Nationalism and Spiritualism of Javanese Tarekat: Study of Tarekat Rinjani in Banyumas Central Java

Abstract

<p>Tarekat or tarīqah is the Muslim spiritual path toward direct knowledge (maʿrifah) or ultimate truth (ḥaqq) of God. This paper aims to describe the Sufism school teaching of Tarekat Rinjani in Besuki Village, Banyumas Regency. This research is also to reveal laku batiniyah and lahiriyah (spiritual and physical practices) of Tarekat Rinjani. Cultural anthropology research was conducted to achieve the objectives through participatory observation and in-depth interviews for collecting the data. Tarekat Rinjani is one of the local Javanese tarekat that existed within Javanese communities. In this tarekat, the members must carry out Laku Kendalisada ritual consisting of two parts; spiritual and physical practices, to reach the love of God. Spiritual practices were done by managing hearts, minds, and reciting wirid, while physical practices were done by loving the Republic of Indonesia, helping others regardless of religion, groups, and ethnics, and making spiritual journeys to places called as wingit. In conclusion, Tarekat Rinjani is classified as a ghairu mu’tabarah, which is not a well-recognized Sufi order based on Sharia and included in the creed of Sunni Islam, since it is typical of Banyumas Sufi-syncretic tarekat with non-mutashil sanad that is not directly connected to the Prophet Muhammad.</p>