First published in Singapore in 2020 by ISEAS Publishing 30 Heng Mui Keng Terrace Singapore 119614 E-mail: [email protected] Website: <http://bookshop.iseas.edu.sg> All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute. © 2020 ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute, Singapore The responsibility for facts and opinions in this publication rests exclusively with the the publisher or its supporters. ISEAS Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data Name(s): Norshahril Saat, editor. | Burhani, Ahmad Najib, 1976-, editor. Title: The new Santri : challenges to traditional religious authority in Indonesia / edited by Norshahril Saat and Ahmad Najib Burhani. Description: Singapore : ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute, 2020. | Includes bibliographical references and index. (PDF) Subjects: LCSH: Authority—Religious aspects—Islam. | Islamic religious education—Indonesia. | Islamic preaching—Indonesia. | Islam— Indonesia—21st century. Cover illustration: Febrian Doni Typeset by International Typesetters Pte Ltd Printed in Singapore by Markono Print Media Pte Ltd 00 The New Santri_Prelims_6P_5Aug20.indd 4 4/8/20 8:51 PM CONTENTS About the Contributors viii 1. Introduction 1 Norshahril Saat and Ahmad Najib Burhani PART I: CHALLENGING TRADITIONAL AUTHORITY 2. Religious Authority in Indonesian Islam: Mainstream 13 Organizations under Threat? M. Amin Abdullah 3. “Being Authoritative But No Authority?” Muslim Religious 28 Intellectuals in Shaping Indonesian Islam Discourse Azhar Ibrahim 4. New Contestation in Interpreting Religious Texts: Fatwa, 48 Tafsir, and Shariah and Social Development in Aceh Arskal Salim and Marzi Afriko 6. Muslim Female Authorities in Indonesia: Conservatism 83 and Legal Notion of Women Preachers on Familial Issues Euis Nurlaelawati 00 The New Santri_Prelims_6P_5Aug20.indd 5 4/8/20 8:51 PM vi Contents and Policy Impact in Contemporary Indonesia Eunsook Jung PART II: TRANSNATIONAL TRANSMISSION OF ISLAMIC KNOWLEDGE in Indonesia Traditionalism in Contemporary Indonesia Syamsul Rijal 10. Nurturing Religious Authority among Tablighi Jamaat in 177 Indonesia: Going Out for Khuruj and Becoming Preacher Muhammad Adlin Sila Authority: A Case Study of the Sulaimaniyah Firdaus Wajdi PART III: THE NEW SANTRI 12. Pop and “True” Islam in Urban Pengajian: The Making of 213 Religious Authority Yanwar Pribadi 13. The Rise of Cool Ustadz: Preaching, Subcultures, and the 239 Movement Wahyudi Akmaliah Abdul Somad 00 The New Santri_Prelims_6P_5Aug20.indd 6 4/8/20 8:51 PM Contents vii Santri, Cinema and the Exploratory Form of Authority 278 in Traditionalist Muslim Indonesia 16. The Politics of Religious and Cultural Authority: 296 Contestation and Co-existence of Sultanate and Islamic Movements in the Post-Suharto Yogyakarta and Ternate M. Najib Azca and Moh Zaki Arrobi 17. Jihad Against the Ghazwul Fikri: Actors and Mobilization 317 Strategies of the Islamic Underground Movement Index 00 The New Santri_Prelims_6P_5Aug20.indd 7 4/8/20 8:51 PM 9 OPPOSING WAHHABISM: THE EMERGENCE OF ULTRA-TRADITIONALISM IN CONTEMPORARY INDONESIA Syamsul Rijal Introduction In the name of defending traditionalist Islam, preaching (dakwah) has become a widespread activity in contemporary Indonesia. The aim of dakwah is to promote the traditionalist Sunni version of Islam and to challenge puritanical and other “deviant” groups. The emergence of dakwah is a response to the expansion of global Islamic movements studied these movements to understand what they perceive as a threat to Indonesian democracy and pluralism, only a few have studied the traditionalist dakwah . preachers and activists have worked together in reasserting traditional 151 09 ch9 The New Santri_5P_5Aug20.indd 151 4/8/20 9:01 PM 152 Syamsul Rijal Sunni Islam or what they call “aswaja” (the abbreviation of ahl sunna wa al-jama’a). This movement seeks to reassert traditionalist Sunni The aim of this chapter is to analyse the religious factor that paved a way for the emergence of this new form of dakwah. It argues that its emergence is a response to internal and external threats seen as challenging established religious doctrines and traditional practices. “threat”, these dakwah groups also regarded the