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chapter vi Tawassul Seeking mediation from wasilah
After Pak Adin has stated the intention, the microphone is passed around the circle of seated participants until it reaches Mama Rustana. It is now time for the tawassul, which is the second phase of the PLS. He opens a small booklet that he stores within the pages of his manuscript, and commences reading from it, out loud, in Arabic:
To the presence [ilā hadra] of the chosen Prophet our master and lord Muhammad, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him and upon his family, companions, wives, and descendants and the people of his line of descent and those coming after him, may something of Allah’s be with them: al-fatihah.
After this, the participants recite the first chapter of the Qur’an (Indonesian: al-fatihah) in unison, which usually takes about twenty-five seconds. Mama Rustana then continues:
Next, to the spirits [thumma ilā arwāh] of our masters ‘Abu Bakr and Umar and ‘Uthman and ‘Ali and Talhah and Sa‘ad and Sa‘id and ‘Abd al-Rahman bin ‘Awf and Abu ‘Ubaydah Amir bin al-Jarrah and al-Zubayr bin al-‘Awwam and their ancestors and descendants and their households,1 may something of Allah’s be with them: al-fatihah.
After this, the participants recite the first chapter of the Qur’an once again. Rustana then continues:
Next, to the spirits of the codifiers of the four legal schools and their followers in the religion, and of the scholars who practice [their teachings] and of the scholars of the law and of the traditions and the readers and the commentators of the Qur’an and to the noble Sufis who are seeking the truth, and their charitable followers to the day of reckoning, may something of Allah’s be with them: al-fatihah.
1 These people belong to the group of Muslims who accepted the call to Islam before the Prophet Muhammad had made public his claims to the status of Prophet (al-Khudari 1988:42- 7).
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Rustana recites seven paragraphs of this kind, all having the same syntax. The paragraphs commence with the phrase ‘Next to the spirits of…’, and conclude with ‘may something of Allah’s be with them’. The paragraphs dif- fer in the figures named in them. After the seven paragraphs have been read, the gathering recites or sings a compilation of chapters and verses from the Qur’an.2 Those in attendance, young and old, are generally able to recite this without reference to written texts. The compilation is a selection made according to various Hadith about the efficacy of the various verses. The performance just described is known as tawassul. The meaning of this word can be approached through the cognate term wasilah (Arabic: wasīla). In normal Arabic usage, a wasilah is a means by which a person is approached, a goal is attained or an objective is achieved. The tawassul is the use of a wasilah for this purpose.3 In the specific context of interest here, the tawassul is the use of a wasilah to arrive at or obtain favour with Allah. Scholars give authority to this meaning by referring to the following Qur’anic verse:
O ye who believe! Be mindful of your duty to Allah, and seek the way of approach [wasīla] unto Him, and strive in His way in order that ye may succeed.4
The tawassul is usually explained as a supplication made by giving a gift to the figures named in its paragraphs (Edy Ridwan 1992:16-27; Hasyim Asy’ari 2005:131-41). By reciting al-fatihah, the group hopes to earn a benefit from Allah (pahala). In each of the paragraphs read by Rustana, this benefit is gifted to the people named in the invocation. To be more accurate, it is gifted to their spirits. This gift-giving is sometimes referred to as ngahadiah- keun pahala bacaan (‘gifting the benefit of recitation’). The participants hope the grantee will be well-disposed towards them because of the gift, and will intercede favourably for them. From one perspective, the tawassul performs the same task as the ngunin- gakeun maksad: it names and supplicates. Their difference is in the elite classes created in them respectively. Pak Adin described his class of intercessors as urang luhung, a description which reflects Sundanese convention. The elite class of the tawassul go under the Arabic-derived term wasilah (intermediar-
2 The contents of the compilation vary. The following is typical, although perhaps lengthier than most: al-ikhlas x 3, al-falaq x 1, al-nas x 1, al-fatihah x 1, al-baqarah (1-5) x 1, ayat al-kursi x 1, al-qadr x 1, al-‘asr x 1, al-nasr x 1, Salawat tafrijiyah/munfarijah x 3, al-fatihah x l. 3 al-Albani 1977:8-14. There is an irony to my reliance on al-Albani for this discussion of the terms tawassul and wasilah. This scholar opposed what he identified as strong elements of poly- theism in the observance (see Millie 2008:114). Nevertheless, as is often the case with reformist or Salafi critiques of traditionalist Islamic observance, his copious writing on the subject includes much material of great assistance for those wanting to understand its etymology and the range of understandings that may be applied to it. 4 al-ma’ida 35. The translation is Marmaduke Pickthall’s (2001:154).
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