Struggling for the Umma

Struggling for the Umma Changing Leadership Roles of Kiai in Jombang, East Java Struggling for the Umma Changing Leadership Roles of Kiai in Jombang, East Java Endang Turmudi Department of Sociology Faculty of the Arts February 1996 Published by ANU E Press The Australian National University Canberra ACT 0200, Australia Email: [email protected] Web: http://epress.anu.edu.au National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry Endang, Turmudi. Struggling for the Umma : changing leadership roles of kiai in Jombang, East Java. ISBN 1 920942 42 4 (pbk.) ISBN 1 920942 43 2 (online) 1. N. U. (Organization) - Publishing. 2. Community leadership - Indonesia - Java. 3. Ulama - Indonesia - Java. 4. Islam and politics - Indonesia - Java. 5. Java (Indonesia) - Politics and government. I. Title. 303.34095982 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 or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher. Cover design by Teresa Prowse Printed by University Printing Services, ANU This edition © 2006 ANU E Press Islam in Southeast Asia Series Theses at The Australian National University are assessed by external examiners and students are expected to take into account the advice of their examiners before they submit to the University Library the final versions of their theses. For this series, this final version of the thesis has been used as the basic for publication, taking into account other changes that the author may have decided to undertake. In some cases, a few minor editorial revisions have made to the work. The acknowledgements in each of these publications provides information on the supervisors of the thesis and those who contributed to its development. For many of the authors in this series, English is a second language and their texts reflect an appropriate fluency. Table of Contents Foreword ix Preface xi Abbreviations and Glossary xiii Abstract xvii Acknowledgements xix Chapter 1. Introduction 1 1.1. Background of the Study 1 1.2. Review of the Literature 4 1.3. The Fieldwork 8 1.4. Source of Data 14 1.5. The Survey 17 1.6. The Importance of the Study 18 1.7. Organisation of the Thesis 19 Chapter 2. Kiai and the Pesantren 21 2.1. Concept and Variation of Kiaiship 21 2.2. The Pesantren Tradition 25 2.3. Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) 29 2.4. Modernisation of the Pesantren 31 2.5. The Main Pesantren Observed 33 Chapter 3. Kiaiship Through the Tarekat Movement 43 3.1. The Nature of the Tarekat Movement 43 3.2. The Tarekat Qadiriyah Wa Naqsyabandiyah 50 3.3. The Jam`iyah Ahli Thoriqoh Al-Mu`tabaroh An-Nahdliyah: Tarekat Cukir 56 3.4. Other Tarekat Movements 60 Chapter 4. The Social Reality of Kiaiship 67 4.1. The Kiai©s Role in the Society 67 4.2. The Underlying Principle of Relationship: Baraka 71 4.3. The Fragmented Organisation of Islam 78 4.4. The Modern Kiai and Santri 84 Chapter 5. The Kiai and the Dynamics of Politics at the Local Level 89 5.1. The Kiai©s Politics in the Tarekat 89 5.2. The Followers' Perspective 96 5.3. NU at National Politics 102 5.4. Local Political Conflict 104 Chapter 6. Islam and Politics: Implications in Electoral Behaviour 111 6.1. The Islamic Political Party 112 6.2. The Politics of Javanese Muslims 117 6.3. The Penggembosan and Changing Muslims Political Support 128 6.4. New Social Groupings 133 6.5. Islam and Electoral Behaviour 143 iii Struggling for the Umma: Changing Leadership Roles of Kiai in Jombang, East Java Chapter 7. The Kiai in the Context of Socio-Political Change 149 7.1. Changing Kiai©s Islamic Politics 149 7.2. Kiai©s Political Influence: Post-`Back to Khittah' 155 7.3. The Charisma factor 163 7.4. The Kiai©s New Relationship with Authority 166 Chapter 8. The Kiai©s Effort in Remoulding Relationships with Other Muslim Groups 175 8.1. Differences and Locality 176 8.2. The Conflict Reduced 182 8.3. Reformulation of Ukhuwa Islamiya 190 8.4. Expanding Da`wa 196 Chapter 9. Conclusion 201 Bibliography 207 iv List of Tables 2.1. The Number of Santri Attending Schools within the Pesantren Darul Ulum, 1990±1991 36 2.2. The Number of Santri with their Place of Origin 41 6.1. Percentage of Votes Shared by Political Parties in Jombang in General Elections 121 6.2. Number of Votes of the Major Parties in the 1971 General Election in Jombang 122 6.3. Percentage of Islamic Parties© and PPP©s Share of Votes in Various Kecamatan in Jombang 125 6.4. Percentage of the Decline in PPP©s Vote Share in Various Kecamatan in the 1987 General Election 127 6.5. Muslim Respondents© Standpoint on Political Manoeuvres of Penggembosan 131 6.6. Percentage of Muslim Respondents© Reasons for their Support for PPP 144 6.7. Percentage of Voting Pattern of Muslim Respondents in the 1977, 1982, 1987 and 1992 General Elections 144 6.7a. Changing Voting Pattern