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postal address telephone e-mail P.O. Box 11089 +31-(0)71-527 79 05 i s i m @ r u l l e t . l e i d e n u n i v . n l 2301 EB Leiden telefax www The +31-(0)71-527 79 06 h t t p : / / i s i m . l e i d e n u n i v . n l

3 9 25 3 7 New ISIM Academic Director Sharifa Zaleha Ahmad Moussalli Richard Brent Turner Muhammad Khalid Masud Surau and Mosques in Political Islam in Sunni Communities Mainstream Islam in the USA

C i r c u m a m- bulatory The war in Kosovo and the accompanying ethnic procession at cleansing has catapulted this region to the centre t h e m o n a s t e r y stage of Western attention after so many years of rel- o f Z oc˘isˇt e ative silence and indifference. Already in the 1980s, many analysts pointed out that tensions between Al- banian and Serbian nationalism and divisions be- tween the Christian Serbs and the (mainly) Muslim Albanians were growing, and were turning the province into a dangerous Balkan hotspot. Compar- isons were drawn, especially by Serbian nationalists, with the famous Battle of Kosovo fought between the Ottoman Turks and Balkan Christian forces in 1389 – a ‘clash of civilizations’ between two deeply antago- nistic and incompatible nations. In light of the recent developments, it is logical that the rift between Alba- nians and Serbs is now perceived as a hard and fast line of division. Yet Kosovo has had a history of coex- istence, with considerable movement across this eth- nic and religious frontier, through economic ties, cul- tural diffusion, religious exchange and conversion. Throughout history, the ethnic and religious barriers have been anything but watertight. K O S O V O The End of a ‘Mixed’ Pilgrimage

