REDEFINING ISLAMIC ORTHODOXY IN THE INOONESIAN CONTEXT
A. Islamic Orthodoxy, an Overview
• ChapterTwo
REDEFINING ISLAMIC ORTHODOXY
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During the latter part of the nineteenth century improvements in communications brought about by Western tecbnology steadily brougbt the island's Islamic community ioto closer touch with centers of Islamic leaming in the Near East.
There were more pilgrims to Mecca and Near Eastern books, joumals, and teachers flowed in an increasing stream into Java. With them came a growing understanding of Near Eastern orthodoxy, and of the gap between it and the local Javanese versions of Islam. The orthodox end of the cultural spectrum was extended and increasingly strengtbened by the imponation of new Near Eastern esthetic modes and the growing popularity of older Islamic modes, as weU as by pressures to confOnD to standards of Near Eastern orthodoxy. Tbese extemal influences passed ioto the countryside through the rural pont/ok as weU as inlo urban Moslem centers, strengtbening the band of the ortbodox in both.1
Although the word "ortbodox" bas no precise equivalent tenn in Arabic2 and is claimed by some to he out of place in an Islamiccontex~3(because Islam bas no councils or synods.. nor ecclesiastical institutions to detennine the criterion of orthodoxy),4 the concept of ortbodoxy can certainly be found among the classical works of Muslim thïnkers. First, albeit expressed in various terms, orthodoxy is an idea found witbin aIl the major religious traditions, including Islam.S Second..the tenn "orthodoxy" is used to indicate the possibility of distinguishing between wbat is troe and what is false, and is obviously present in Islamic tradition. By referring to the general notion of ortbodoxy as
1RobenR.Jay.Religion and PoUlies in Rural Cenlral Java(New Haven: Yale University. SoutbeastAsia ShMlics, 1963),p. 14.
2Abdurrabman Mas'ud, "Sunnism and ·Orthodox' in the Eycs of Modem Scholars." inal-./imi'd:Joumm
ofls/mJic Slut/ies,no. 61 (1998), p. 108.
l W. Mon110mery Watt. The Formative Period of Isllllnic Thought (Edinburgb: Edinburp University Press, 1913).p.6.
~GeorF Makdisi. "Hanbalite Islam." in MarlinL.Swartz(cd.).Studies on Islam(New YorkandOxford:
Oxford University Press). p. 253. In a more elaborate examination ofthis issue. Bernard~wisSUlpsts that the term onhodoxy is inappropriate to be applied ta the Islamic situatioDS. 1be word ortbodoxy.
according to bis point of view. derives from Christian history and institutioDS.. and reftccts particular circumstanœs tbathave no parallel or equivalent inIslam.Lite Makdisi,LewisalsomaintaiDsthat in Islam 1bcrewcre no councils or synodstahammer out an agreed formula ofdocttinc.an institutiontbatMuslims have never cstablishcd in promulgatinl officialtrulb.Sec.BernardLewis.1'beFaithand the Faitbful..tt in bisIslamandthe Arab World: Faith. People. Culture(Toronto: McCleUand and Stewart, 1916),p. 21.
5Sheila McDonoup. "Qrthodoxyand Heterodoxy.ttEncyelD~diao/Religion.vol. Il. p. 124.
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the "right belief or purity of faith... in accordance with the teacbing and direction of an absolute extrinsic authority/t6 il seems inaccurate to assume that such an idea was not DOwn amoog Muslim thînkers. Third, Islam is a religion very deeply concemed with maintaining its doctrinal purity. The deviation from this doctrinal purity, more commonly DOwnas heresy or innovation(bïd'ah), bas been a subject ofkeeo examination since the carly period of Islam, especially among theologians and beresiographers. A1-Ash'ari (d.
935), al-Bagbdidi (d. 1037), al-Ghazili (d. 1111) and al-Shabraslâni (d. 1125), for instance, were al the foreftont of defining the parameters ofSunni Islam. Theil works in tbis field represent attempts to provide guidelines to true belief and to defend it against those regarded as heretics and deviants.7 ln Islam, as is a1so the case in other religions and civilizations, the writing of works of heresiography is therefore conceived of as a defense of onhodoxy. In Islam il was one of the dominant inteUectuai and Iiterary enterprises for many centuries, so mucb 50 that Islam itself bas been described as "an ultra-beresiograpbical religion centered00the establishment and defense of dogma.'"
