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ABSTRACT Drs. Kafrawi the PATH of SUBUD: a Study of 20Th Century Javanese Mysticism Founded by Muhammad Subuh

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ABSTRACT Drs. Kafrawi the PATH of SUBUD: a Study of 20Th Century Javanese Mysticism Founded by Muhammad Subuh ABSTRACT Author: Drs. Kafrawi Title: THE PATH OF SUBUD: A Study of 20th Century Javanese Mysticism founded by Muhammad Subuh Sumohadiwidjoja. Department: Institute of Islamic Studies. Degree: M.A. This thesis examines the origins, nature, and characteristics of the Subud mystical order which is an expression of Javanese Red (abangan) Muslim mysticism. It presents material on the life of the founder, on the religious background of the order) and presents the doctrines, practices, and forms of organizatiori peculiar to the order. (Kafrawi) THE PATH OF SUBUD THE PATH OF SUBUD A Study of 20th Century Javanese Mysticism founded by Muhammad Subuh Sumohadiwidjoja by Kafrawi A Thesis Submitted to the Institute of Is1amic Studies, Facu1ty of Graduate Studies and Research, McGi11 University, Montreal, Canada, In Partial Fu1fi1ment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts. McGi11 University Montreal 1969 ~ Kafrawi 1970 CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. iv I. INTRODUCTION. • . vi II. HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS DEVELOPMENTS IN INDONESIA • • . • • . 1 a. Dynamism and Animism. 3 b. Hinduism and Buddhism . 8 c. Islam . 14 d. Christianity .. 37 III. BAPAK MUHAMMAD SUBUH SUMOHADIWIDJOJO. 54 IV. THE TEACHING OF SUBUD . • . ., 73 a. Pak Subuh's universa1 re1igious out1ook and his view of Shari'ah. 73 b. His concept of daja (sou1s) . 92 V. SUBUD LATIHAN KEDJIWAAN (SPIRITUAL EXERCISES) ........•.... · 131 a. The meaning of 1atihan kedjiwaan. · 131 b. Description of 1atihan. · 137 c. The mystica1 goal of 1atihan. · 147 d. Presumed sources of 1atihan . · 159 ii iii CONCLUSION. • • . 171 NOTES - CHAPTER l • • • • . .. ... 176 CHAPTER II •• . l 178 CHAPTER III . 187 CHAPTER IV. 192 CHAPTER V • . • • • 202 APPENDIX 1. 209 APPENDIX II • . 211 BIBLIOGRAPHY. 218 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS l wish to record my indebtedness to Dr. C. J. Adams, Director of the Institute of Islamic Studies, Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research, McGill University, who by giving me admission te this Institute, by securing additional financial support, and by constant encouragement and advice made it possible for me to undertake and complete this thesis. l also wish to record my indebtedness to the Edward W. Hazen Foundation, Connecticut, who awarded me and my family a fellowship during the years 1967-1969 which made st\ldy at this Institute possible. l also wish to thank the Asia Foundation, San Francisco, who awarded me a travel grant from Djakarta to Montreal and return. During my studies at the Institute of Islamic Studies, l enjoyed the sympathetic guidance and constant encouragement of its staff. In the compilation of this thesis, Dr. H. Landolt very kindly made suggestions and gave advice on the organization and collection of materials; Professor N. Berkes with his rich knowledge of Indonesian iv v affairs gave valuable comments; Professor C. J. Adams went to the trouble of reading the whole thesis and made valuable suggestions in spite of the very heavy pressure of work on him; Mr. Muzaffar Ali, the Librarian of the Institute of Islamic Studies, and his staff, helped in various ways to make this work much easier; Mr. Z. A. Sjis rendered immense help in reading and translating Dutch texts; Mr. Azim Nanji and Mrs. Karen Abu Zayd sacrificed a lot of their time in editi..ng the English. Furthermore, l would like to thank my many Subud friends both in Indonesia and abroad who have given me valuable information and materials on Subud, the theme of this thesis. To the Institute of Islamic Studies, which ceaselessly attempts to promote better understanding between the adherents of aIl schools of thought and belief, this humble work is dedicated. Kafrawi Inffiitute of Islamic Studies McGill University, Montreal, December, 1969. l INTRODUCTION Muhammad Subuh is by no means the first Indonesian mystic known outside Indonesia. There have been many Indonesian mystics before him such as Hamzah Fansuri, 'Abdul Rauf al-Raniri and Sunan Bonang on whom studies by several scholars have been written. 1 Muhammad Subuh's ~arrgat, however, is the first and the only Indonesian spiritual brotherhood that has gained extensive influence and a great number of followers in Indonesia as weIl as in the outside world. Perhaps it would not be an exaggeration to say that at present there is hardI y a single big city on this globe without a Subud branch. 