In July 1991, I went to visit Zoc˘isˇte, a mixed symbiotic before, due to processes of mutu- substantial numbers. These were mostly Or- Serb-Albanian village three miles from the al assimilation and absorption. One of the thodox or ‘Serbian’ Gypsies (Srpski cigani) GER DUIJZINGS town of Rahovec, in the southwest of the most interesting features of life in this small from Suva Reka and Rahovec who seemed province. Just outside the village on a hill- town was that old urban Albanian families to be quite well assimilated into the Serbian top, there is an old medieval Serbian Ortho- were Slavophone, that is to say, they did not community. During the holiday, Serbs and dox monastery (dating from the 14t h c e n t u r y speak Albanian at home, but rather a Slavic Gypsies closely intermingled, apparently Since 1991, I have conducted research on or even earlier). Its shrine has a reputation dialect (n asˇ g o v o r – our tongue). During the knowing each other quite well. While I was ethnically and religiously ‘mixed’ pilgrim- for being particularly helpful in cases of dis- 1921 census, the majority of urban Albani- present, there was also a smaller but quite ages (in such places as the Serbian Ortho- eases of the eyes and mental and psychoso- ans in Rahovec had therefore been regis- conspicuous presence of Muslim Gypsy dox monasteries of Grac˘anica and the matic disorders. The church is called Sveti tered under the category ‘Serbs or Croats’. women, wearing the characteristic wide Roman Catholic shrine of Letnica), which V r ac˘i (the Holy Medics) after the saints Kuz- During my own research, some asserted that baggy trousers and speaking Albanian, who offer clear examples of this contact across man and Damnjan, patron saints of the their language was similar to Macedonian, hardly joined in with Serbs and Orthodox religious and ethnic boundaries. At present monastery. My reason for visiting this shrine apparently trying to dissociate from any Gypsies; obviously they were not part of the this seems unimaginable, but until very re- was that, until the late 1980s, many Muslim connection with Serbian. Since most Albani- Orthodox c o m m u n i t a s developing within cently, Muslims and Christians of different Albanians from Zoc˘isˇte and nearby Rahovec ans had been sacked from their jobs in 1990, the walls of the monastery. ethnic backgrounds visited one another’s would come to the monastery to join the fes- there was now a great deal of ‘bad blood’ be- Although this was meant to be a feast, the sanctuaries, worshipped one another’s tivities. The story holds that before the Al- tween local Serbs and Albanians. atmosphere was quite tense during my visit: saints and ignored the evident theological banian protests of 1989, which were violent- During the pilgrimage, the entrance of the the war had just started and (as a Dutch- objections of religious orthodoxies. Particu- ly suppressed in Rahovec (Orahovac in Ser- monastery is animated by booths, mainly man) I sensed a great deal of suspicion (at a larly in the field of popular religion, which bian), Albanian pilgrims were even more nu- manned by Gypsies selling snacks and vari- time when the Dutch Minister of Foreign Af- religious authorities traditionally control merous here than Serbs. ous toys and trinkets; whereas within the fairs, Hans van den Broek, was heading the the least, boundaries were most often disre- Yet in the last few years the growing dis- confines of the monastery there is an out- European Community efforts to stop the garded. There are numerous examples in trust between Albanians and Serbs put an door café run by Serbian youth from the vil- war in former Yugoslavia). At dawn shots Kosovo (and beyond) where Muslim and end to this ‘mixed’ pilgrimage: Albanians lage. There are also other simple, improvised were fired, probably by some drunken Serbs, Christian forms of pilgrimage and saint ven- had begun to boycott. As I heard from a local fairground attractions run by Gypsies. Dur- and later that morning army jets flew over, eration have amalgamated and formal reli- Albanian taxi-driver, only a handful of old ing my visit, a Serbian tradesman was selling as a reminder to everyone that the situation gious divisions have become blurred. Most and very ill Albanians would still make the posters and badges containing images of was far from normal. Suspicion was, howev- interestingly, in Kosovo, Serbian Orthodox effort to go to Zoc˘isˇte, and perhaps some leading Serbian nationalists like Vuk Drasˇ- er, not only directed against foreigners: I shrines have often demonstrated a propen- Muslim Gypsies, as well as Slav Muslims and k o v ic´, Slobodan Milosˇe v ic´, and Vojislav sˇesˇe l j , witnessed a Serb pilgrim from Prizren accus- sity to attract Muslim pilgrims of various Turks from Prizren. In the village itself, rela- as well as small Serbian flags and other Chet- ing a local peasant of being an Albanian ethnic backgrounds. The following account tions seemed to have deteriorated, also due nik paraphernalia. From the café I could hear ‘spy’, because of his local dialect, which deals with one such Serbian shrine, Zoc˘isˇt e , to the fact that Albanians had begun to out- old Chetnik songs, and later in the after- sounded to him like an Albanian speaking which I visited in 1991. Its recent fate some- number the Serbian inhabitants. Local Serbs noon, down in the village, I saw an Albanian Serbian. After the poor peasant showed his how symbolizes the breakdown of a shared said that they felt they were being pressured café with Albanian music blaring from the ID to his fellow Serb from Prizren he was existence once enjoyed by Serbs and Alba- into leaving, especially by the strong Alban- speakers. This was just opposite a Serb mar- told jokingly, but not without serious over- nians. It shows that religious c o m m u n i t a s ian clans of the village. The small town of Ra- quee emitting even more deafening decibel tones, ‘You had better change your lan- (Victor Turner), always a precarious matter, hovec was now ethnically segregated, al- levels of Serbian songs. guage if you want us to become friends’. can turn into precisely the contrary under though relations between Serbs and Albani- While in 1991 Albanians boycotted the Deep distrust is characteristic of the Serb certain conditions. ans had been quite harmonious or even pilgrimage, Gypsies were present in quite Continued on page 20 3 6 Regional issues I S I M NEWSLETTER 3 / 9 9

Western Europe MOCH. NUR ICHWAN Prayer in the

The Surinam-Javanese community in the Nether- lands is divided over the question of the prayer di- rection; some perform their prayers facing the East, but most turn to the West. The majority are k e j a w e n, S u r i n a m - J a v a n e s e following the syncretic practices and beliefs of Java. In this community the keblat (qibla) expresses a unique diasporic experience and identity. Diasporic Experience

