beretical beliefs andpopular superstitions were incorporared inta ilS teaehings. Sc:e Islam di Hindia Belmula. p.48.Seealso. Ahmad Haris. "InnovationandTradition in Islam: AStudy on Bid'ah as an Interpretation of the Religion in the Indonesian Experience" (Pb.D. Dissertation. Temple University. 1998). pp. 60-64. Haris mentions Hamzab Fansuri amang Ibose wbo studicd alMecca and Medinafrom Indonesia.. He. togetherwitb bis disciple SbamsuddïnaI.s1IIIIaIrani. wu known as the one rcsponsible for disseminating the unonbodox school ofwujüdip/lmysticism. caUedMartabatTujuh or the Seven Grades.intheseventeentb century Aceh. Forfunberdiscussion onMartllbtJtTlljuJaor Seven Grades as a doctrineof emanation derived from the existentialistmonismof Ibn al-6Arabi. sec PJ. Zoetmulder•
PantMismandMonü",in}avtlUseSII11IkUtennu,e.especially pp. 97-114.
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Islam in Java at that lime was forced to accommodate itself to the Javanese religious beritage, especially through the works of Mataram court scbolars. Apparendy the Javanese past was important culturally and the Mataram rulers, while announcing their Islamic identity still c1aimed to bave had a direct line of continuity witb the Maja- pabit kingdom of the EastJav~which, of course, was Buddhist in religion and culture. In the long ND, this policy reinstated traditional Javanese leaming and state rituals. With this policy, a religious synthesis that simply incofPOrated Islam as a new frame for the earlier traditional religious system was gradually devel0Ped by the Mataram court scbolars. This was made into something like a state religion, though not distinct from formallslam. The practice of Islam at the court, accordingly, became deeply intertwined with much earlier, pre-Islamic rituals as a part of the new syntbesis.lS Consequendy, according to Ricklefs, Javanese Muslims in their philosophical roots were more Hindu- Buddhist tban anYthing else. Such an accommodation produced only a quasi-religious tradition which became dominant in Java and, to a greater extent, remains so in the present. Especially among the Javanese court-circles, the pre-Islamic cultural beritage retained its great vitality. Witbin this court-circle, Muslim works were studied along with the pre-Islamic classics; the Propbet MuI)ammad was honored, but not to a higher extent than the SouthemOceanGoddess,NyiRomKidul,or RatuKidul.16
Mataram did not remain quiescentwitb the penetration of Islam fromthenortbem coastal areas. Either for economic, political or cultural reasons Mataram considered as its adversaries tbose coastal principalities wbich were more deeply Islamizcdtban they bad as Robert R. Jay, ReligionandPolitics in Rllml CelltTal Java (Ncw Havcn: Yale University, Soutbeast AsianStudi~1963),p.9•
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been. In an attempt to maintain its supremacy. especiaUy onder ils greatest king, Sultan Agong (reigned 1613-1646), Mataram sougbt to subjugate the coastal regions and then the entirety of Java under its hegemony. Benda suggests that this attempt to establish begemony resulted in the expulsion of the modem, dynamic and aggressive Muslim settlements from the trading centers of Nortbem Java. It also reduced mercantile activities, and subsequently tumed Mataram itself into an isolated, inland, agrarian state.
With resPeCt to religion, these changes forced Javanese Islam ·'to operate in a narrower space within the frame-work of traditional religious beliefs." Although the process of Islamization among the peasantry was greatly accelerated, the Islam of Java remained stagnant and (ess pure than elsewhere in Indonesia.17