However, since only one of the tive pillars of Islam explicidy deals with matters of bellef, Islam cao be said tohemore concemed with practice tban bellef, more witb law than with theology, or more with onhopraxy than with orthodoxy.9 This is demonstrated
6 Charles J. Call~ ''Orthodoxy." in The ealhoüc Encyclopedù4 vol. Il, p. 330. TM Oxford English Dictiontlrygives another definition of orthodoxy as the onghl, correct. truc [doc:uine],inacc:ordance wim whatisaccepted or authoritatively established asthetrucview orriptpractice."Secvol. 7. p. 212.
1The worborthosescholars inthis field are mainly Al-Ash'ari's MM/il.'.·IsIEiyiD .,.JkjtiJ• •- M,..uiD.al·Bagbdidi's.-F6nf lM}'lIa/·FIRt/,al.QhaziIi'sF6i.- .·T.mq_1MyD . .
1sI_
.,.1-ZMJdMt.andF"'i/I.·JUtiJiip/l wa-F.pi'UM-Must61lùriy.andal-Shabnstin1's
.-Mil.
w.I-Nifla• John B. Henderson. The COnslnlction of Orthodoxy turdHeruy: Neo-ColI[ucùm. Islamk. Jewish. and Et:JrlyChristûm Panems(Albany: Stale University of New York, (998), p. 12.
• 'Ibid.
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by the faettha~ according to Schacbty Muslims were more often engagedinconflict with each other over legal matters than over questions of theology. 10 Howevery since IslamicQ
law or the slJaii4a1J does not consist only of legal rules but also of some elements that migbt he classified as theological, the distinction between the slIlIIi4ab and theology cannot he seen as absolute. They rather complement each other and constitute the whole
\DÛtY of Islamic doctrine. The shari'abcannot he established without a theological basis, any more than theology can he realized inpractice without the slJm'ab. A true Muslim must he equally capable of implementing these elements of doctrine in his daily life.
"SbIlii4ab,"says Rahman, "is a comprehensive concept and includes the spiritual truth of the Süti (1Jaqlqab), the rational truth ('aql) of the philosopher and the theologi~and the law.,,11 Islamic orthodoxy bas firmly established a nmnber of credal articles and rules
• of ritual observance as signifying orthopraxy. Departure from this basic core of doctrine indicates a deviance from correct beliet: thus leading to heterodoxy.12
But who is the orthodox Muslim? Despite the clear notion of orthodoxy given above, it remains difficult to detennine to which party of Muslims the term orthodoxy can he appropriately applied. Based on Henderson's examination, there are several reasons why tbis difficulty May occU!'. First, Islam, unlike Roman Catholic Christianity, has no central institution holding ultimate legitimacy stating authoritatively what constitutes the right doctrine. Second, as already noted, Islam is alleged1y more
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10Joseph Schacht. '1'heology andLaw in Islam." in G.E. von Grunebawn(ed.).Tùology andLawinIsiam (Wiesbaden: Otto Harrosowitt. 1971
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pp.3-4. also quoledinHendersolly ibid.IlFazlurRahman.Isltlm (Chicago:UniversityofChicago~ (979). 2· edilion.p.Ill.
12 Aziz al-Azmeh. "Ortbodoxy and Hanbalite Fideism." Arabica: Rn"~ dEtuMs Arabu. vol. 35 (November(988).p.2S5.
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concemed with law and practice than with doctrine. Tbird, certain branches of Islam that have been condemned or categorized as heretical might claim that the tradition and doctrine they fol1ow are based on a legitimate authority of distinguished pedigree, thus alloWÎng them to regard themselves as the true believers. FiDaJJy, if orthodoxy is characterized as the doctrine supported by a ruling class, one must also consider the fact that some divergent sects, regarded as heterodox by Muslims of later age, had in theïr era enjoyed official support trom various caliphs and even attained the status of state doctrine.13
Henderson malces this point in view of the Mu'tazilite hegemony of the Abbasid caliphate, when the caliphs a1-Ma'mÜD, al-Mu't~im and al-Wathiq(827-847) required ail of their officials to affirm the Mu'tazilite dogma, particularly the created- ness of theQ\D'" in. Although Mu'taziUsm bas come toheregarded as heterodox by most Muslims in later times, it did enjoy official support and was even regarded as state orthodoxy at one point in Islamic history.14
To designate which doctrine is to he considered right and orthodox, to some extent, means to acknowledge it as an official one. But, as noted above, Islam has no single organized reUgious institution empowered to fonnulate authoritatively the articles of belief of an official Islam. The works of the 'ulllD1â' in various fields of
!slamic learning remain individual enterprises having no divine sanction commanding
13Henderson.The Construction ofOnhodoxyandHeresy.pp.49-S0.
