The Struggle of the Shi‘is in Indonesia The Struggle of the Shi‘is in Indonesia by Zulkifli Published by ANU E Press The Australian National University Canberra ACT 0200, Australia Email: [email protected] This title is also available online at http://epress.anu.edu.au National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry Author: Zulkifli. Title: The struggle of the Shi’is in Indonesia / Zulkifli. ISBN: 9781925021295 (paperback) 9781925021301 (ebook) Subjects: Shiites--Indonesia. Shīʻah--Relations--Sunnites. Sunnites--Relations--Shīʻah. Shīʻah--Indonesia--History. Minorities--Indonesia--History. Dewey Number: 297.8042 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 and layout by ANU E Press Printed by Griffin Press This edition © 2013 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 basis 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 provide 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. v Contents Curriculum Vitae ix Acknowledgements xi Foreword to The Struggle of the Shi’is in Indonesia xiii A Note on Transliteration xv Glossary xvii Introduction 1 Previous Studies on Shi‘ism in Indonesia . 2 Theoretical Framework . 11 Methodology . 11 The Structure of the Study . 12 1. The Formation of the Shi‘i Community 15 A . The Arab Community . 15 B . The Qum Alumni . 27 C . The Campus Group . 34 D . Conversion to Shi‘ism . 42 2. The Leaders 49 A . Ustadhs and Intellectuals . 49 B . Husein Al-Habsyi (1921–1994) . 52 C . Husein Shahab . 62 D . Jalaluddin Rakhmat . 67 3. The Madhhab 79 A. The Madhhab of Ahl al-Bayt . 79 B . The Imamate . 84 C . The Mahdi . 90 D . Ja‘fari Jurisprudence . 95 E . Aspects of Shi‘i Piety . 102 F . Taqiyya . 108 vii 4. Da’Wa 113 A . General Developments of the Da‘wa Institution . 113 B . The Ideals of the Shi‘i Institutions . 118 C . The Institutional Elements . 122 D . Types of Shi’i Da‘wa Activity . 128 E . Da‘wa Training . 136 5. Education 141 A . Pesantren . 141 B . Schools . 154 6. Publishing 163 A . The Shi‘is Publishers . 163 B . The Translation of Shi‘i Books . 169 C . Works by Indonesian Shi‘is . 180 D . Shi‘i Periodicals . 185 E . The Impact of Shi‘i Publishing . 190 7. The Mass Organisation Ijabi 197 A . The Foundation of IJABI . 197 B . The Ideological Foundations of IJABI . 205 C . The Development of IJABI . 212 D . Responses to IJABI . 216 8. Sunni Responses to Shi‘ism 229 A . The General Attitude of Islamic Organisations . 229 B . The Response of MUI . 234 C . The Response of DEPAG . 239 D . Anti-Shi‘i Propagation . 244 E . The Moderate Response by Muslim Intellectuals . 263 9. Conclusion 271 Bibliography 279 Magazines, Newspapers, Websites . 303 viii Curriculum Vitae Zulkifli was born on 13th of August 1966 in Bangka, Indonesia. He completed a doctorandus (BA Hons) degree in 1990 in the Faculty of Tarbiyah (Education), the State Institute for Islamic Studies (IAIN, Institut Agama Islam Negeri) Raden Fatah in Palembang. In 1991 he was appointed Lecturer in the same faculty and in 1998 he was transferred to the Faculty of Adab (Arts) of the same institute. From 1992 to 1994 he pursued his MA program in the field of Anthropology at The Australian National University, Canberra. From 2001 to 2005 he conducted his PhD program at Leiden University under the Indonesia-Netherlands Cooperation in Islamic Studies (INIS) and was awarded the degree in 2009. In 2007 he was promoted to Provisional Chairman of the State College for Islamic Studies (STAIN, Sekolah Tinggi Agama Islam Negeri) Syaikh Abdurrahman Siddik Bangka Belitung, Indonesia. At present he is Lektor Kapala (Associate Professor) and Head of the Department of Sociology, Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University, Jakarta. Zulkifli publishes widely in both English and Indonesian. ix Acknowledgements This publication has grown out of an academic endeavour that has been nourished by the support, suggestions and advice from individuals and institutions to whom I am indebted. I wish I could mention them all. I shall record the great debt to INIS (Indonesia-Netherlands Cooperation in Islamic Studies) for the scholarship and facilities that enabled me to conduct research and academic activities. At INIS, I sincerely thank Prof. W.A.L. Stokhof, Dick van der Meij, Rosemary Robson in Leiden and Prof. Jacob Vredenbregt in Jakarta. My gratitude is also expressed to the International Institute for Asian Studies (IIAS) for its programs and