Shias, liberal Islam, discusses the general concept of Sunni Islam and its particular meaning for traditionalist Muslims in the Indonesian context. The second part gave rise to aswaja dakwah traditionalist Muslims. The third part analyses the variants of aswaja dakwah and its characteristics in contemporary Indonesia. Sunni and Traditional Islam in Indonesia The term Sunni refers to ahl sunna wa al-jama’a, meaning the people of the Prophetic tradition (sunna) and community (jama’a). In Indonesia, Sunni branch regardless of whether they are traditionalist or reformist in their religious orientation. Each group promotes Sunni Islam based on their own interpretation. In the Indonesian context, traditionalist Muslims use the distinctive abbreviation “aswaja” to identify their particular brand of Sunni Islam. The term refers to the particular characteristic of Sunni traditionalists that is culturally linked to the largest Islamic Any discussion of traditional Islam in Indonesia would be incomplete 09 ch9 The New Santri_5P_5Aug20.indd 152 4/8/20 9:01 PM Emergence of Ultra-Traditionalism in Contemporary Indonesia 153 of ahl sunna wal-jama’a or aswaja aswaja has three basic ulama understood that such local customs can serve as a means for spreading Islam more widely; therefore, the incorporation of various local customs such as marriage, circumcision, maulid (celebration of the Prophet’s birthday), and ziarah (visiting the saints’ tombs to obtain blessings containing local customs have received criticism from the reformist innovation (bid’ah). modernists engaged in numerous debates. Tensions arose not only in bid’ah (innovations) in a short space of time, while the traditionalists accepted that they had administration. The reconciliation between the two groups was evident in Surabaya. The purpose of this federation was to promote unity and Since the foundation of the Indonesian nation state, there has been no was at its height especially after it separated from Masyumi to become 09 ch9 The New Santri_5P_5Aug20.indd 153 4/8/20 9:01 PM 154 Syamsul Rijal return to Khittah 1926 politics. Their return to formal politics was marked by the foundation Aswaja Dakwah and Anti-Wahhabism in the Post-New Order Era of expression in the public sphere. Several Islamic parties emerged and found freedom to conduct Islamic activities in public and urged people to support their missionary work. Polemics between Muslim groups articulating different views were expressed through periodicals, books, groups are the most active of these groups in propagating puritanical Islam in Indonesia. They call on Muslims to return to the original ways of Islam by emulating the Prophet and the early Muslim generations in their concerns with “matters of creed and morality, such as strict monotheism, divine attributes, purifying Islam from accretions, and innovation” (bid’ah). 09 ch9 The New Santri_5P_5Aug20.indd 154 4/8/20 9:01 PM Emergence of Ultra-Traditionalism in Contemporary Indonesia 155 was to counter both the expansion of Arab socialist nationalism in Egypt regarded as threats to the Saudi Arabia Kingdom. Thanks to the oil funds for building Islamic schools, mosques, social and dakwah facilities, and granting scholarships to Indonesians to study at Saudi universities for Islamic propagation (dakwah pesantren in various provinces pesantren. number of pesantren pesantren pesantren as a means for producing preaching around Muslim communities by delivering sermons in public mosques in the areas where their pesantren are based. In some cases, 09 ch9 The New Santri_5P_5Aug20.indd 155 4/8/20 9:01 PM 156 Syamsul Rijal of Salafi expansion. Starting from publishing Salafi periodicals in dakwah through media technologies after the 2000s. Their motivation was to defend Muslim beliefs and morality from the existing electronic “wishing to destroy Islamic values, to turn Muslims away from sharia and lead Muslims to a false accessible to a wider audience in several regions in Indonesia and even worldwide. The Aswaja Response The increasing dakwah from traditionalist Muslims, mainly due to the contents of their messages which attacked traditionalist doctrines and practices. Several research of Salafis and their attacks on local beliefs and practices was the