Islamic Spirituality Movement and Its Implications on Social and Political Ethics in Indonesia

Abstract

Islam, from its arrival in Indonesia in the thirteenth century (or the seventh century according to some opinions) was characterized by mysticism, or Sufism as it is known in Islam. It certainly received a warm welcome from the people there, for it appears from what we know that the spread of Islam throughout the archipelago was made possible by the great and remarkable efforts of Sufi preachers. In addition, there are much evidences of the existence of various Sufi orders as well as reports of the activities of the Nine Saints (walisongo) to disseminate Islam in Java at the beginning of the fifteenth century. Even Marco Polo found that Islam had already been established in Sumatra in 1292 (Stoddart 2012: 42). Ibn Battuta in some later years discovered that there had already long been an Islamic kingdom in Samudra when he arrived in 1346 (Dunn 2012: 257).In Indonesia the type of approach adopted by Sufis has attracted people to Islam, which has found the soil there fertile to its growth. However, the progress of Islamic mysticism has faced difficulties in recent decades due to the distractions of worldly life, to say nothing of the influence of ideas of reform and perhaps also secularization. This article will discuss the development of Islamic spirituality in Indonesia by first observing in brief the position of Sufism in Islamic teachings, its objectives and its part in the current Islamic religious movements, as well its social, cultural, educational and political roles and ethics in Islamic society. It also looks upon its challenge and future in Indonesia as well as the progress achieved until now. Furthermore, this article will discuss the example of one particular Sufi order that still plays an important role in Indonesia, namely the Tariqa Qadiriyya wa Naqshbandiyya in west Java. In addition, considering the current religious climate in the country, we may perhaps draw some conclusions as to prospects for Sufism in Indonesia.Some Western scholars have claimed that the origins of Sufism are to be found in the Quran and the Sunna, but they express themselves with numerous reservations, and suggest that in any event subsequent events took Sufism far from its primitive roots (Arberry 2008). In the Islamic world itself, various misconceptions of Sufism have also gained popularity in recent years. As for the Arab world, the view of Sufism as "a harmful and repugnant excrescence" on the body of Islam (Geoffroy 2010: 21), as it is regarded by the Wahhabis and the Salafiyya, continue to exercise its influence. The existence of Sufi orders throughout the Islamic world until the present time however, serves as a witness to the popularity of Sufism. Its historical role, during more than five centuries of the Islamic era, indicates an organic relationship with the social, spiritual and intellectual life of the whole Muslim community, assuring it a large measure of unity, continuity and vitality (Gorman 2010: 71).Sufism, since its growth in the central Islamic lands in the eighth century until its golden age in the thirteenth, has been characterized by individual interpretations such as those of Hasan al-Basri, Rabi'ah al-Adawiyah, which later grew into tariqas which had their own versions of dhikr, bai'a, etc. However, the tariqas are like lines which extend from the circumference of a circle to the center. These lines are numerous; however, they all will end in the center -imagine the wheel of the bicycle. The center itself is the Quran al-Karim and the Sunna al-Sahiha. The tariqa and haqiqa unite to designate them. Hence, Sufism is not a separate school ( madhhab) in terms of Islamic law; it is a path or a way which brings people to absolute truth, the tawhid.The Roles of Sufism in Indonesian as Ethics SocietyIn the history of Islamic thought, there have been two tendencies in the observation of religious belief: first, the tendency to observe outward rules ( shari'a); and second, the tendency to observe inner rules. …