Rizieq Shihab and His Far-Right Islamist Populism

ECPS Leader Profile Series #9 May 2021 AUTHORS: Ihsan Yilmaz & Greg Barton Populism, Violence, and Vigilantism in Indonesia: Rizieq Shihab and His Far-Right Islamist Populism www.populismstudies.org Populism, Violence, and Vigilantism in Indonesia: Rizieq Shihab and His Far- Right Islamist Populism BY IHSAN YILMAZ & GREG BARTON ABSTRACT Muhammad Rizieq Shihab has been one of the most well-known faces of the far-right in Indonesia since the late 1990s. As a radical Islamist scholar with links to Saudi Arabia, Shihab has spent the last three decades as an anti-state voice of the “pious Muslim majority” in Indonesia. He claims to position himself as a “righteous” and “fearless” leader who is dedicated to defending Islam—the faith of “the people.” In 2020 Shihab was arrested for holding large public gatherings, as part of his ‘moral revolution’ campaign, in the middle of pandemic lockdowns. However, his radical Salafist message continues to inspire thousands to action. IHSAN YILMAZ is Research Professor and Chair of Islamic Studies and Inter- cultural Dialogue at the Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globali- sation (ADI), Deakin University, Melbourne, Australia. GREG BARTON is one of Australia’s leading scholars of both modern Indo- nesia and of terrorism and countering violent extremism. For more than 25 years he has undertaken extensive research on Indonesia politics and society, especially of the role of Islam as both a constructive and a disrup- tive force. He has been active in the inter-faith dialogue initiatives and has a deep commitment to building understanding of Islam and Muslim society ECPS Leader Profile Series offer analyses of political leaders and promi- nent public figures with populist tendencies. Unless otherwise indicated, the views expressed by the author are only attributable him and not to any institution with which they are associated. The profile available for free downloading from the ECPS website (www. populismstudies.org) ©ECPS 2021 ECPS | 155 Wetstraat, Rue de la loi, 1040 Brussels, Belgium | Tel: (+32) 246 583 18 | www.populismstudies.org Table of contents 1. INTRODUCTION ��4 2. THE ROOTS OF SHIHAB’S ISLAMIST IDEOLOGY �� 5 3. INDONESIA’S SALAFIST PROTÉGÉ . 6 4. SHIHAB’S CALL FOR VIGILANTISM �� 8 5. THE FPI A SURROGATE WELFARE SYSTEM ��10 6. SHIHAB’S TARGETING OF AHOK IN POLITICAL LOBBYING ��11 7. SHIHAB IMPRISONMENT AND THE FUTURE OF SALAFISM IN INDONESIA . 13 CONCLUSION . .15 REFERENCES . .16 INTRODUCTION Muhammad Rizieq Shihab—more commonly known as Habib Rizieq—is one of the most well-known faces of the far-right in Indonesia. He has been a permanent fixture in Indonesian popular culture since the late 1990s but drew international media coverage in late 2016 and early 2017, where he spearheaded mass protests intended to derail the election campaign of Basuki Tjahaja Purnama (widely known by his nickname “Ahok”), the eth- nic-Chinese, Christian governor of Jakarta. Billed as “Protests to defend the Qur’an,” they were more widely known as the “2/12 protests” because the largest of the protests, which saw over 500,000 people flood the center of the national capital, was held on 2 December 2016. In 2020, Shihab again made headlines when he was arrested for holding large public gatherings, as part of his “moral revolution” campaign, in the middle of COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns. As a radical Islamist scholar with links to Saudi Arabia, Shihab has spent the last three decades as an anti-state voice of the “pious Muslim majority” in Indonesia. He claims to position himself as a “righteous” and “fearless” leader who is dedicated to defending Is- lam—the faith of “the people.” 4 ers, writers, and mystics (Baer, Makdisi, & The Roots of Shihab’s Shryock, 2009; Gawrych, 1983). The Sufi approach to Islam believes in establishing Islamist Ideology a direct connection between the higher power and the individual and does not solely rely on sacred texts and religious rit- One of the most important political de- uals to build this connection (Baer, Makdi- velopments of the twentieth century for si, & Shryock, 2009; Gawrych, 1983). Hanafi Muslim majority populations across the approaches to interpretation and the world was the fall of the Ottoman Empire influences of Sufi thought and practice (Gubbay, 2000; Lewis, 1980). The decline of combined to make the religious culture this vast empire, as with other great em- of the Ottoman Empire generally open pires, occurred incrementally. It entered and tolerant. There were a great variety a nearly two-century-long twilight phase of sects and Islamic traditions welcomed before it was broken up following its deci- in the empire. Still, there were also many sive defeat in the First World War (Gubbay, opportunities for non-Muslims to play im- 2000; Lewis, 1980). The majority of Sunni portant functional roles, not just in society Muslims across the world traditionally saw but also in administrative affairs. the Ottoman Empire as representing a modern continuation of the Muslim ca- In