The Spirituality of Mafia Shalawat; A Crisis Solution of Modern Society

Abstract

Arnold Toynbee (1889-1975) argued that the civilized world will not collapse by conquest from without, but by moral decay from within. The destruction of modern civilization is caused by the removal of nature, the decline of humanity, the moral decadence, and the loss of the relationship between man, nature and God. The history of religions proves that religion is the soul of man, is an effective therapy for people with the crisis of modernity. This paper is to analyze the local wisdom of Islamic music art Mafia Shalawat from Ponorogo Regency East Java Indonesia. Mafia Shalawat as a community of Islamic music art proved able to compete in the entertainment industry in Indonesia and expanded extensively in the surrounding district, even has appeared in Japan, Korea, and Hong Kong. Mafia Shalawat presents musical art, Sufi dance, religious songs, mass healing, and Islamic da’wah to serve the spiritual needs of the community through collaboration with ulama, government, faith-based organizations, and marginalized communities. Through populist religioustrends, Mafia Shalawat proved able to be an alternative solution for internal-external religious conflict, the crisis of modernity both physiological, safety, social, self-esteem and self-actualization. The Mafia Shalawat is also used as a medium of da’wah of Nahdlatul’ Ulama; the most massive Islamic religious organization in Indonesia. It means of inculcating the values of Ahl Sunnah wa al-Jama’ah as the antithesis of puritan Wahhabism that tends to inspire fanaticism, fundamentalism, exclusivism, intolerance, militancy and mass radicalization (Islamo-Fascist).