14Ibid•• p. SO. Inthehistory of Islamic theology this issueis weUDOwnastheInquisition orM-Mi/IIlIIb.
These Abbasid Caliphs intended to promote Mu·tazilism as the state tbeololY and thus required ail officiaisandsoc:ialfigures adopt it. AmoDStheissuesbywbichtheywere testedwu theaeatedaessof theQur'ïnasbeld by theMu·tazilites. FortheMu·tazilites, as supportersof bUllUlll~to saytbat theQur'ïnwas created justified theirOppositiOllto thepredestinarilllidea wbich maiDtaiDedthat"sinœ certain historieal events arementionedintheQur~tbesemustbave been etemallykDowDbyOodand thereforepredetaminedfor the apparent agent," thus cOIlcludiDgtbalaDevents were detcrminedbythe Q'"of God. SeeW. Montgomery Walt, TIIe Form.DvePeriodofls/.mc T1loug/l1 (Ediaburab: EcIïn- burp University Press, 1973).p.179.
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that they he followed by all Muslims. Moreover, in Islam it is the right of every individual Muslim to refer directly to the sources of doctrine, namely theQur'inand the lJadith, for bis guidance in practicing reUgious doctrine, as far as he is capable.Similarly, every theological school or group of reUgious scholars has upheld its own version oforthodoxy, as Knysh points out:
In the absence of either ecumenical coœcîls, or a centralized church authority capable of saying what an orthodox dogma would be, no religious teaching could fonnally be proclaimed Uorthodoxn
. Moreover, since medieval Islam knew no elergy, and men of religion were Unot eut off from other believers by any fonn of ordination,n tbeoretieally every Muslim was free to propagate his own vision of Islam, simultaneously eondemning other visions as "corruptions" of the initially
"pure" Qur~anicmessage and Prophetie testament (SUDDab).15
Accordingly, there is ooly a very general standard by which to detennine which doctrine is official, valid and aecepted, that is, the doctrine which is lawful and consequently
• enjoys divine sanction. Such a doctrine should go back to revelation, since revelation, for Muslims, is the true official doctrine, which they should never ran to transmit faitb- fully, since otherwise ignorance and error prevail.I6
However, since individual œderstandings of revelation may vary greatly from time to time and ftom place to place, Muslims require an institution that is authori- tatively capable of bringing them to a common mind. This institution is called
ijmi',
signifying "the agreement of all the beUevers in general, and in particular that of the qualified to whom was entrusted the task of tating the decision injuridical matters."17
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lSAlexander Knysb. "Onhodoxyand Heresy in Medieval Islam: AnEssay in ReassessmenLf t TM Muslim World.vol. 83. no. 1(January (993). p. 53.
16Jacques Waardenburg. "OfficialandPopular Religion in Islam.99Social Compass.vol. 2S (1978). p. 325.
17 M.Bemand."djmat. "The Encyclopedia of/siam.
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edition. vol.3.p. 1024. For anotber cxlIDination ofijm.-
andilspositioninIslamic jurisprudence as weU ISilsfuDctiOlliD establisbinl the doctriDallslam, seeJoseph Schacllt.AD lDtroductiOll10ls/.mcL.w(Oxford: ClarcndœPress, (996),pp.30,600:;WICI•
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Although it constitutes only the third basis of Islamic reUgious law after theQur'inand the l:Iadith,inpractice it holds the most important position."fjmi',"according to F~ '~ame a very important principle for the justification of reUgious beUefs or practices not specificaUy sanctioned by the Qur'an and I}aditb."ll Thus, in theory, ijmi'is "the unanimous agreement of the UmmaIJ as a regulation (1}ukm) imposed by God."19 This ijmi'should function as a means to faciUtate the unitY of the ummllb by reducing the causes of dissent (ik1JtUiJj in matters of reUgion.20 This is what Rash1d Ri4i meant when on being asked to explain the saying attributed to the Prophet that dissent among Muslims is a sign of divine mercy, he asserted that tbis idea-were il correctly attributed to the Prophet-should not he used to justify disputatioDS in religious matters. He insisted rather that tbis dissent referred to the fact that "not ail men are alikeintheir social actions and professional activities.,,21 In reality, however, the actual
B. Halllq,AHistory ofIslmùc Leg. Tbt:Olies: AD IDtroductiOD10SIIIJlJ1qsiiJ ...Fiq/J(Cambridge: Cam- bridge University~ (997);especially pp. 7S..81; Caesar E. Flnb.IsIMD:BeJiersMIdObservace(Ncw York:Bmon's. 2000),pp.187..188.