2 Java, which has witnessed over a period of more than fifteen hundred years the arrivaI of Indians with their Hinduism and Buddhism, Arabs with their Islam, Chinese with their Confucianism, Portuguese and Dutch with their Christianity and Japanese with their Shintoism and which has today probably one of the vi vii world's densest populations with approximately seventy million people,3 cannot easily be characterized under a single label or easily pictured in terms of a dominant theme. It did become a religious melting pot in which aIl possible influences have been digested in one way or another. It is particularly true that in describing the religion of such a complex civilization as the Javanese, any simple unitary view is certain to be inadequate. There is much variation in ritual, contrast in belief and conflict in values lying hidden behind the simple statement that Indonesia, and Java in particular, is more t h an n~nety· percent Mus 1"~m. 4 If l have chosen to elaborate the religious diversity in contemporary Java, or more specifically in one certain mystical order, my intention has not been to deny the underlying religious unit y of its people or the Indonesian people in general, but simply to examine the reality of the complexity, depth, and richness of their spiritual life. The Indonesian Muslims, especially the Javanese, are divided into two groups, namely the White Muslim (Islam Putihan or Santri) and the Red Muslim (Islam Abangan).5 White Muslims are those who accept viii Islam as a faith and practise the injunctions comprised in the Islamic Law. The Red Muslims are those who accept Islam as a faith only, without practising the injunction of the Shari'ah. Therefore, instead of following the Shari'ah as understood and practised by White Muslims, the Red Muslim group has built its own Shari'ah an a mystical basis which is in many cases far different from that of Orthodox Sunni Shari'ah and Sufism. Therefore, among these people the mixture and struggle between Shari'ah and 'Adat (custom) are very strong indeed. As far as we know the previous works on any aspect of Islam in Indonesia are almost entirely concerned with the White Muslims (santri) only. Very little attention has been given to the Red Muslim group. In other words the abangan's (Red Muslim) existence and their development has been left almost untouched, although we must admit that the total number of this group is relatively not less than the White Muslims. 6 In the field of mysticism in particular, there are at present more than 150 mystical brotherhoods of the Red Muslim type which flourish throughout Indonesia, and no less than 100 of them have originated in Java. 7 The Subud spiritual order on which l intend to ix concentrate to a certain degree can be classified as one among the many orders of the Indonesian Red Muslims. The purpose of this thesis is therefore an attempt to study and examine the nature and characteristics of Javanese Red Muslim Cabangan) mysticism. In this endeavour, however, l shall not discuss aIl the mystical trends among Javanese Red Muslims, but l shall confine my work to a certain order, that is, the order founded by Muhammad Subuh, a study of which l hope will reflect the major concerns and trends in Indonesian abangan mysticism as a whole. In writing this thesis l have followed the transliteration system devised by the Institute of Islamic Studies, McGi11 University. But with regard to the Indonesian names and terms of Arabic origin, however, l have preserved the system of transliteration adopted by Indonesian writers. 8 II HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS DEVELOPMENTS IN INDONESIA (THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND) The origin and development of Muhammad Subuh's teaching and spiritUal order cannot be appreciated properly without a knowledge of the social and religious life of the Indonesian people in general and the Javanese in particular. Therefore, it is necessary to trace briefly the penetration and development of outside religions into Indonesia. Indonesia is probably the biggest archipelago in the world. It consists of five main islands namely Sumatra, Java, Kalimantan, Sulawesi and Irian; and about 30 smaller archipelagoes, totalling 13,677 islands. The name "Indonesia" is composed of two Greek words, "Indos", meaning Indian or East-Indian, and "Nesos" , meaning island. Indonesia, therefore, literally means the East Indian islands. It extends from 6 north latitude to Il south latitude and from 95 ta 114 east longitude, covering a land area of 735,000 square miles 1 2 and a sea area of 1,263,000 square miles. The greatest distance from east to west is about 3,200 miles, from north to south, 1,200 miles. The country is pre­ dominant1y mountainous, there being about 400 vo1canoes, of which 100 are active. l In the course of history, this archipelago lying as it did between the Indian Ocean and the China seas as weIl as the Pacific Ocean, was destined to play an important role as a transit area. Not only were they islands rich with spices and ports of calI for the products of the East and West, but they were a1so a meeting ground for merchants from different races, civilizations and religions coming from both directions. 2 Even the opposing wind systems met here, the monsoon of the Indian Ocean on the one hand and the trade winds of the China Sea on the other.
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