The main route of Javanese diaspora in cize the practice of praying to the West as Muslim Eropa) the Young Muslim Associa- her soul. Religious devotion is regarded as the Netherlands was through Surinam. most of the Javanese Muslims continued to tion of Europe, an organization which enter- having no value when one hurts and of- From 1890 onward, the Dutch colonial au- do; hence they are called Wong Madhep tains relations with the large Indonesian tra- fends others. Some refer to the Qur’an (S 2 : thorities in the Dutch East Indies (now In- N g u l o n ( w e s t -k e b l a t p e o p l e ) .1 ditionalist organization, the Nahdlatul Ula- 177): ‘Righteousness is not to turn your donesia) recruited villagers from Java as ma. Members of the reformist Rukun Islam faces towards the East or the West; the contract workers for the plantations in an- Javanese prayer in organization in The Hague are associated righteous is he who believes in Allah, the other Dutch colonial land, Surinam. Most of t h e N e t h e r l a n d s with the main reformist movement in In- Last Day, the angels, the Book and the them were k e j a w e n Muslims. K e j a w e n I s l a m , When Surinam became independent in donesia, the Muhammadiyah. prophets.’ The leader of the Sido Muljo, a k e- which was dominant in Javanese villages, is 1975, a number of Javanese opted for the The k e j a w e n Muslims conceive the re- j a w e n organization in Rotterdam, holds that a syncretic Islam which incorporated old Ja- Dutch nationality and migrated to the formists as belonging to an ‘Arabic Islam’. In one can face in any direction, not just west vanese beliefs, including Hindu-Buddhist el- Netherlands. At present, over 22,000 Suri- their attempts to preserve their Javanese or east, because God is omnipresent. In a re- ements. The Javanese arrived in Surinam nam-Javanese live in this country, concen- identity, the question of k e b l a t occupies an cent radio broadcast, however, he stated without persons learned in religion. It was trated in the cities of The Hague, Amster- important position. The debate on the k e- that to be a devout Muslim one should ap- not until the beginning of the 1930s that – dam, and Rotterdam.2 The majority of Ja- b l a t that began in Surinam has been contin- parently behave like an Arab and abandon partly through contacts with Hindustani vanese in the Netherlands adhere to k e- ued in the Netherlands, but the debate is his or her Javanese identity. He pointed to Muslims – some realized that the Kacba was j a w e n Islam, although a number of reformist not as heated as it was in Surinam. One of the practice of rendering certain prayers in not located to the West, but to the north- organizations have gained some ground the reasons for this is that mosques do not Arabic and to the fact that some Javanese east of Surinam. Subsequently, a number of within the community. The organizations of serve as the centre of activities for the k e- texts are written in Arabic script (p e g o n). Javanese Muslims started praying in that di- k e j a w e n Muslims in the Netherlands are j a w e n Muslims in the Netherlands: there are The head of the Pitutur Islam pleads for rection. This small group, led by Pak Samsi, generally cultural organizations, but sever- no k e j a w e n mosques in the country. Thus as the continuation of the western k e b l a t: encouraged people to change their direc- al, like Pitutur Islam, carry religious names. yet they are not confronted with the ques- ‘Facing East is done according to the peo- tion of prayer to the Northeast, usually sim- Unlike their counterparts in Surinam, they tion of the direction of mosque’s m i h r a b. ple of Saudi Arabia. We heard that in In- plified as East. Since then, this small group do not have their own mosques. There are Despite praying towards the West at home, donesia our ancestors faced to the West, in has been called Wong Madhep Ngetan ( e a s t - several active organizations amongst the Ja- when visiting a mosque, k e j a w e n M u s l i m s the direction of the so-called Kacba. That k e b l a t people). Later some became very crit- vanese Muslims praying to the East. One follow others and pray facing East. This was in Negari Jawi [the land of Java].’ ical of what was seen as the superstition and such organization is the Al-Jamica t u l small group argues that it is not the direc- religious innovation (b i dca) among the Ja- Hasanah, which shares its mosque in Rotter- tion of west or east that is of prime impor- vanese Muslims. Others did not openly criti- dam with the PPME (Persatuan Pemuda tance, but rather the way one purifies his or Continued on page 43