IlFarah,ibid.
19Bcmand, "Idjma',"p. 1023.
20Joseph Schacht. for instance, in this regard reportedthatthe"sua:css of sorne schools and the extinc:tion of others wcre brought about partly by the growing weight of consensus itself, and partly by extemal circumstanccs•... Even within the individual schoolsandtheirrelationshiptaone anocher consensusacasas an integrating principle. Not only will the recognized doctrine of each sc:bool, througb theelimination of suayOpiniODS, bec:ome more and more unifonn and seuJed down tathe Mostminute delails as lime
aoes
on; italsohappens not infrequeDdytbata scbool which, from its own premises would have ta reprd an ICt as indifferent or permissible, prefers in fact ta classify itas commeodableorreprebensible, 50 asnot 10
diverge tao far from those other scbools whicb regard it as obligatory or forbidden." Sec bis An lnlTtr daetioratoIs/amicLaw,pp. 67-68.
11Ipaz Ooldziber, "Catbolic TendeDcies and PanicularisminIslam." inMerlin L Swanz(cd.),Stlldies011 Islam(New YorkandOxford:OxfordUniversityPress, 1981), p. 136.Forthisexplanation Cioldzihern:fers
tathef• •r iof al..ftaykh RasliidRietiiD
A/.M."
voL 14 (May 1911), pp.343-344. ForRip'justifyiDl disputatioRiDn:lipousmattersCORtradïctsthe Qur'ÏDiciDjUDCtiODtbatthe Mus1imsshouldavoiel disuDity lIIdhostility.He rcfcrs,IIIDODgthe otbers, totheQur·ïnic: venc 3:105,"BeDotlibtbosc who arc dividcd IDIODpttbemselves lDd fall intodisputatioas ailern:cciviDlcIeRSips. Fortbcmisadradfulpenalty.ft•
development of Islam witnessed a number of variations in thought and practîce which evolved into a number of schools and sects.As ditTerences are reaI and unavoidable, judgements as to what is truc shouldhe based on matters on which aIl the members of the ummall(community) agreed. How..
ever, there is a problem where the term ummabis concemed. According to Ibn ijazm (d.
1064), it is comprised of the CompanioDS of the Prophet, who were the only ones eligible to Perform ijmi~.Ibn ijazm frequently uses the tenn U/ÜaJ·amrto reCer to the amlrs and scholars who had to guide Muslims by imPQsing them only the ordinances that God and the Prophet had commanded.22On the other hand, for al..8azdawl (d. 1089) and aI..Sharakhsl (d. 1096) of the l:Ianafite school, the ummall is to be understood as referring to those 6'who have not adopted pernicious doctrines (abwi' and innovations
• (bidll'." Consequently, and to the extent to which the ummabhas been able to protect itself against such corrupting beliefs, tbey have preserved the truth; and the ijmi~they have achieved can, therefore, he considered a source of truth of equal value with the Qur'in and the Sunnah.23 /jmi~can thus be considered a valid source of truth when it reverberates with the agreement of the whole community, whose infallibility resides in ils unanimity.24 Therefore, it also functions as the sole universally accepted test of right
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The Qur'mic translationusedthroughout this tbesisisbued on~Abdullih
rusuf
~Ali,The MUIIiDg oftlJe RolyQura(BrcDtem.Maryland: AmanaCorpontion.1992).n M.Bemand."Idjma~,"p.1024.
n Ibn Taymlyab. 'Aqidllt AbJaJ-SllDDaIJ w.J.Firqllt 1II·}6jiyMl, cd. by ~Abd a1.RIzziq ~Afifi (ElYPt:
~""SUDDahal.Mqammadiyab.13S8AH.),p.7.
2ItM. Bemand. "Idjma\" p. 1025.UsuallyMuslim seholars refertga sayiag relaled to 1be Propbet, ~y community does not &pee on an error" tg justify tbis aIIeption. Based on this prophetie assertion, Muslims. accordiDg tg W. Montgomery Watt, bave a pcc:uIiar skiU in achieving a comman mind and consensus on lepl and theological matters. See W. Montgomery Watt, Is1amic Cr~sb: A ~leetioll
(Edinburgb: Edinburgb University Press. 1994), p. 4.