academic atmosphere that enabled me to increase my academic quality and extend my scholarly network. My sincere gratitude is expressed to all the Shi‘i informants and respondents who became the subject of my research. They provided me the chance to interview them, use their collections and even participate in a variety of their activities. Without their permission and cooperation this present work would not have been completed. My special thanks also go to IAIN Raden Fatah Palembang, particularly the Faculty of Adab, which freed me from academic duties during my PhD program. I also thank my fellow Indonesian scholars in Leiden. They assisted me in their own ways, which were important for my life in Leiden. Mufti Ali, Anwar Syarifuddin, Didin Nurul Rosidin, Muslih, Euis Nurlaelawati, Jajat Burhanudin, Noorhaidi, Noor Ichwan, Arief Subhan, Dahlan and Suryadi are only some of the names I could mention here. Last, but not least, I thank my wife, Ai Juariah, my daughter Dhea UZ and my son Azka KZ who gave me the moral support to finish this thesis which is dedicated to them. Leiden-Sukabumi, 2008 xi Foreword to The Struggle of the Shi’is in Indonesia James J . Fox Zulkifli’sThe Struggle of the Shi‘is in Indonesia is a pioneering work. It is the first comprehensive scholarly examination in English of the development of Shiism in Indonesia. It focuses primarily on the important period between 1979 and 2004 – a period of nearly a quarter of a century that saw the notable dissemination of Shi’i ideas and a considerable expansion of the number of Shi’i adherents in Indonesia. Since Islam in Indonesia is overwhelmingly Sunni, this development of Shiism in a predominantly Sunni context is a remarkable phenomenon that calls for careful, critical investigation. Zulkifli has provided precisely this much needed investigation. His work offers both a starting point for understanding and a foundation for future research. This book gives evidence of a depth of engaged, sympathetic research on and among the key figures who were critically involved in the development of Shiism in Indonesia and on their social and intellectual backgrounds. There is also an important examination of the principal ideas underlying the Madhab Ahl al-Bayt, the Imamate and Imam Madhi, Ja‘fari jurisprudence and ritual piety. Appropriately, in his discussion, Zulkifli provides a succinct outline of contrasts with Sunni ideas and practice. He also examines the publishing efforts that underpinned the dissemination of Shi’i ideas and the founding of IJABI (Ikatan Jamaah Ahlul Bait Indonesia) in July 2000 for the propagation of Ahl al-Bayt teachings. Given the Indonesian context, Zulkifli is also concerned with Sunni reactions to these Shi’i developments – a story that continues to unfold to the present. It is particularly appropriate that Zulkifli’s work appear in this ANU series on Islam. Zulkifli did his MA in Anthropology at ANU for which he wrote a thesis entitled Sufism in Java: The Role of the Pesantren in the Maintenance of Sufism in Java. Besides its general discussion, this thesis focused specifically on Pesantren Tarekat Suryalaya in Tasikmalaya in West Java. Zulkifli’s thesis formed part of a succession of ANU studies on Indonesia’s pesantren that began with Zamaksyari Dhofier’s study of Tebuireng in 1980. Scholars at Leiden University, who became aware of Zulkifli’s research and eventually succeeded in bringing him to Leiden for his PhD research made an xiii The Struggle of the Shi'is in Indonesia effort, as well, to publish his ANU thesis in the Leiden INIS series in 2002. Now ANU has the opportunity to reciprocate by publishing Zulkifli’s Leiden PhD in the ANU E Press series on Islam. For me personally, it is a special privilege to be able to recommend this work, as I recommended his earlier work, to a wider audience. I regard this book as a work of great value and significance for the continuing understanding of the richness and complexity of Indonesian Islam. Wendy Mukherjee of the College of Asia and the Pacific, ANU prepared the thesis for ANU E Press publication. xiv A Note on Transliteration For Arabic terminology I have used the system of transliteration adopted by the International Journal of Middle East Studies but diacritics have been reduced for simplification. For the plural forms of Indonesian words I do not always add ‘s’ and such words as santri and pesantren may be singular or plural.