A D V E R T I S E M E N T I S I M NEWSLETTER 3 / 9 9 Organizations 43

D A V O GÜNTER MEYER German Middle East Studies Association The Deutsche Arbeitsgemeinschaft Vorderer Orient für Gegenwartsbezogene Forschung und Dokumen- Research and Documentation tation (DAVO) was established in 1993. Since then, more than 500 scholars and other persons interested in the Middle East have become part of DAVO. Mem- and international Middle East studies. The In addition, DAVO operates a weekly up- bership does not only consist in those from Germany, publication includes a roster of members, dated homepage ‘DAVO-Info Aktuell’ on the but also from other European countries, North Amer- announcements of meetings, conference World Wide Web (http://www.geo.uni- ica and the Middle East. reports, introduction of new research pro- mainz.de/davo). It contains a global calen- The Sixth Annual Congress of DAVO will take place in jects, presentations of institutions en- dar of Middle East conferences, information Hamburg from 2–4 December 1999. The deadline for DAVO is a scholarly, non-political and non- gaged in Middle East studies, internet on research centres and other institutions, a the registration of papers is 2 November 1999. For profit professional association open to all per- news, and book reviews. Furthermore, the register of websites, recent articles in jour- further information on this congress contact the sons with an interest in the Middle East. The guide contains an overview of the latest nals, announcements of grants and other re- DAVO Conference Organization: Deutsches Orient- main aim of DAVO is to improve the exchange publications of DAVO members and cur- cent information relevant to Middle East Institut, Mittelweg 150, D-20148 Hamburg, Fax: of information on Middle East studies be- rent articles in journals on the Middle East. s t u d i e s . 040/441484, e-mail: [email protected] tween its members and various national and Each issue of the D A V O - N a c h r i c h t e n c o n- DAVO also organizes an annual congress international institutions. Middle East studies tains up to 200 pages of information; many which is gradually changing from a German Those interested in the activities of DAVO may obtain include disciplines relevant to the study of an articles are in English and French. General- conference to an international meeting with a trial copy of the latest issue of D A V O - N a c h r i c h t e n area comprising all Arab states and territories, ly, less than two weeks transpires between rapidly growing numbers of participants free of charge by contacting the DAVO secretariat: Afghanistan, Iran, , Turkey, the Mus- the deadline for contributions and the dis- from all over the world. Although the major- Centre for Research on the Arab World (CERAW) lim states of the former USSR and Israel, as tribution of the printed issue. Recipients ity of the papers are still delivered in Ger- Institute of Geography, University of Mainz well as the impact of this region on the devel- include DAVO members, almost 200 li- man, English papers and discussions are D-55099 Mainz, Germany. opment of other parts of the world. braries, research centres and other institu- strongly encouraged. ♦ The association publishes the D A V O - tions in the Middle East, Europe and North Prof. Dr. Günter Meyer is president of DAVO. N a c h r i c h t e n, a biannual guide to German A m e r i c a . E-mail: [email protected]

P U B L I C A T I O N S Continued from page 36: Prayer in the Surinam-Javanese Diasporic Experience / b y Moch. Nur Ichwan