of PPP Respondents 145 6.8. Percentage of the Muslim Respondents© Perspective on the Difference in PPP after 1985, and the Area in which such a Difference Occurs 147 7.1. Number of Respondents in the Four Villages of Three Districts of Jombang to whom Jombang Kiai are Known (The Kiai are Listed in Alphabetical Order) 164 7.2. The Respondents© Views on the Idealised Person to Lead an Islamic Organisation 166 8.1. Percentage of Respondents© Attitude to the Availability of Many Islamic Organisations 192 8.2. Percentage of Respondents© Perspective of the Ideal Society 193 8.3. Perception of Intermarriage Between Members of Various Muslim Groups 194 8.4. Reasons to Accept and Refuse Intermarriage 195 8.5. Percentage of Respondents© Preference as Marriage Partner for their Children 195 v List of Figures 1.1. Map of East Java 9 1.2. Jombang: Kecematan 10 6.1. Results of the General Election in Jombang 121 6.2. Muslim Support for Political Parties in Various Kecamatan in Jombang in the 1971 General Election 124 6.3. A Tendency of Social Grouping and Support for a Certain Political Organisation among NU Members (Former PPP Supporters) in Jombang 135 6.4. Muslim Political Orientation in Jombang 139 vii Foreword Endang Turmudi's Struggling for the Umma is an appropriate volume with which to initiate this new series of publications on Islam in Southeast Asia. This is a study that focuses on the heartland of the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), the largest Islamic organization in Indonesia, and on the role of ulama, or kiai as they are known in Java, within NU. Based on substantial fieldwork, this study provides an informed glimpse into the intimate relationships among kiai, their role in local and national politics and their leadership of the Islamic community. In this study, Dr Turmudi considers the critical role that Javanese kiai play both in organization of Islamic education through local boarding schools, pesantren, and in the guidance of particular Sufi orders, tarekat. Thus, throughout Java, certain key boarding schools function both as centres of learning and as centres of wider religious practice in accordance with adherence to a specific Sufi order. Dr Turmudi examines the position of various pesantren and their associated kiai in Jombang, a regency noted as a centre of Islamic learning in East Java. He uses a particular event ± the transfer of the allegiance in 1977 of Kiai Musta'in from the Islamic United Development Party (PPP) to the government party Golkar ± as the basis for an extended case study that is particularly revealing. The setting for this case study is one of the oldest and most renowned schools in Jombang, Pesantren Darul Ulum located in the village of Rejoso and involves the largest Sufi order in Indonesia, the combined order, Qadiriyah wa Naqsyabandiyah. For a succession of five generations, the spiritual leader, murshid, of Qadiriyah wa Naqsyabandiyah for all of East Java, was based at Darul Ulum. So when Kiai Musta'in, as the head of Pesantren Darul Ulum and murshid of Qadiriyah wa Naqsyabandiyah, made his decision to join Golkar, this precipitated a profound reconsideration of political relations in Javanese Islamic circles. It is the implications and consequences of this reconsideration that Dr Turmudi analyses effectively, thus providing an exceptional portrait of the politics of NU. As a contribution to ongoing Islamic discussions in Indonesia, this study has already made its impact. The thesis was translated into Indonesian and was published under the title, Perselingkuhan Kiai dan Kekuasasan by the Yogyakarta publisher, Lembaga Kajian Islam dan Sosial (LKiS) in 2003 and has since been the subject of seminars from Jakarta to Jombang. Given the fact that the book in its Indonesian translation continues to contribute to a lively national discussion, it is all the more important that the original English version be made available. When Endang Turmudi returned to Indonesia after completing his doctoral work at the Australian National University, he took up a position as a researcher in the Research Center for the Society and Culture (Pusat Penelitian Kemasyarakatan dan Kebudayaan) in the Indonesian Institute of Sciences ix (PMB-LIPI). However, in 2004, he was chosen as the Secretary General of Nahdlatul Ulama. His research background as well as his background as a santri educated at Pesantren Cipasung in Tasikmalaya under the former Rais Aam of NU, K. H. Ilyas Ruhiyat and his further education at the State Institute for Islamic Studies (IAIN) Sunan Kalijaga in Yogkakarta combined with his M.A. from Flinders University and PhD from The Australian National University were all qualifications for the position of importance that he now holds in NU.

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