contrast with Ottoman society’s liphate, which started with the leadership pluralistic and flexible practices, the Al of Prophet Muhammad. Saud dynasty took a narrower and more rigid approach as followers of the literalist When the symbolic figurehead of the new school of Sunni thought established Sunni Muslim world suddenly ceased to by Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab. In exist, the gap was soon fulfilled by the rel- the eighteenth century, Muhammad bin atively new leadership of the Saud family Saud, the founder of the Al Saud dynasty, who became the rulers of modern-day joined forces with Muhammad ibn Abd Saudi Arabia (Dillon, 2009; Gubbay, 2000; al-Wahhab. The former accepted the Lewis, 1980). The kingdom had itself been latter’s ideology and approach to religious part of the Ottoman Empire. Saudi Ara- life in exchange for al-Wahhab’s endorse- bia hosts two of the holiest cities in the ment of the legitimacy of the Al Saud Islamic faith, Mecca and Medina, to which leadership. The Wahhabi movement, or Muslim pilgrims pay annual visits in the Salafi school of thought, is markedly more form of Haj or umrah. stringent than the schools of thought that came before it as it was formed as a “re- Saudi Arabia’s symbolic significance formist” movement to “purify” Islam from derives from it being the home of the two what is thought of as “additional” rituals holy cities and custodian of the Kabah. (Dillon, 2009). While the Ottomans were, like the Saudis, followers of Sunni Islam, they adhered Over the years, Salafi hardliners have to the teachings of Imam Abu Hanifa. propagated the idea that it is only Thus, the Ottomans followed the Hanafi through their legalistic approach that true school of thought, and in approaching the adherence to the Islamic ideal of mono- Qur’an, the sunnah and the hadithsought theistic worship is possible. The Salafi take to understand Islam using the methods a negative and, at times, hostile attitude of ijma (consensus) and qiyas (deduction and behavior toward the various sub-sects from analogy) (Baer, Makdisi, and Shryock, of Sunni Islam and toward Shia Muslims 2009; Gawrych, 1983). This idea of interpre- and non-Muslims (Dillon, 2009). Since the tation using deduction and consensus has mid-twentieth century, Saudi Arabia has made the Hanafi school more flexible and been able to spread its brand of Islam open to adaptation to the changing times through its petrodollar wealth generated than the Hanbali school followed in Saudi from the fossil fuel industry. Leveraging Arabia. the cultural capital of its guardianship of the sacred sites and drawing liberally In addition to the Hanafi influence, the on its financial capital to disseminate its societies of the Ottoman Empire were also ideology by financing various educational influenced by thousands of Sufi teach- organizations, Saudi Arabia has tried to in- 5 fluence Muslim-majority countries such as Pakistan, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Afghan- istan, and Egypt to accept Arab culture and Salafi Wahabism as being essential to authentic expressions of Islam. In this endeavor, education represents an essential vehicle for propagation. Funding of madrasa (religious schools) and even universities—such as the Inter- national Islamic Universities—through the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Indonesia and sponsoring scholarships for students from Muslim countries to gain religious education at King Saud University con- Indonesia’s Salafist stitute key elements of Saudi influence (Junior, 2017; Ghoshal, 2010). Protégé In observing the presence of Saudi influence in Asia, Ghoshal (2010) comments, As one of the most well-known faces “this process of homogenization and reg- of the far-right in Indonesia, Muham- imentation—a process I would like to call mad Rizieq Shihab positions himself as the ‘Arabization’ of Islam—puts greater a “righteous” and “fearless” leader who is emphasis on rituals and codes of conduct dedicated to defending Islam—the faith of than on substance, through the Wahha- “the people.” In this quest, he formed the bi and Salafi creeds, a rigidly puritanical Front Pembela Islam (FPI) in 1998 (Jahroni, branch of Islam exported from, and subsi- 2004). Shihab has used his knowledge of dized by, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.” As sharia law to declare himself the “grand a result, in Asia, Muslim-majority countries imam” of Indonesia, dressed in symbolic have witnessed growing radicalization white—a “pure” color in Islam—with either since the 1980s. Various leaders trained at a green turban (reflecting the color of the Saudi-funded and affiliated institutions shrine of Muhammad) or white turban to have continued to spread the hardline symbolize the “purity” and “truth” of his narrative of Wahhabism (Freeman, Ellena message. While assuming an anti-state & Kator-Mubarez, 2021; Benjamin, 2016). approach, Shihab has nevertheless acted as a lobbyist for mainstream right-wing populist parties by swaying voters their way.

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