Arabic Literature Having migrated to Surinam, they still Javanese prediction and other popular ele- maintained the westward direction of prayer. ments, including Islamic ones. However, Saudi teachers told them: ‘No, you should young people show less interest in litera- o f A f r i c a not do that. In Surinam you should face East.’ ture. But the people from Java replied: ‘No, in the Above all, in their resistance to the per- land of Java we faced to the West, we can not ceived Arabization of the Javanese, the k e- A Contribution to make a change. I also follow my parents. Be- j a w e n Muslims attempt to Javanize Islam, cause originally our ancestors faced to the the preservation of the western k e b l a t West, we do so too. If we are forced to do oth- serves as the clearest example of this t h e Intellectual History erwise, we absolutely say: No!’ quest. In the Netherlands this tendency is The equation of Islamization with Ara- even stronger than that in Java at the pre- bization is foreign to the reformist Javanese sent time. Moreover, the diasporic experi- o f I s l a m Muslims in the Netherlands. In their eyes, ences and challenges in the Netherlands the change of prayer direction follows from force them to contextualize their tradition. religious imperative and rational reasoning. It can even be argued that they have creat- John Hunwick and R.S. O’Fahey have em- present Republic of the Sudan and their writ- They quote the verse (2:144): ‘Turn your ed a new identity that is a ‘Surinam-Ja- barked upon a joint project in collaboration ings, as well as the writings of the Idrisiyya face then to the Sacred Mosque; and wher- vanese’ identity, which differs in some of with a number of other scholars, for the pub- tradition both within the Sudan and outside ever you are, turn your faces towards it.’ its manifestations from that of the Indone- lication of a seven-volume work under the it, and the Sanusiyya tradition. Volume II is Since Mecca is located southeast of the sian Javanese. ♦ general title ‘Arabic Literature of Africa’. The sub-titled ‘The Writings of Central Sudanic Netherlands, they see no alternative but to work is being published by E.J. Brill of Leiden Africa’ (i.e. , Chad, Niger, Cameroun). oblige. They argue that praying and recit- and the first two volumes of the series have It was compiled by John Hunwick with the ing in Arabic should not be considered Ara- already appeared (1994 and 1995). The se- collaboration of Razaq D. Abubakre, Hamidu bization because it is part of religion, not of ries is under the joint general editorship of Bobboyi, Roman Loimeier, Stefan Reichmuth c u l t u r e . Hunwick and O’Fahey. and Muhammad Sani Umar. Within each The editors take it as axiomatic that we chapter writers are grouped according to Preserving Identity cannot understand the trends and currents their family, tariqa, or teaching affiliation The debate on the k e b l a t is part of a of Muslim discourse in Africa, its relationship and also (so far as is possible) chronological- much longer discourse on Javanese identi- to wider Islamic discourses and its local ly. Information on works in Fulfulde and ty. Almost from the beginning of the Is- shaping by historical and cultural factors un- Hausa (and some Yoruba) by the authors lamization of Java, attempts have been less we consider the broader picture of Is- who wrote in Arabic is also given. Currently made to reject the centrality of Mecca and lamic scholarship in the region. For this we in preparation are volumes on Ethiopia, – what is seen as – the Arabization of the need to know not only who the scholars Sudan and Eastern Africa, which includes Is- Javanese. Preserving identity has become were and what they wrote, but also how lamic literature in Swahili and volumes on an important and complicated problem for they are related to one another intellectual- the Arabic writings of scholars in Ghana, Javanese Muslims in the Netherlands as ly, and how learning was nurtured, transmit- Mali, Senegal and Niger. Yet another will well. This is primarily due to the fact that This article is based upon observation of meetings ted, explicated, revived, revised, contested. deal with Mauritania. A supplementary vol- most of the second and the third genera- o f various Surinam-Javanese organizations and It is the task, then, of the several volumes ume will treat the writings of Central Sudan- tions no longer speak Javanese, although interviews with a number of their members. A larger of the series ‘Arabic Literature of Africa’ to ic Africa and will be prepared in collabora- some still understand it. Being a creator and more detailed article will be published in explore this intellectual heritage. The aim of tion with Nigerian scholars. ♦ and re-creator, and transmitter of culture, S h a r q i y y a t, journal of the Netherlands Organization the series is to produce for sub-Saharan the loss of the original language marks an for the Study of Islam. Africa a guide to its Islamic literature and important transformation. Moreover, they scholarly production in Arabic and in certain do not have diasporic memories of Java, as Moch. Nur Ichwan is an MA student of Islamic Studies African languages that goes beyond a mere they were born and raised in Surinam or at and a fellow of the Indonesia- enumeration of scholars and their writings. the Netherlands. Netherlands Cooperation in Islamic Studies (INIS), Rather it aims to open up the intellectual his- Today, Java is represented as a Holy the Netherlands. E-mail: [email protected] tory of the region’s Muslims and to relate it Land, but also as an experience of the past to the intellectual history of the larger world generation, the first generation of the Ja- N o t e s of Islam. vanese in Surinam, who are regarded as 1 . On the Javanese in Surinam, see Joseph Ismael, Volume I, compiled by R.S. O’Fahey is sub- the original Javanese (Jawa Tus o r J a w a D e Immigratie van Indonesiers in Suriname. PhD titled ‘The Writings of Eastern Sudanic Africa A s l i). The k e j a w e n Muslims demonstrate a dissertation of Leiden University 1949; Annemarie to c. 1900’, and it was prepared with the col- far stronger commitment to the preserva- de Waal Malefijt, The Javanese of Surinam: Segment laboration of Muhammad Ibrahim Abu John Hunwick, Department of History, tion of the Javanese culture than the re- of a Plural Society. Assen: Van Gorcum Com. N.V., Salim, Albrecht Hofheinz, Yahya Muhammad N o r t h w e s t e r n University, Evanston, USA. formist Javanese. Their organizations focus 1963; G.D. van Wengen, The Cultural Inheritance of Ibrahim, Berndt Radtke and Knut Vikør. It R.S. O’Fahey, Department of History, on Javanese dances, music and songs and the Javanese in Surinam. Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1975. deals with authors living in the area of the U n i v e r s i t yo f Bergen, Norway. on the Javanese literature like the Primbon 2 . See Yvonne Towikromo, De islam van de Javanen and Mujarabat literature, which combine uit Suriname in Nederland. Den Haag: Amrit, 1997.