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belie!: "which in modem terms might he translated as the climate of opinion among the leamed and the powerful."25
This ijmi'was undertaken to fonnulate or decide Islamic dogma. Nevertheless, in realily, ijmi'did not apply to aU Muslims, since it was still possible that "what one group regards as consensus, another group rejects."26 there have always been other schools of Islamic thought upholding different sources of authority who have not recognized the validity of ijmi'. The Kharijites, for instance, adhered to the Qur'ân alone as the basis of their authority, white the Mu6tazilites depended on rational theo- logy and the Shi6ites on the charismatic imimsas their criteria injudging the validity of doctrine.27 The position ofijmi'as a source of doctrine, therefore, was only recognized by the party that later on became known as the Sunnïtes, 6~hose who claimed to he adherents of the correct or standard prophetie practices [and] those who followed the Sunnah (beaten path) of the Prophet."28 This standard practice of MuI)ammad was transmitted to Muslims through inherited Traditions containing the words, deeds and
25BernardLewis."1beFaith and lhe Faithful."p.28.
26George Makdisi. "Hanbalite Islam," p. 253.
Z7For further discussion on lhe Shi 'ite auilUdelOwardijm'sec,lpazGoldzihcr, lDtmducliOD 10 ls/Mllic T1Ieology Mld
uw,
translatedbyAndras and Ruth Hamoti (Princctoa: PriDccton Univenity Press, 1981), p. 191. The Shrites disputed with the SUDDitesinthe use of.{üui'espcciaI1yindealingwiththeproblem of the leadership of the Muslim commUDity succeeding the Prophet. While the SUDDites claimedthatAbü Bakrwuthe legitimale ealiphbaedon theCOII5CDSUSof the bclicvers,theShi'ites, in eODtrISt,rejected that dccisioD. For thcm, the legitimacy of the Prophet succcsson sbould bc baed on the authority saDCtionedbytheProphet himseIt: Goldziher gives further empbasis _ he says:IAlftheSUDDis basetbeir recopitiOD of the historieal ealiphate OD the eOllSCDSUS of believers, whiehder theProphct'sdcathgave fonn to, andsmctiOD~the polity ofIslam,the Sh1'is secthisvery rccopition _ praofthal IIIICRijDM-' doesDot alwaysmatch with truth and rightcousness. Indced, iDrcsolvinlthe question ofthec.uphate ICCOIdiDgtoSunn1vicw, the ijllJi'lave its SIIlctiOD to injusticemdviolence."For mother peispective of theShi-îte's position towanlijm66,secFarah,1sI...-Beliers . .06tservmœ,p.188.• 11HeDderson, TMConstruction ofOnhodoxy.p_S2.
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tacit approvals of the Prophet, caUed the Sunnah or l:Iadith. Tbrough their strict adherence to these Traditions, the Sunnites themselves forged an opposition to bid'ab or innovations. In addition, they took a conservative position against both the rational theology of the Mu6tazilite and the charismatic authority of the Shï6ite
imims,
looking back to the original sources of revelation, the Qur'in and the SUDDah, as the bases of right belief and practice.29 Thus, ijmi'has long been considered a distinctive mark of Sunni Islam, while authoritarian principles have always been characteristic of Shi6ism.After surveying the religious traditions prevalent inChristianity, Islam, Judaism and Neo-Confucianism, Henderson tries to determine what attributes best classify a religious belief or practice as either orthodox or heterodox. According to bis findings, there are five particular qualities useful in making such a classification, namelyprimacy or originality, a truc transmission ftom the founder to the Present day, unity,catholicity, and conception oforthodoxy as a middle way between heretical extremes. The foUowing is a brief discussion of those five qualities which are applicable on Isl~ based on Henderson's survey.30
PrlmIlCYmeans a pure and primary fonn that has remained UDchanged from the beginDing. Based on tbis notion, orthodoxyinIslam signifies what every Muslim should uphold as the pure and primary fotm of doctrine, removed ftom any innovation and alteration. By tms principle too, Islam shouldbe purified of any clement of non-Islamic mysticism, magic, and animism that might have been incorporated into Ît. Among the existing groups ofMuslims today, the Sunnites claim tobe the upholders of the pure and
19Ibid.
• 3C1bid•• pp.8S-112.